Do I need to be a good swimmer to scuba dive?

It is thought that you don't need to be a super strong swimmer in order to scuba dive.  While it is true that when you are under the water you feel very free and do not need to exert much effort in order to move and swim; however, there are situations in which you will need to swim.  First of all, for your scuba diving certification you must be able to swim at least 200 m unaided on the surface and you must be able to tread water for at least 10 minutes.  Why?  Well there are times when you may need to swim on the surface to your boat or base once the dive is finished and that is with all your heavy dive gear on.  You may also need to deal with strong currents in which you will need to swim.  If an emergency situation arises, you will need to swim – period.  You might need to swim to save yourself and you might need to aid another person as well.