I would have thought some of you guys would have responded with at least some questions about this.....
Maybe I should have explained the big WHY that makes Tooka so "Game Changing" for the Resort World, and potentially for the Scuba Industry.
If you were to circulate along a beach, with nearby coral reefs, and found
the norm of over 90% non-divers at the beach, you might ask them WHY they never tried scuba diving, even though a very large percentage of these people DO have a big interest in seeing the coral reefs.
What you will find, is that most non-divers have several things in common, which will make resort course scuba, or OW certs distinctly unattractive to them....in other words, this is why you get to work with only around 1 or 2 out of 100 people....
....What you will find, is that many DO NOT WANT A SCUBA TANK ON THEIR BACK! This is emotionally charged, and almost like a phobia...you will not change this with words or talk about how easy diving can be...they won't be listening or buying your story. The Dive Industry does not get this...they are too busy with "brain trust" ideas like using NASCAR as a marketing tool( NASCAR is a great sporting event, but this marketing fails to deal with the "root issues" preventing the general population from taking OW classes). Many of the non-divers that are not specifically afraid of what some think is a heavy tank on their backs, ARE not inclined to wade through a big instructional class, in order to try diving---it is just too much work, for not enough enjoyment that they can imagine. Most do imagine there are some cool things to see...but they just don't want to work so hard to find out how much they might like it.
Tooka is an approach that began where SNUBA LEFT OFF. Snuba got over 6 million non-divers to try it...it was doing well in Resorts....Where they are weak, is in the equipment used, and in the Instructor techniques for the underwater experiences.
The Snuba Raft is not an ideal platform to stabilize the non-divers comfortably at any time during an underwater experience....the Tooka IS amazingly stable, with handles all around it for guests to easily hang on to, and to use the 400 pounds of bouyancy.
The Snuba hose system allows the non-diver tourists to get very far apart, and frequently has them swimming in opposite directions....it is a horor story from the perspective on an insurer, as was evidenced by the problems they had in the last year.
The Tooka system has hoses that enforce proper "buddy" distances, and which cause the tourists to be swimming in the same direction, working as a team to move in a single direction, and the raft follows.
The most difficult part of training an OW diver, or in doing a Resort Course, is to teach the non-diver how to control their bouyancy. Many OW students get certified with no such skill, and go years without this. Typical resort course divers have a dangerous lack of bouyancy control, and this is the worst part of Resort Coursing non-divers. With Tooka, the Instructor weights each tourist with the amount of weight it takes to make each one about a half pound positive...easy to stay down, but if they stop swimming entirely, they will float up slowly. For all practical purposes, they are weighless in the water, with no up or down foces to fight. This makes them feel comfortable, instantly.
They are limited in depth by our hose configuration....where we dive them at the BHB Marine Park, they are limited by the bottom at 18 feet, but the hose limits them to 25 feet anyway. Even if we take tooka guests to Breakers Reef or Pauls ( two beautiful reefs for scuba divers off of Palm Beach, Fl) we use the crown of the reef, where the depth is around 37 feet, and if the Tooka tourists are at 25 feet, they FEEL emersed, they feel on and in the reef, and they have the time of their lives....their is no need to actually have them bumping in to the reef, and with this depth range, they are always close to the surface, and they are easy to manage for the instructor.
The hoses of the Tooka can be guided by the Instructor, like reigns on a horse, and the tourists controlled. A strong instructor can actually tow the Tooka Raft and the Tourists, for the entire 20 minute tour, if this is desirable. I have done this myself at both the Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park, for divers with no propulsion skills, and for outings when the tidal flow was ripping, in which I fought the current and towed the 2 tourists, and they just relaxed and watched the tour. I have done the towing on beach dives as well off of Singer Island, where I wanted the tourists to get to the reef structures, without effort....This is not something I expect a majority of Tooka instructors will want to do, but it is nice that the system allows it, and makes this easy, for times when this adds expedience.
And the biggest difference between Tooka and Snuba is the training and the Instructors doing the tours...If you become a Tooka Instructor, you will gain a much better concept of how to keep non-divers SAFE in the water, and enjoying themselves. In a way, you could think of this like training to become a 5 Star Resort Tour Director, and your job is to make big money, making sure that the guests are doing NO WORK, having MAXIMUM FUN, and are exposed to no danger or discomfort. You do everything, but you get paid very well for it. This is the Tooka business model, in a nutshell.
Our Tooka UNiversity is a 2 day course. We will not take just anyone, but those we will take, will be trained in this 5 Star service, and they WILL make big money. We have an ideal method to utilize the 98% of the population the Dive Industry has ignored and mis-handled. Through Tooka, You will not only bring the underwater marvels to huge numbers of non-divers, but you will also be responsible for MANY of them deciding that they DO NEED to go to the trouble of getting an OW certification, afterall. They will be hooked on diving. You will then share in the revenue stream of OW training. You will get to be the Instructor that you wanted to be.
This is what Tooka is about....
How about some reactions from you guys?
