I don't know of any. Perhaps I have had a sheltered existence.
I believe Sport Chalet also does instruction and the whole works, do they not?
Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?
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I don't know of any. Perhaps I have had a sheltered existence.
I believe Sport Chalet also does instruction and the whole works, do they not?
I have been fascinated by this thread.
I am from New York, but now live in London with a divemaster husband. A bit of history on me: I'm a woman who works in a man's world - I was an engineer, and now manage a large group of alpha males in a manufacturing environment. I'm reasonably well paid and am fortunate to have a bit of disposable income. I cycle in London, have been a motobiker in the past, and like me a bit of photography, none of which are cheap / safe hobbies. I'm not trying to brag here, but put a bit of context on my situation.
My husband really loves diving but he wasn't doing a heck of a lot of it because I wasn't a diver. So I thought I'd give it a go on a try dive in a pool here in London. I'm very claustrophobic and have the aforementioned deadly fear of sharks.
The dive organisation I signed up with had 4-5 of us in the pool at once with 1-2 instructors. At the end of it they asked how we felt and there was no pressure to sign up for a course or buy anything. I signed up for the OW Referral course, for which you could go as many Tuesday nights (had to be consecutive so you didn't lose knowledge) as it took for you (and them) to feel comfortable with your skills. For me this took three nights with about 3-4 hours in the pool. Most of the other people there were young and female, which surprised me. Again no mention of gear purchase and in fact they recommended against it.
With that we committed to dive trip in Thailand for me to do the OW dives. I was fortunate that I had a great instructor all to myself, and the dive shop was happy for my husband to tag along in the background. The shop did 6 dives instead of the required 4. During one of these I had a bit of a panic in moderately strong waves and had to be tired diver towed back to the boat by the instructor and husband. My dive instructor coached me through what had happened and 90 min later I was back in working on my skills again. Had I not had the instructor and husband to help, I probably would have tossed in the towel at that point. I finished the dives, and went on to complete 10 total in Thailand. The dive shop were just great. It was overall a really great experience and there was never any pressure to prebook, any grief, anything.
We then booked another dive trip to Grenada where I would complete my AOW course. I had a personal recommendation on a shop, and again I got REALLY lucky and had an instructor all to myself for AOW and he would tailor everything to my interests (photography/wrecks). He obviously had time to do whatever I needed, and within a few dives I was down at 30m on an amazing wreck gaping at eagle rays- something I never EVER thought I could do, and I was so happy with myself for handling what the dive shop classified as a "challenging" dive.
We're now looking to book another trip to Indonesia or the Philippines in a few months time. A genuine interest has been created which I hope will lead to a long term passion for diving.
My point in mentioning all of this is that I felt like I was well trained and safe. I didn't feel rushed in ANY way to push myself or to buy anything. In fact my husband has a full set of gear which he never takes anywhere and he prefers to rent. I have a wetsuit, mask, snorkel and computer. I have no intention of buying anything else. I've only been to a dive shop once, and the guy was a complete moron, and almost put me off the whole thing.
I was a reluctant diver, and if I had been pushed through a cattle car program or been told I had to buy $1000+ worth of kit to "try" diving, I NEVER EVER EVER would have considered diving. Feeling in control, looked after, and coached was critical to my moving past the "stressed" phase to the "actually this is fun" phase. Maybe most people don't get this luxury and they don't continue.
Side note on people's fear of sea life: As mentioned above, my team are all alpha male types. They were taking bets on whether or not I'd be fish food. In fact a few of them confessed they freak out when they see a fish in the water at the beach. These are not "soft" emo types but 6'4 big rough men who think I'm a death defying risk taking lunatic. SO yeah, there is probably a perception problem.
Just a newb's perspective.
C
I am from New York, but now live in London with a divemaster husband. A bit of history on me: I'm a woman who works in a man's world - I was an engineer, and now manage a large group of alpha males in a manufacturing environment. I'm reasonably well paid and am fortunate to have a bit of disposable income. I cycle in London, have been a motobiker in the past, and like me a bit of photography, none of which are cheap / safe hobbies. I'm not trying to brag here, but put a bit of context on my situation.
My husband really loves diving but he wasn't doing a heck of a lot of it because I wasn't a diver. So I thought I'd give it a go on a try dive in a pool here in London. I'm very claustrophobic and have the aforementioned deadly fear of sharks.
The dive organisation I signed up with had 4-5 of us in the pool at once with 1-2 instructors. At the end of it they asked how we felt and there was no pressure to sign up for a course or buy anything. I signed up for the OW Referral course, for which you could go as many Tuesday nights (had to be consecutive so you didn't lose knowledge) as it took for you (and them) to feel comfortable with your skills. For me this took three nights with about 3-4 hours in the pool. Most of the other people there were young and female, which surprised me. Again no mention of gear purchase and in fact they recommended against it.
With that we committed to dive trip in Thailand for me to do the OW dives. I was fortunate that I had a great instructor all to myself, and the dive shop was happy for my husband to tag along in the background. The shop did 6 dives instead of the required 4. During one of these I had a bit of a panic in moderately strong waves and had to be tired diver towed back to the boat by the instructor and husband. My dive instructor coached me through what had happened and 90 min later I was back in working on my skills again. Had I not had the instructor and husband to help, I probably would have tossed in the towel at that point. I finished the dives, and went on to complete 10 total in Thailand. The dive shop were just great. It was overall a really great experience and there was never any pressure to prebook, any grief, anything.
