A different take on Master Scuba Diver

[Rob9876]

Though I was not diving 10+ years ago, to me there is still plenty of life to marvel at in most places I have dived so far, so I'm not sure it that is really the main impact on participation.

That article is focused on the U.S. in 2021, which is when the cost of gasoline and everything else started increasing dramatically (no politics please), so that probably had some impact.

And let's be real -- though I enjoy quarry diving, and some enjoy muddy rivers, and some enjoy cold lakes, the vast majority of U.S. recreational divers want warm, blue, clear water diving, which basically means long drives for most to SE Florida (I know, also some places in the Gulf when stars align) in the Continental U.S., or air travel elsewhere.

In short, expensive travel + expensive boat rides. Equipment expenses don't have to be much more than golf equipment, but while most American's can play on a decent golf course not too far from home every weekend, most "casual divers" in the U.S. can only get the type of diving they want once or twice a year at most (less if the family wants to use up scarce vacation days to go to NYC, the Grand Canyon, etc.).

 

[Blackcrusader]

New/nervous divers focus is a pin head. They see nothing and are only worried about looking at depth and air. Takes people time to get comfy underwater and actually be aware of their surroundings.

Yes and when they dive with old buggers like me who are happy to give them some tips and do dives with them they tend to relax and be able to look around a bit more and notice things they would otherwise have missed. They also find that I might stop for a minute to look at things and find things they may have otherwise missed. Not all new divers are nervous either, some are very calm on their dives. Also we were all new divers at one time. Give them time to become better divers with more diving.

 

[Jake 10]

I like what you said @Blackcrusader

Quote: “Also we were all new divers at one time. Give them time to become better divers with more diving”

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

New/nervous divers focus is a pin head. They see nothing and are only worried about looking at depth and air. Takes people time to get comfy underwater and actually be aware of their surroundings.

one of the WRSTC requirements for open water divers is to be autonomous. When I first started out, it bothered me that not just my students, but any newly certified student, were typically too nervous to dive with each other after their open water course. That to me was a big failure of their open water courses, and for my students, a big failure on my part. I slowly worked on additional dive planning doc that can be found in the link in my signature to "my dive documents". It is completely impractical for anyone to plan their dives all the time like that. It is only appropriate for divers in their certification courses and as long as it takes for them to relax. I have found that when they verify their cylinder pressure as they go about their dives, they realize "hey, I got this." Though I tell them plan for more time when going from point A to point B to enjoy what there is to see.

 

[Leatherboot69]

Don’t you need 50 dives for the certification?

I like the tone of your post admiring you are not an expert but feel competent. You have a lot of theory and that’s GOOD, but underwater hours in different environments is where the experience is learned. Keep diving and don’t buy the cards to become an “expert” they mean nothing. Logged dives is where you get experience.

I get it, and I bought and paid for a bunch of certs, AOW, Rescue and equipment specialist. I did this initially when I had no one to dove with and only did these classes to dive. After enough classes I met another scuba nutjob who dives every weekend and we started diving together. We will meet at the same place as our shop does it’s training and sometimes we tag along with the classes in the back or do our own thing.

What many fail to realize is, (atleast at my shop) you don’t need to pay for the class to dive in the group. So I will dive with the owner when he takes his students out for deep or wreck. As long as you are competent and don’t need attention the shop shouldn’t mind as you should be an extra set of eyes for the instructor. Sometimes we will buddy up with the class if they have an odd number.

My best advice, stop paying for BS classes and giving money to PADI, and just find a buddy to dive with.

