What is the fundamental reason that prevents scuba diving from becoming popular?

[Blackcrusader]

Without wanting to be mean, in many 'exotic' destinations, divers are seen like 'cash making sheeps'... when I dove the Thiselgorm 15 years ago, we had OWD going well beyond their certification limits. I remeber those two girls run out of air almost immediately after reaching the wreck. The DM left a bunch of us waiting at 30m (!) to accompany them back to the surface. I was quite surprised no one drowned as pretty soon, we all had low air just from sitting there at depth.

Cert limits only apply to students in training courses even PADI says you can dive deeper than your training limit.
You can end a dive at anytime you don't need to follow a DM. At 30m I use about 60 bar after 30 minutes so well into deco obligation by then. Other divers use a lot more so yes you need to monitor your NDL and gas supply.

 

[El Diablo]

I think that most of these problems arise from the shop-based approach. In many countries, people who approach diving do not go to shops, they go to clubs or to diving schools. These are no profit organizations, they do not sell anything, just the annual association fee. Instructors are unpaid volunteers, the club owns a lot of equipment which is provided free for students, and then rented to associates for a minimal fee.
So the beginner has no big upfront cost. The club environment is very good for girls, they are highly welcome and treated with respect and helpfullness. Many volunteer instructors in clubs are female.
I see that all these problems for beginners are less evident in places where diving clubs are active, and shops are used just in the rare case you are in hurry to buy something and you cannot wait a couple of days for online purchase.

You're probably right.

In Greece where I got certified, the majority of Dive Stores are actually actively involved with the community. Rarely they try to sell BS to new divers because first and foremost, the majority cannot afford it and 2nd, their reputation is quite important as there are quite a few shops but not so many divers

Its quite a small circle and worth of mouth is super important. In the Dive Center I used to work, we also had affiliation with some of the dive stores and we used to help our newly certified divers with their equipment purchase. We got a little kick-back but the divers also got a little discount so everybody was happy. From my experience and interestingly enough, especially male divers tend to buy 'cooler' and more expensive stuff than suggested

 

[Marie13]

Although 4 years is not a huge amount of time, due to his limited experience, I would suggest to take a refreshment course and also practice in similar conditions (if possible). Shipwrecks tend to have current, lack of visibility, marine life, etc. Just to avoid any unnecessary scares

This is a 200ft+ deep wreck. Bit of a different animal.

 

[El Diablo]

Cert limits only apply to students in training courses even PADI says you can dive deeper than your training limit.
You can end a dive at anytime you don't need to follow a DM. At 30m I use about 60 bar after 30 minutes so well into deco obligation by then. Other divers use a lot more so yes you need to monitor your NDL and gas supply.

That's correct and as I wrote, 'beyond their certification limits' and not as limited by any official organization.

The problem occurs when you get 2 newly certified divers with practical experimentation at a little beyond 18m, submerge them in low light & visibility water, with a strong current - waiving like flags on the line, deeper and 'scarier' than they've ever been.

And of course we need to monitor our air supply as well as out buddy's

 

[El Diablo]

This is a 200ft+ deep wreck. Bit of a different animal.

Just one question Marie:
Is your friend a technical diver? (that's more than 60m!).
Without Trimix we are talking about possible O² poisoning (close to the 1.6ATA limit) and not just the bends...

 

[Marie13]

Just one question Marie:
Is your friend a technical diver? (that's more than 60m!).
Without Trimix we are talking about possible O² poisoning (close to the 1.6ATA limit) and not just the bends...

Not yet. No kidding about the helium. No one does dives like this on air anymore. It’s stupid. My point was friend had wasted a number of years he could have used for gaining experience to do this 200ft plus deep wreck. He seems to not get that. I just hope he does it safely.

 

[Wibble]

Although 4 years is not a huge amount of time, due to his limited experience, I would suggest to take a refreshment course and also practice in similar conditions (if possible). Shipwrecks tend to have current, lack of visibility, marine life, etc. Just to avoid any unnecessary scares

Provided one is healthy enough, wealthy enough and dived up enough, there's no reason for not diving well into one's 60's and beyond. Ultimately it's health that will stop your diving.

Rebreathers really make life so much easier as they're just much better during a dive; obviously you need to have the hours and appropriate experience on them. This means most of the interesting dive sites that are difficult to get to on open circuit are then accessible.

Most deep dives are the same old profile of drop in, go deep, watch your bottom time with respect to your time to surface, ascend, then it's a long period of rest on your deco stops. What's not to like.

The big thing in diving is putting the practice in and being quite pedantic in the way you keep your equipment. This requires dedication and putting aside the time.

 

[El Diablo]

Not yet. No kidding about the helium. No one does dives like this on air anymore. It’s stupid. My point was friend had wasted a number of years he could have used for gaining experience to do this 200ft plus deep wreck. He seems to not get that. I just hope he does it safely.

Yeah... that sounds a little sketchy... I wish him good luck.

 

[Wibble]

Cert limits only apply to students in training courses even PADI says you can dive deeper than your training limit.
You can end a dive at anytime you don't need to follow a DM. At 30m I use about 60 bar after 30 minutes so well into deco obligation by then. Other divers use a lot more so yes you need to monitor your NDL and gas supply.

???

If you're certified to 18m (PADI OW), then going beyond that is simply between you and your insurance company.

Maybe could call that foolish, guess it depends upon the diver's ability and attitude to diving.

One would expect them to have their Additional Open Water (AOW) and probably taken the Deep speciality within that.

 

[El Diablo]

Provided one is healthy enough, wealthy enough and dived up enough, there's no reason for not diving well into one's 60's and beyond. Ultimately it's health that will stop your diving.

Rebreathers really make life so much easier as they're just much better during a dive; obviously you need to have the hours and appropriate experience on them. This means most of the interesting dive sites that are difficult to get to on open circuit are then accessible.

Most deep dives are the same old profile of drop in, go deep, watch your bottom time with respect to your time to surface, ascend, then it's a long period of rest on your deco stops. What's not to like.

The big thing in diving is putting the practice in and being quite pedantic in the way you keep your equipment. This requires dedication and putting aside the time.

Everything you say makes perfect sense. However, it seems that our friend above lacks the most important thing: Experience. So all and all, going from being out of shape and not diving for 4 years to 200 feet is... 'challenging' (to put it nice).

Regarding rebreathers, I have very limited experience with them (I took an 'illegal' course from an Army buddy but those were probably decommissioned from the US and ended up in my country beginning of the 90's) so I cannot express a proper opinion. What I do know is that many things can also go wrong mainly due to poor prep and maintenance. Also, they require special training as bailing out is slightly different. Of course Mares and Poseidon offer much more reliable systems and fail safe alarms these days if you have around 5K to spare