Are you surprised how non divers perceive diving?

[Kitty_Kat]

Living in an area where most of our dive sites are off very popular tourist beaches, I've gotten some pretty good responses to diving. People always give us great looks as we're tromping into the water with all of this "stuff" when it's 80 degrees out. I've seen children run out of the water screaming about a sea monster (to the amusement of the lifeguards :cool2 as we were surfacing. I've had at least 10 people ask if them/their children could take a picture with us. When night diving, people have actually come out of their hotel to ask us if we were crazy and tell us that we were going to get attacked by a shark, and I can't tell you how many times i've gotten asked "what do you actually see out there anyways?" To be fair, there are plenty of people that are genuinely interested and will admit that they know nothing about it, and love it when you explain it to them and show them how your gear actually works. That's where new divers come from!

 

[KD8NPB]

I gave a little dockside presentation to a bunch of kids on SCUBA diving as I was packing my gear up after a successful dive off a public pier in a local lake.

It was cute.

I was also amazed that there were 3 c-card'ed adults around, but none of them had ever dove in Michigan, only in faraway tropical waters. I made sure to tell them what they were missing out on.

 

[drbill]

I get questions from non-divers out at the dive park all the time:

1. Isn't it dangerous? (Have you tried driving the 101 Freeway in Lost Angeles?)

2. What do you see down there? (Everything! A whole different world.)

3. Aren't you afraid of sharks? (Where do you think all the holes in my wetsuit came from?)

4. How deep do you go? (Usually to the bottom)

5. How long can you stay under on one tank?

6. Is that a camera?

7. Isn't it dangerous to dive alone (You should see some of the buddies I've dived with)

8. Hey handsome, how'd you like to go out to dinner with me (Actually. that question has never been asked but I'm still hopeful)

 

[charlesml3]

I almost universally get the same comment:

"Great photos! Were you snorkeling?

"No, scuba."

"Oh. I could never do that. I'm way too claustrophobic."

I have no idea why people who self-diagnose themselves with claustrophobia seem to think that has anything whatsoever to do with diving. I used to try to reason with them and adjust their perceptions but now I just smile.

-Charles

 

[dfx]

I almost universally get the same comment:

"Great photos! Were you snorkeling?

"No, scuba."

"Oh. I could never do that. I'm way too claustrophobic."

I have no idea why people who self-diagnose themselves with claustrophobia seem to think that has anything whatsoever to do with diving. I used to try to reason with them and adjust their perceptions but now I just smile.

-Charles

Funny, I've heard the exact same argument just last week

 

[RonFrank]

1. Are you scared of sharks?
2. How deep did you go?
3. How long were you down?
4. Was it Dark?
5. Were you scared?
6. Is it scarey?
7. What happens when you run out of air?

These are the top questions from Adults!

 

[jewelofnile69]

I was terrified of diving before learning to dive...mostly because I was terrified of the ocean. I didn't grow up on a lake or in a family that did lake events so I don't think I even knew people dove in lakes until sometime when I was in the Army. So no, peoples crazy questions now don't surprise me because I asked them when I finally got interested in the idea of getting certified. I think I'm a great example to other non-divers of the crazy thoughts that go through your head that freak yourself out.

Then again, I never understood why in the hell people would run a marathon or do an ironman until I did them both myself or why in the hell anyone would diet down for a physique contest until I did that myself or join the Army because how hard boot camp looked but I did that too....

---------- Post Merged at 03:24 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:21 PM ----------

I almost universally get the same comment:

"Great photos! Were you snorkeling?

"No, scuba."

"Oh. I could never do that. I'm way too claustrophobic."

I have no idea why people who self-diagnose themselves with claustrophobia seem to think that has anything whatsoever to do with diving. I used to try to reason with them and adjust their perceptions but now I just smile.

-Charles

Well, I will say this about the claustraphobia piece....some people have an issue with things on their face and it's not about being claustraphobic...they just have issues with things on their face. So get them to admit that and stop self-diagnosing themselves.

 

[coldwaterdufus]

On one of our lake dives last year my buddy and I surfaced approx 500 ft off shore, swam back to shore where we encountered this guy who came running up to us, all breathless. "I just phoned 911 (the emergency line) he said. I thought your boat had sank and you were drowning" ............

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Should've heard some of the questions we got from the guy who took this picture ... he started out by asking us if we were nuts ...

I said "Yeah, we are ... but sometimes being crazy's kinda fun ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[j2s]

Non-divers are aliens from another planet and should all be sent back, they don't belong on the 'Blue Planet' ;P !!!!!!