Future Directions: Where Is Diving Going?

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Skulmoski

Contributor
Messages
476
Reaction score
258
Location
Gold Coast, QLD
# of dives
100 - 199
At some point, we will be diving more. We are unlikely to go back to normal; instead, we will create and figure out a new normal. What might that look like for divers, dive operators, manufacturers, and others we include in our dive community? Where will R&D go?

I see the following:
  1. Increase in basic public health precautions like face masks, social distancing and improved hand hygiene
  2. Increase in regulator sales as some divers may prefer to purchase their own rather than use regulators provided by dive shops
  3. Reduction in face-to-face theory classes replaced by online learning
  4. Changes to travel insurance
  5. Reduction in new divers due to reduced travel
  6. Incomplete bucket lists! (I might not get to Silfra and the Slovakian Opal Mines!)
  7. Isolation-friendly dive resorts (rather than spend 14 days in isolation, you can spend it on your own live-aboard and dive for two weeks! For the ultra rich of course!)

And your predictions?
 
If we survive Godzilla and the following meteor...

For most, I think things will slowly return to normal. Measures will be put into place to give people a false sense of security and they will go about business as usual. For those familiar with calculated risks, it will just be another factor in the equation.

Hopefully there will be sustained improvements in rental gear sanitation, but they will probably just move to disposable mouth pieces , and disinfect the 2nd stage body poorly.
 
and disinfect the 2nd stage body poorly.
All they will need to do is to dump it in soapy water for a minute, rinse and dry. Mask rinse buckets that use baby shampoo will be perfect for such a thing.
I'm not sure where this will take us. Online stores are feeling the pinch as well as brick and mortar stores. Resorts are really feeling the loss of business and it's even trickling down to people who rely on them, like ScubaBoard.

It's my opinion that the best thing you can do for our sport is to go diving as soon as you feel safe. Take a class. Take a cruise on a liveaboard. Patronize a resort. Hey, I wouldn't mind you going red, either! :D :D :D
 
I fell the term "new normal" to be one of the most dangerous combinations. It means that you should expect things to be different and just accept that without challenge.

This virus, and any after it, are not predictable or preventable. They are just a fact of life and have been happening for generations. No amount of changes will prevent this from happening again at some point. There is no "new normal" unless people bow down and allow it.

"new normal" is as dangerous and "shelter in place"....just using words to get compliance/acceptance by people that want to control the narrative to create a reality that shouldn't exist. Similar to saying "undocumented alien" instead of "illegal alien" or "intellectual" disability instead of "retarded" --- Calling someone Advanced or have and Advanced/Accelerated program for super intelligent is 110% fine but retarded is not for the opposite. It's all control.

***Anyone have a ladder I could borrow to get off this soapbox I climbed up on????
 
I fell the term "new normal" to be one of the most dangerous combinations. It means that you should expect things to be different and just accept that without challenge.

***Anyone have a ladder I could borrow to get off this soapbox I climbed up on????

NOPE
New normal does not mean what you have defined. I have a ladder for you. Please check your PM. Take care.
 
I see the following:
  1. Increase in basic public health precautions like face masks, social distancing and improved hand hygiene
  2. Increase in regulator sales as some divers may prefer to purchase their own rather than use regulators provided by dive shops
  3. Reduction in face-to-face theory classes replaced by online learning
  4. Changes to travel insurance
  5. Reduction in new divers due to reduced travel
  6. Incomplete bucket lists! (I might not get to Silfra and the Slovakian Opal Mines!)
  7. Isolation-friendly dive resorts (rather than spend 14 days in isolation, you can spend it on your own live-aboard and dive for two weeks! For the ultra rich of course!)

And your predictions?

IMO, my prediction is, that if this is the long term "new normal", that these standards will greatly lessen the health of the public and before long, the common cold, flu, or infection will be a fatal condition.....(or at least much more so than they already can be in certain situations)

The virus is out in the wild now, and it always will be. That's just the simple fact of it. But eventually, through whatever method(s), herd immunity will eventually run it's course and SARS-COV-2/Covid will become a part of the typical seasonal patterns, right along side Influenza and Rhinovirus. And nobody will bat an eye at it....
 
The “new normal” will last until immunity, natural or vaccine.

Heck, its not even lasting that long in the general community. North Carolina numbers are climbing and we are opening up more public venues. Push back has increased and precautions have decreased as we become accustomed to the deaths. The shock value is no longer there and until someone is directly affective by Covid 19 it is now just numbers on the screen/paper.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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