Ill be honest in that when I started diving I could not swim 5 feet and if my feet were not on the bottom I was S.O.L. I signed up for the diving without reading the requirements and had done a Discover Scuba which does not require one to be a good swimmer. Well once I read the requirements I said Oh Crap and went to the pool to learn to swim. To my disappointment nothing worked and so I called my LDS to cancel classes. My instructor talked me into coming in to swim in his pool and he worked with me. Being a former navy seal I felt comfortable in his abilities so I reluctantly agreed. He showed me how to do the float (Exactly as Walter mentioned above.) and I said ok so I went out tried it and found it worked.
Now your second question is made for several answers. Why is a 10 minute floar necessary? Well the most important reason above all else is to show you are confident in water you can not touch in. In your case you have a difficult time floating. By achieving the float it demonstrates you are capable of both survival in the absolute worse case scenario of gear failure and also shows in your case you can identify a problem (Difficulty floating) and overcome it (Learning to float) both of which is extremely important in an aquatic environment.
I can tell you as I never knew how to swim I over came and adapted and learned to get by and then like anything else in life I learned to build on what I learned and as a result I self taught myself how to swim (After my instructor of course taught me how to float) and today I am proudly a dive master. Though titles in the scuba world are often as heated in debate as any other aspect of life I can say earning divemaster was not something to be just proud of as another step in life. It proved that I could adapt and overcome my inabilities. I could problem solve what I had previously saw as impossible and I learned how to never say I could not achieve anything.
I have faith now that scuba is not limited to just a select few. Its available to everyone with exceptions to certain medical conditions. So dont write off scuba yet. Just ask around and I assure you someone somewhere will be wiling to help you.
Now your second question is made for several answers. Why is a 10 minute floar necessary? Well the most important reason above all else is to show you are confident in water you can not touch in. In your case you have a difficult time floating. By achieving the float it demonstrates you are capable of both survival in the absolute worse case scenario of gear failure and also shows in your case you can identify a problem (Difficulty floating) and overcome it (Learning to float) both of which is extremely important in an aquatic environment.
I can tell you as I never knew how to swim I over came and adapted and learned to get by and then like anything else in life I learned to build on what I learned and as a result I self taught myself how to swim (After my instructor of course taught me how to float) and today I am proudly a dive master. Though titles in the scuba world are often as heated in debate as any other aspect of life I can say earning divemaster was not something to be just proud of as another step in life. It proved that I could adapt and overcome my inabilities. I could problem solve what I had previously saw as impossible and I learned how to never say I could not achieve anything.
I have faith now that scuba is not limited to just a select few. Its available to everyone with exceptions to certain medical conditions. So dont write off scuba yet. Just ask around and I assure you someone somewhere will be wiling to help you.
Lost enough muscle mass and gained enough fat to make me about neutral at 0' now. But good to know that there's not too much to do in that case other than slap on a wetsuit.
