A deceptively easy way to die

[kelemvor]

I thought pady spent a lot of money some time back to discover that "scary" = "sales" in diving, no?

 

[mikeycanuk]

It is required viewing in my OW class. I also recommend it to all advanced students. Like to see an updated version with better resolution and it be required viewing for all OW classes with every agency.

I saw this during our class work. Pretty sure it was AOW.

 

[jadairiii]

...What percentage of divers ever go near a cave of that sort?

.....

In Florida, lots of divers. Spend a weekend driving around central and North Florida and count the rec divers/snorkelers diving in the basins and cavern zones of some pretty major caves.

Not to mention, lots of "open water" divers did their training in the basins of these caves.

 

[victorzamora]

We were living in VA at the time, and my wife took her training in one of those cave basins. We were in the "actually-OW" portion, within rules, and it was a great place to train year-round. Almost everyone in that basin I've seen was there for OW or AOW training or Rec practice (like a prettier swimming pool). There are plenty of people that train and/or dive near cave entrances.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I don't know where you find these folks, maybe your practice attracts an odd mix. I'm confident most I've ever met would instantly regard entering a cave underwater - beyond a couple of feet just for the fun - without training as something to take a second thought about, whether they were OW certified or not. I'm also going to venture that most people make up their mind about scuba from other influences, which is what I intended the gist of my criticism to be.

You can find quite a lot of them in Florida ... particularly at Ginnie on a hot summer day. But they're not unique to that area. I believe there's a cottage industry in certain parts of Italy from "tours" of underwater caves. Seems not that long ago when a whole group of tourists died inside of a cave ... taken in there by a dive guide who also had no overhead dive training. Oddly, not a single one of those people seemed to recognize the danger ...

Good on you for shaking it off and knowing what's appropriate and sticking with it. Many will just assume if all the supposed pros are saying how dangerous it is that maybe they should stay away.

I haven't found that to be the case at all. In nearly 12 years of teaching scuba I've yet to have a single student who decided to stop diving because of something that was said about its potential dangers. During that same time period I've known many who dropped out after inadvertently putting themselves in a bad situation and scaring the crap out of themselves. Some of those were people who, prior to their mishap, had been extremely avid divers. I don't ... at all ... buy the argument that we shouldn't be talking about the potential dangers of scuba at a "basic" level ... if it helps people think about mitigating risks before they get in the water, I see only upsides to doing so. By the same token, I think instructors who avoid that conversation ... or who sugar-coat the risks by telling their clients how easy it is ... often set their clients up for failure. Then when those people do something scary, out of ignorance or misplaced confidence in their abilities, they end up deciding that scuba is not for them ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Storker]

Seems not that long ago when a whole group of tourists died inside of a cave ... taken in there by a dive guide who also had no overhead dive training. Oddly, not a single one of those people seemed to recognize the danger ...

2012.

The Blood grotto a couple of hours' drive south from Napoli.

Link to A&I thread in post #18


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Typos are a feature, not a bug

 

[victorzamora]

You can find quite a lot of them in Florida ... particularly at Ginnie on a hot summer day. But they're not unique to that area. I believe there's a cottage industry in certain parts of Italy from "tours" of underwater caves. Seems not that long ago when a whole group of tourists died inside of a cave ... taken in there by a dive guide who also had no overhead dive training. Oddly, not a single one of those people seemed to recognize the danger ...

I saw a Divemaster Candidate lead a group of nearly a dozen freshly-minted OW divers into a cave with 3 lights between them and two were on a camera rig by the DMC. It was "just" to the Piano room in Vortex (300ft beyond sunlight, 110ft deep or so). All of them bounced along the bottom and weren't able to stay neutral. I approached the DMC off to the side and he laughed about it and about how bad their trim and buoyancy was, but they were learning and it wasn't really a cave and nobody could really die in there. Worst part? DMC was a nice guy and genuinely didn't know of the dangers.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I once saw a group of five divers coming out of the cave at Car Wash. The only person in the group who had a light was the leader ... I'm assuming he was some sort of paid dive guide, as he was also the only one in the group who looked like he had any buoyancy skills. Had his light gone out while they were inside that cave, I wish them luck finding their way out ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I still maintain that this is one of the best training videos in diving. It sends a basic message and the potential results if you don't heed the warning.

 

[Doppler]

On Christmas day.

To test new gear.


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