Emo Diver

[kelemvor]

for some reason i didn't think the Flower Gardens Reef in the Gulf was considered part due to how far off shore it is? What can you say about marketers?

It's not part of Florida. According to NOAA, that reef is 100mi offshore. Florida's waters extend only 10mi. It is probably under control of the united states as there is a special ruling for the continental shelf in the 1982 UN convention on the Law of the Sea Territorial waters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The water above the reef wouldn't be included in US territory, but the reef its-self could if I read it right. Given that it's in the gulf, it might be only 100mi from Mexico too... in which case... who knows.

 

[Kharon]

I strongly prefer solo diving BUT this thread has made me think. From now on I will buddy with the least experienced diver on all of our club dives, cultivate patience, and try to help them develop any skills I can. I can dive solo on vacation. On club outings maybe I can do some good.

 

[tursiops]

Flower Gardens is in the US EEZ.

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[Wookie]

It's not part of Florida. According to NOAA, that reef is 100mi offshore. Florida's waters extend only 10mi. It is probably under control of the united states as there is a special ruling for the continental shelf in the 1982 UN convention on the Law of the Sea Territorial waters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The water above the reef wouldn't be included in US territory, but the reef its-self could if I read it right. Given that it's in the gulf, it might be only 100mi from Mexico too... in which case... who knows.

No, it isn't part of Florida, but the statement was not Florida, but Continental US. Flower Gardens is 110 miles offshore, but it is on the continental shelf, is in the US EEZ, is considered federal waters, and is managed by a part of the US Department of Commerce. Admittedly, American Samoa meets much of this criteria as well, all except the continental shelf bit.....

 

[sportxlh]

....... I do appreciate that they identify a group of divers who need remedial training. The fact that they try to make it "fun" by doing something superficially challenging isn't necessarily undermining the good work they (intend to) do. It just means that they have the same problem I have... which is that most people, even if they recognize how bad their training was, would sooner not dive than pay *even more* money in the (slim) hope that the next guy is any better. They're looking for a carrot that will get people interested.............

I think you are right, they've identified a need and are trying to find a way to fill it with additional (hopefully decent) training.

The whole basis or need for the EmOcean class made me reflect on how interesting it is to note how much dive training has changed over the years to become far more 'user friendly'. Sometimes I wonder if these changes really prepare divers for their OW certification. When I was first certified way back in 1984, the training was far more rigorous. We had to prove we could actually swim (10-20 laps in an Olympic pool in a specified period of time: I puked on my first attempt) and we had to conduct safety drills time and time and time again at the bottom of the a university dive pool (e.g. high dive) and demonstrate buoyancy control without a BC but using the old style horse collars (proper weighting was key)! It all was capped off with 'hell' night when the instructor and his assistants swam around us in the dive pool and pulled off masks, shut off gas, pulled off fins to ensure we had the presence of mind to deal with an emergency. That was followed by our 6 OW dives. All this training took place over 10-12 weeks, not a long weekend. Our dive instructor was pretty confident in our abilities before he issued a c-card. I suppose one can question if such procedures really produced better divers or not.....regardless, I don't think many of the folks that were certified in such a way would likely need an EmOcean continuing education certification unless they were away from diving for a long period of time

Late last year, I mentioned the 1984 OW training regimen to my deco procedure/advance nitrox TDI instructor and he laughed then commented that this sort of training simply would be a lawsuit waiting to happen in the current environment. Aside from that, many potential OW participants would be chased away from the industry because the training was so 'un-user friendly' so the certifying agencies would no longer support anything remotely like this.

Hopefully Divers Direct will help get some poorly trained divers better training so they can actively participate in and enjoy the sport.

 

[iluvtheocean]

that would be a good idea... another good idea for Divers Direct would be to install Hyper filters finally so people can finally get fills there w/o ruining their o2 clean tanks...

 

[tech_diver]

"The warm clear waters of Florida's reef ecosystem are a beautiful site for a dive-cation, and it's the only living coral reef in the continental USA!"

Hey?!? What about Stetson Bank? Doesn't it count?

 

[kevinjc86]

I'm not sure what the actual ad in Sport Diver showed but according to Diver Direct's website and in-store flyer the "Diver Upgrade Program" which costs $895 consists of the Advanced Open Water certification and the completion of 2 specialties (Peak Performance Buoyancy and Enriched Air).

It includes gear rental, the 3 course manuals and DVD and $100 giftcard. I don't entirely think $895 (including tax) is bad for all that but the best deal comes when they run the "2 for 1".

Will I do it? NO. I just want to do the AOW and do 2 specialties on my own down the road.