Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[Joe Underwater]

Not that I disagree with your point, but that is a terrible way to bring it up. Far more people drink champagne than swim around, near, or at sharks so it's a logical fallacy to suggest shark diving is safer than drinking champagne.

I wasn't suggesting that opening a champagne bottle is more dangerous than swimming with sharks (and we would have to be talking about swimming with the 5 or 6 species out of the 450 or so total shark species which are considered dangerous to man). The point was there are seemingly innocuous everyday things that kill more people than sharks do. The public's fear of them is wildly disproportionate to reality.

Joe

 

[boulderjohn]

30 years isn't enough time, you Boulderjohn decided on that number not me.
In the last 30 years that I can think of they did away with buddy breathing, the swim or fin/snorkel, you used to have to do both,
and tables. There might be more but I need to see.
They also dropped the age limit but I don't count that necessarily as a negative.
I don't know about all the others.
Instead of 30 years I'm going to go back 45 years before the big revamp.
I need some time to research and compile all the info from all the different agencies, so I'll be back.
I am interested in all the specific details myself from all the agencies and how they compare between then and now.
I can tell you it's going to be drastic.

Your original thesis was that the problem with recent drop in scuba participation was due to the fact that agencies were repeatedly dropping standards. Now it turns out you actually meant that they changed the format of instruction once 45 years ago, which has apparently led to a recent drop in scuba participation after its explosive growth over a couple of decades.

Got it.

BTW, PADI worldwide certifications at all levels have been pretty much the same at about 900,000 per year for the last decade. Any idea how that compares to 45 years ago?

 

[Pullmyfinger]

In fact, the GUE, DIR folks are self-selected to continue

I think I get what you're saying. Most people have made a pretty big commitment to diving as their main sport by the time they start seriously considering Fundamentals.
Some still drop out of diving after taking Fundamentals.

I think a big element is a drysuit purchase. Once someone starts looking at spending the money on a drysuit, they are definitely a committed diver.

I think at the beginner level, many people probably drop out due to the learning curve. It does take quite a few dives before you really start feeling comfortable and confident with diving. Many probably drop out early on, because they never really feel comfortable doing it.

Not enough dive mentors out there.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Your original thesis was that the problem with recent drop in scuba participation was due to the fact that agencies were repeatedly dropping standards. Now it turns out you actually meant that they changed the format of instruction once 45 years ago, which has apparently led to a recent drop in scuba participation after its explosive growth over a couple of decades.

No that's not what I said. I never said recent or there was one change 45 years ago, that's you deciding what I meant.
I'm going back 45 years to get into a time line when I know what it was. I don't want to miss anything in case there were any incremental changes back that far.
They dropped the standards for certification to increase participation, I never gave a date or timeline. When I got certified in 1998 it was pretty close to what it is now except for the three things I mentioned - possibly more but I'll have to study it. The ease in standards did increase participation drastically but IMO it also had negative affects that we are seeing now.
A balloon and burst scenario.
Like I said, I'm going to do some in depth research on this on all the agencies and their policies over the last 45 years and we'll see exactly what they did and when.

I will start a separate thread when I get it.

Later

 

[RJP]

I will start a separate thread when I get it.

Good idea... ScubaBoard hasn't had a thread bemoaning the decline of training standards for nearly three hours.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

Good idea... ScubaBoard hasn't had a thread bemoaning the decline of training standards for nearly three hours.

That's the Scuba Board Pinata!
We all get to take a swing!

 

[Joe Underwater]

<snip>
Scuba shops should be trying to entice young people to try it. Perhaps getting Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts interested in it, or looking for other youth organizations to get the next generation of divers hooked.

I couldn't agree more. That is one of the things we have worked on with local youths here in Thailand. Go Eco Phuket is a marine conservation association made up of local divers and dive shops (both Thai and foreign) who support and seek support for various marine conservation programs including a "Go Eco Camp" to teach young Thai's not just how to dive, but also the importance of marine conservation. We just graduated our first class.

 

[gert7to3]

Eric,

I am glad to see you are finding a bright spot.

I live in Chicago. There are fewer dive boats and fewer LDS's. We'll see how OWU goes, but it has seen a fall off of traffic and exhibitors over recent years.

BTW, I was in San Diego twice last year, trying to get on a dive boat during the week. There is an operator down there offering a schedule, but he wasn't going out because there were only a couple of divers interested. Unfortunately weekends are reserve for family stuff.

 

[pocky21]

We just graduated our first class.

I would hide that photo before the kneeling naggers find it

 

[Lost down under]

I would hide that photo before the kneeling naggers find it

There's a joke in there somewhere