What is the weight restriction for scuba diving?

Answer 1

There is no legal weight restriction for Scuba diving. You do however have to be in shape enough to pass the physical parts of the exam, which typically include a 200m swim in roughly 10 minutes, and a much longer swim over a longer period of time. Also, if you wear a wetsuit or a drysuit, you'll need more weight to achieve neutral bouyancy, which in turn wears you down some. Finally, fat absorbs more nitrogen than most other tissues, so deeper dives need to be approached more conservatively. Physical problems that do preclude diving are serious cardiovascular ailments (see your cardiologist about these), respiratory obstructions (COPD and the like), extreme clostrophobia (you can get over this but it's hard), badly damamged eustacian tubes or eardrums, any ailment that causes you to lose consciousness, and a few others. After all this grim stuff, I want to say don't lose heart -- I worked with an instructor who weighed about 400lbs and, while at the high end of the scale, performed excellently. [[User:Cjonb|Cjonb]] 22:35, 2 Jun 2008 (UTC)