ElGuano:
I guess my response to this is whether diving itself has changed from when it was back in the old days. Did the same number or proportion of people get into it just to enjoy a few dives on vacation, or were they more serious about engaging in a long-term hobby?
There's also some agreement that modern equipment is better at keeping newbie divers alive (alt. second stages, pony tanks, etc.). The same might be said for diving locations/operations (numerous operations with guides/DMs, established, safe dive locations without major hazards).
In essence, my belief is that diving has become much "safer" and more accessible than in the days of Cousteau (or perhaps even more recently), and as such certification programs have adapted to suit the bell curve--much more recreation, much less exploration.
Diving in itself has not changed. The core techniques are still as they hwere 25-30 years ago.
The teaching of diving has changed, and I have been around as an instructor to see the changes.
I do not feel that it has become safer.
The equipment HAS improved. It is safer. But it is not the equipment as such that keeps the diver alive, but his ability to cope with situations.
Neither have diving operations changed, there are still now as then, good professional operation as there are bad. There are parts of the world, like europe, that the diving industry, has been put into a legal framework to ENSURE, an overall service and safety. This does not mean that there are no unscrupolous operations around. It simply means that there is a form of checks and balances, like industry inspectors, to help weed these operations to ship up or close down.
I feel that instruction has become less of a discipline and more about making money.
As was said, when the instructor certifies you he is in effect saying that you have reached MASTERY in the required skills at that level. Often this is not so. So that a person that has NOT mastered something as basic as mask removal, a core value skill, is still certified. Often he will go onto more advanced courses, allowing greater depth ranges, with that specific problem not dealt with.
I do not have your take that the general opinion is that diving HAS become safer. It is easier, but not safer. How can that be?
The enviorment is still as alien and potentially dangerous as it was 60 years ago, yet in training, trainees are spending less time underwater. AND, because of time constrains, in some instances being certified without MASTERY.
There are two basic differences between then and now.
Today, there is neither the, realisation, nor is it being thought, that the sea is an alien potentially dangerous enviorment that should be treated with alot of respect. So that a diver that trains in the clear warm waters of the Mediteranean of or the Cayman, is now qualified to dive in the cold dark silty waters of some Canadian lake.
In the second instance they are spending less time In the water, on courses. So taht, because it is all to the discretion of the instructor, all the confined sessions in the OW can be done within a day. Where is the ratio of repetion needed for Mastery of skills.
Over the last 20 years divers have been in incidents or fatalities for the same reasons. Diving beyond the limits of their experience, running out of air, and buddy seperation. They are still drowning at the surface or underwater, because they do not drop the weightbelt. I really beleive that if divers are still dying for the same reasons they did then, even though efforts have been nade to direct training towards these problems, is an indication that nothing has really changed. Except that maybe there are more divers out there that are less prepared to deal with the enviorment.
