What was diving industry like 40 years ago?

[endurodog]

While not as far back as you asked, it's close. 30 years ago this month I certified NAUI. It was a college course so we were in the class room and pool lots. The old saying was you could get any color gear you wanted as long as it was black. We had the Mae West BC, oral inflate only. No octo but practice lots of buddy breathing skills. Then we did tables, tables, and more tables. Navy dive tables instead of rec tables of today. My instructor was a task master and we did lots of pool then the open water in Puget Sound, very cold!!!! My instructor talked all the time about how PADI was going to be the end of the scuba industry and how it sucked. I had other friends that did NAUI that got less training than now and got their cards. I was 17 and would have done what ever it took to get certified. Good times.

 

[DCBC]

...My instructor talked all the time about how PADI was going to be the end of the scuba industry and how it sucked.

I wonder why?

 

[supergaijin]

I was 17 and would have done what ever it took to get certified.

While many posters have talked about the operators- this here sums up the enthusiasm of the students. Students today are much less motivated to put in the 'hard yards' to become accompished divers. The 'sport' of diving has been all but lost in the i-generation.

 

[DCBC]

...Students today are much less motivated to put in the 'hard yards' to become accompished divers. The 'sport' of diving has been all but lost in the i-generation.

Could it be that there are few places a Student can go to learn in a more comprehensive way? My course hasn't fundamentally changed since 1971 (50-65 training hours), but I don't see anything close being offered outside of a Club environment. So is the lost motivation on the part of the Students or the Instructors? Perhaps its the Dive Shops and Agencies that just want to turn a faster buck and have shortened the training programs to do so?

 

[supergaijin]

My reality is working with vacation divers and students wanting to learn on vacation. Your 'local' situation is quite different- I would imagine similar to when I was instructing in NZ.

When I used to work on resorts in the Maldives, it was not common for the students to have finished their revision on time. More common was to say " Yeah I looked at it".

8AM was much too early to start classes. The poor lambs.

A common question was "what is the minimum time" to make the license.... because they were on vacation and wanted to relax.

So.... no, in my experience it hasn't been about the operator reducing the course to turn a buck since I stopped working at backpacker destinations.

 

[DCBC]

A common question was "what is the minimum time" to make the license.... because they were on vacation and wanted to relax.

I would suggest that in this case, people shouldn't be certified to "dive unsupervised" until they are in-fact competent to do so. I haven't seen many divers that complete an OW course at a resort that are. DMs and Instructors are usually required. Such is my experience anyway...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing you or any Instructor for providing training to vacationers that want to see the fish. I suppose I just have to question the Agencies motivation to lower Standards to a point where full certification is attainable by some who possess poor in-water ability and buoyancy skills and then say that these people are certified Divers that are capable of diving unsupervised.

Normally in today's Society, the time required to be accredited in anything isn't reduced because people are on vacation. The certification industry prostitutes itself to remain competitive and make money. Because DMs and Instructors are involved in resort areas, there's no harm done. The same Standards are however applied locally where conditions are worse and DMs and Instructors are likely to not be readily available...

 

[MichaelS.]

What wonderful stories these are I guess we as a sport are to that point where we need to start protecting our past as the pioneers are slowly leaving us. This also makes me wonder what I will remember about scuba 40yrs in the future? I wonder if scuba board will last it would be a tremendous record of events?.

 

[DCBC]

What wonderful stories these are I guess we as a sport are to that point where we need to start protecting our past as the pioneers are slowly leaving us.

No one really cares much what old divers have to say anyway... We just congregate, dive deep-air, buddy breath, try to keep fit and do free ascents for practice. The Zero-to-Hero Instructors have all the answers now.

 

[danvolker]

No one really cares much what old divers have to say anyway... We just congregate, dive deep-air, buddy breath, try to keep fit and do free ascents for practice. The Zero-to-Hero Instructors have all the answers now.

If we did not do the posts about what used to be.....Revisionism being what it is in the Dive Industry, much of what used to be normal-- would be spoken of now as impossible or as an invitation to Euthanasia

 

[MichaelS.]

Lol does that mean we need a quest to find divings lost history?