In most regions, the minimum age is 10 years old, however in some areas, local law may require a higher minimum age limit. Young participants need the approval and support of their parent or guardian. There is no upper age limit. To dive, you must be in good overall health, particularly your respiratory and circulatory systems. Mentally, you need a mature attitude, good judgement and the self-discipline to follow diving guidelines.
Your ears will not be a problem, assuming you have no irregularities in your ears and sinuses. The discomfort is the normal effect of water pressure pressing on your eardrums. Fortunately, our bodies are designed to adjust to pressure changes in our surroundings – you just need to learn how. If you have no difficulties adjusting to air pressure when flying, you’ll most likely experience no problems learning to adjust to water pressure while diving.
You certainly don’t have to be a good swimmer. As long as you can stay afloat and have basic swimming abilities – it doesn’t matter if this is a slow doggy paddle. Your PADI Instructor will assess this.
Diving does present some inherent risks. You can reduce your chances of having problems while diving by following basic safety rules and learning simple skills. Your dive professional takes precautions, uses experience and exercises good judgement to help keep you as safe as possible. People dive safely every day. However, any time people are in the water and are breathing compressed gas underwater, there is the potential for problems to occur.