I rather doubt many people are attracted to diving for the whole quarry/lake scene, and I rarely see any promotional materials/DVDs/T.V. shows/etc. extolling the virtues of such locations. The diving industry will be a tiny fraction of it's former self, any way you slice it.
And this is one of the MAJOR problems with the industry as a whole. Most of the ads you see from the agencies, DEMA, Manufacturers, and shops portray warm exotic locations. Even my own site I'm sorry to say after looking at it has pics of those types of dives. (I'll be remedying that soon with some local pics in my photos section.)
I am careful to note local diving in much of the text though. But getting back to my initial statement. For the most part, and I was discussing this with the owner of the shop yesterday, the warm water vacation diver does little to keep the local dive shop afloat. They take a class, buy MSF, and are never seen again. The local divers are back all the time. Getting air fills, buying little stuff, buying bc's/regs/suits. Buying dry suits. Taking more classes to learn to deal with more challenging conditions.
As long as this keeps up I do see the industry shrinking and of it's own making. Has nothing to do with so-called global warming (hell rising seas just create more dive sites!), oil spills, or whatever. It has to do with training people to just go where it's warm, rent their gear, and be sheep to a DM or Guide shepard
. I do everything I can with every student to get them to see that local diving is where they really learn to enjoy the sport. That is where they learn to just relax and enjoy the feeling as much as the sights underwater. To work on their skills, to see what they thought didn't exist.
There is a great diversity of life in just about every freshwater location. They just have to look for it a little harder. AND NOT SCREW UP THE VIS WHILE THEY ARE DOING THAT! :shocked2: How many people on their ow checkout dives even were given time to look at the little stuff, had it pointed out to them, and just hung there horizontal and were allowed to just breathe? More likely they rushed thru the skills, swam a little course led by the instructor or DM and got out.
There is a lot of discussion about DEMA and the misdirection it has been going. But all the members are at fault for allowing it. Every instructor and shop that takes a lackadasical attitude toward their local quarry or lake and tries to sell students on trips deserves to go under! Every manufacturer that focuses much of their line on the warm water diver and doesn't promote diving at places like Dutch Springs, the Great Lakes, mud holes in Texas, and little ponds throughout the US and the world has NO BUSINESS complaining about the industry decline. They have all done it to themselves. I would love to be able to dive in all these exotic places. Been to Bonaire, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Keys, Monterey. But htose places all cost money and take time. For what my trip to PR cost and the student whose checkouts I did picked up a big part of the tab, I could have gotten 3 trips on Lake Erie, gas and air fills for 15 or 20 of the local quarry/lake dives, and still had money for lunch!
The PR trip could have been done with me taking none of my own gear. Local dives require a drysuit or heavy wetsuit, my own bc so if it was a busy weekend I did not have to settle for what the shop had left in rental, my own cold water reg because renting gets expensive over time, a light, etc. All of this had to be bought from someplace.
Usually the local shop unless they get SO LITTLE REPEAT business from the warm water wuss vacation divers that they have to keep their prices high. Or because some mfg's engage in such restrictive and PRIMITIVE price fixing deals with the shops that they cannot give good deals. While they turn a blind eye to those that buy from their overseas ops and sell at below MAP because it is still money in their pockets.
Oh man what a Sunday morning! I have a new class starting today. 4 students who are driving 2 hours each way for 6 weeks for it. Taught a snorkeling class yesterday for a family going to the keys next month. By the end they were asking what local lakes allow it to be done there. Because during the class I related how each skill would benefit them and allow them to see stuff HERE- LOCALLY!
The 4 people I have coming this afternoon now know that they will be passing at least 5 places with lakes that they can dive that they never knew they could. The other OW class I'm in week 3 of is already itching to go into a lake with 5-10 foot vis and feed the catfish hotdogs. There is not even any talk of exotic locations. The one lady is going to Negril in Aug for a wedding but she is, I think, looking forward just as much to Mt Storm, the Yough Lake, and a local quarry where the bluegills follow you like dogs!
And they are already asking about buying their own gear. What bc do I recommend, what reg, do they need one light or two if they will only be doing daylight dives? And ya know what? I'm putting off answering because at this point it is not about selling gear, it's about teaching them how to dive. Week 5 or 6 I'll start making suggestions because they will still have 2-3 more sessions to use their own if they choose to buy. At this point when they ask me about skill practice and what do I recommend it always starts with how local diving is the best thing they can do to stay sharp.
Training to me does not need anymore streamlining. In some cases it has been not only streamlined but sliced, diced, and what was left compacted in car crusher and spit out in this little tiny cube that has no resemblance to what it was at one time. What needs to be done is expand it to include those things that will make a diver that actually does meet RSTC goals even though their minimum standards for training do not come close to encouraging that.
And we need to get away from the focus on resorts and put it on those spots that will encourage divers to want to get more training as opposed to giving them "just enough to get by" and scare the crap out of themselves or convince them they NEED more for the sake of the bottom line and never dive again. They also will see that it can only beenfit them to buy their own gear for local diving.
The local divers are the heart and backbone of the industry and yet the industry has been doing everything it can to stick a big serrated knife right into the middle of them.
