mccabejc
Contributor
New guy, recently got my OW in May, have only dived once after that, only because I haven't had the opportunity. That should change this weekend if my sinuses clear up. Damn Santa Ana winds....
Anyway, one thing I shouldn't have done is to look thru the Scuba Diving Magazine's "Lessons for Life" part of their training section, where they recount numerous dive accidents and fatalities. Same goes for the Accidents section of this board, especially where so many people talk about friends who have died while diving. Wow. Good way to scare the crap out of a new guy. Of course, I realize that by going thru the lessons learned from all of these I become a better diver. As a matter of fact, I'm developing a Dive Buddy Checklist from all of these incidents which I'm going to laminate and carry with me whenever I dive. And there ain't NO buddy of mine who isn't going to go thru each and every one of the items !!!! DROP AND GIVE ME 20 !!!!
And I'll probably buy a pony bottle setup pretty soon, too.
But when people say things like "diving is the safest of the 'risk' sports", isn't that like saying "flying a purple polka dotted dirigible on the third Sunday of the month is the safest way to fly"? There's just not that large a population of divers, I would suspect. Maybe I'll join DAN and see what they've got. I just wonder how safe diving is from the standpoint of number of accidents relative to total person-hours underwater, or something like that.
Anyway, I guess I have a healthy fear that will keep me extra cautious, and probably a pretty good buddy, since I'll take it VERY seriously. But how many buddies will I find who will want to stay at less than 10 feet on our dives?
Anyway, one thing I shouldn't have done is to look thru the Scuba Diving Magazine's "Lessons for Life" part of their training section, where they recount numerous dive accidents and fatalities. Same goes for the Accidents section of this board, especially where so many people talk about friends who have died while diving. Wow. Good way to scare the crap out of a new guy. Of course, I realize that by going thru the lessons learned from all of these I become a better diver. As a matter of fact, I'm developing a Dive Buddy Checklist from all of these incidents which I'm going to laminate and carry with me whenever I dive. And there ain't NO buddy of mine who isn't going to go thru each and every one of the items !!!! DROP AND GIVE ME 20 !!!!
And I'll probably buy a pony bottle setup pretty soon, too.
But when people say things like "diving is the safest of the 'risk' sports", isn't that like saying "flying a purple polka dotted dirigible on the third Sunday of the month is the safest way to fly"? There's just not that large a population of divers, I would suspect. Maybe I'll join DAN and see what they've got. I just wonder how safe diving is from the standpoint of number of accidents relative to total person-hours underwater, or something like that.
Anyway, I guess I have a healthy fear that will keep me extra cautious, and probably a pretty good buddy, since I'll take it VERY seriously. But how many buddies will I find who will want to stay at less than 10 feet on our dives?