Similar to what you say, what got me into MSD was after completing RD and UW Nav, I realised that because I didn’t have my own kit or know other divers, specialty courses didn’t cost that much more than guided dives with kit hire. Whilst I wouldn’t only want to do specialty courses, I did enjoy learning new skills on training dives. Getting a little card and certificate at the end of it… Well it’s a nice pat on the back and it gives a tangible target to aim for and around which to structure my training. If I hadn’t set myself the goal I would probably not have taken up diving properly, or trained systematically. There’s a lot of views on SB from the top down (I.e highly committed divers) but I originally wanted to present a view from the bottom up (beginner/post-beginner)

I’ve since booked a dive holiday and joined the club that’s attached to my LDS so hopefully I’ll be able to do more rec dives now. Plus I ‘made’ my girlfriend do an OW course because I needed a buddy lol

(BTW 21 training dives plus soon to be 29 recreational dives is my 50 logged dives, plus the five days or so of E-Learning and EFR)

 

[BlueTrin]

Isn’t part of the reason why scuba is less popular that just hobbies shifted to other interests and scuba is relatively expensive in a period where young people can’t afford to buy assets or save for retirement (on average)?

 

[Leatherboot69]

Isn’t part of the reason why scuba is less popular that just hobbies shifted to other interests and scuba is relatively expensive in a period where young people can’t afford to buy assets or save for retirement (on average)?

I think there’s some truth in that. Although it’s anecdotal, I’ve found the people I’ve met in diving are generally better off, and generally older

 

[Baker_Dive]

Similar to what you say, what got me into MSD was after completing RD and UW Nav, I realised that because I didn’t have my own kit or know other divers, specialty courses didn’t cost that much more than guided dives with kit hire. Whilst I wouldn’t only want to do specialty courses, I did enjoy learning new skills on training dives. Getting a little card and certificate at the end of it… Well it’s a nice pat on the back and it gives a tangible target to aim for and around which to structure my training. If I hadn’t set myself the goal I would probably not have taken up diving properly, or trained systematically. There’s a lot of views on SB from the top down (I.e highly committed divers) but I originally wanted to present a view from the bottom up (beginner/post-beginner)

I’ve since booked a dive holiday and joined the club that’s attached to my LDS so hopefully I’ll be able to do more rec dives now. Plus I ‘made’ my girlfriend do an OW course because I needed a buddy lol

(BTW 21 training dives plus soon to be 29 recreational dives is my 50 logged dives, plus the five days or so of E-Learning and EFR)

No shame brother! Glad you did rescue, I believe that is a great course that’s worth it(assuming instructor is average or better). Learning to recognize problems and see other divers before and in the water will make you more aware and better diver. You can tell who will have problems before even getting in the water most cases.

Don’t rush your girl and hopefully she is comfortable and loves it like you do! Once she is certified, you and her should dive the spots you know best multiple times and work on skills as a team. Great relationship building and safer when you have an able bodied Buddy who is on the same wave length as you. Communication is key underwater and lasting relationships.

Do you have your own gear?

What trip you going on?

 

[Baker_Dive]

Isn’t part of the reason why scuba is less popular that just hobbies shifted to other interests and scuba is relatively expensive in a period where young people can’t afford to buy assets or save for retirement (on average)?

Most people I know that are my age stare at phones watching tiktok, and can’t commit to a date a week out. I believe it’s short attention spans and they can’t fathom a few weeks training. Money isn’t the issue it’s our culture. Just my 0.02

 

[Baker_Dive]

one of the WRSTC requirements for open water divers is to be autonomous. When I first started out, it bothered me that not just my students, but any newly certified student, were typically too nervous to dive with each other after their open water course. That to me was a big failure of their open water courses, and for my students, a big failure on my part. I slowly worked on additional dive planning doc that can be found in the link in my signature to "my dive documents". It is completely impractical for anyone to plan their dives all the time like that. It is only appropriate for divers in their certification courses and as long as it takes for them to relax. I have found that when they verify their cylinder pressure as they go about their dives, they realize "hey, I got this." Though I tell them plan for more time when going from point A to point B to enjoy what there is to see.

My first few dives right out of OW were with buddy who get certified same time as me. We dove at the same place we were trained and we got lost, I panicked because I didn’t know where I was, rapidly moving my head around and looking up and down. Then slowly ascended from thirty feet or so and seen we were WAY of course, took a heading and went in towards shore. This was a lake.

You are correct. Hell, the amount of divers I’ve seen who are Advanced and can’t assemble their gear is mind boggling and wish PADI instructors could be more harsh and fail students more. Don’t get me started on PADI training or business model