We then booked another dive trip to Grenada where I would complete my AOW course. I had a personal recommendation on a shop, and again I got REALLY lucky and had an instructor all to myself for AOW and he would tailor everything to my interests (photography/wrecks). He obviously had time to do whatever I needed, and within a few dives I was down at 30m on an amazing wreck gaping at eagle rays- something I never EVER thought I could do, and I was so happy with myself for handling what the dive shop classified as a "challenging" dive.
We're now looking to book another trip to Indonesia or the Philippines in a few months time. A genuine interest has been created which I hope will lead to a long term passion for diving.
My point in mentioning all of this is that I felt like I was well trained and safe. I didn't feel rushed in ANY way to push myself or to buy anything. In fact my husband has a full set of gear which he never takes anywhere and he prefers to rent. I have a wetsuit, mask, snorkel and computer. I have no intention of buying anything else. I've only been to a dive shop once, and the guy was a complete moron, and almost put me off the whole thing.
I was a reluctant diver, and if I had been pushed through a cattle car program or been told I had to buy $1000+ worth of kit to "try" diving, I NEVER EVER EVER would have considered diving. Feeling in control, looked after, and coached was critical to my moving past the "stressed" phase to the "actually this is fun" phase. Maybe most people don't get this luxury and they don't continue.
Side note on people's fear of sea life: As mentioned above, my team are all alpha male types. They were taking bets on whether or not I'd be fish food. In fact a few of them confessed they freak out when they see a fish in the water at the beach. These are not "soft" emo types but 6'4 big rough men who think I'm a death defying risk taking lunatic. SO yeah, there is probably a perception problem.
Just a newb's perspective.
C
scubastingray
Contributor
Actually, Dick's sold scuba gear through 2007 I've been told. One of my AL80's I got on a steal, because the guy would've felt guilty asking anywhere near what he paid on closeout when they were eliminating their lineup.
lidja
Registered
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the effect that the climate change debate may be having. As I contemplate getting back into diving, I myself have thought, "well, there may not be a whole lot to see down there anymore" because of all the press about dying coral reefs and ruined oceans. Seriously.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Yes, Sport Chalet does everything.
They are probably the biggest certifyer of new divers in the state and also probably the biggest gear seller out of any brick and mortar LDS in the state (except for Napa, all the brick and mortar building fell down - that was a joke). The other states I don't know but I can assume it's probably the same.
They have good prices, usaully about 15% below full retail and their customer service is outstanding so I hear, they will bend over backwards to make sure things are right. I have a good friend that took a job with them at an LA location.
They also book a lot of charters. Some of, or many of the chrater boats in Southern California survive off SC charter bookings. They also certify a hell of a lot of people on those boats as they do all their open water check out dives off charters, except for Monterey up north, they do all their certs at the breakwater. There will be 200-300 people there any given weekend in the summer.
As much as people used to bash SC for what they were, they are the ones surviving and doing the job.
They also have a lot of other departments in the store to back up the dive shop if and when in need.
A 16 year-old girl who works at a dive shop just did the PSAI ABC class with me. I asked her what she thinks is creating a decline in the sport? Without a moment's hesitation she answered, "Wives." I laughed because all I hear from my students is that they have to ask the wife if they can go diving, do class, etc. She added, "They can't take class because of the wife. They can't buy gear because of the wife. They return gear because the wife won't let them have it."
I was getting the oil changed in my truck at the local garage and mentioned this to the mechanic. He said they are seeing that in his business too. They'll find a couple of parts that need to be replaced and tell the owner who will say he has to ask the wife first.
I think chivalry meets feminism is a perfect storm for emasculation. My dad would tell my mother he was going hunting. I tell my girlfriend I'm going diving. I Googled some search words about men getting their mojo back and found this blog from Hot Alpha Female: Hot Alpha Female » Blog Archive » Become A Man?s Man Again ?. My favorite is the last one about men doing manly activities again and scheduling time for things like a man's favorite sport, having a beer with one's buddies or driving a race car.
Oh! I should mention that my girlfriend doesn't ask my permission to go to the ice rink. She just puts on her tights and tells me she's going figure skating.
I was getting the oil changed in my truck at the local garage and mentioned this to the mechanic. He said they are seeing that in his business too. They'll find a couple of parts that need to be replaced and tell the owner who will say he has to ask the wife first.
I think chivalry meets feminism is a perfect storm for emasculation. My dad would tell my mother he was going hunting. I tell my girlfriend I'm going diving. I Googled some search words about men getting their mojo back and found this blog from Hot Alpha Female: Hot Alpha Female » Blog Archive » Become A Man?s Man Again ?. My favorite is the last one about men doing manly activities again and scheduling time for things like a man's favorite sport, having a beer with one's buddies or driving a race car.
Oh! I should mention that my girlfriend doesn't ask my permission to go to the ice rink. She just puts on her tights and tells me she's going figure skating.
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Doesn't make sense that wives cause the decline. Wives were around when scuba started to take off in the '80s. That would mean the industry grew for a while and then started to decline because of wives? Did wives change during those decades?
That's the point. Yes. Wives have changed. Worse. The husbands are SNAGs rather than MLMs. It's not the sole cause but it is hurting us more in a down economy.
Friday, I was in a parking lot outside a hair salon. An attractive blonde got out of the passenger seat of an SUV commanding, "You are getting your hair cut whether you like it or not." I expected a kid to get out of the back seat. Nope. Just her husband who was grumbling about having to get a cut as he shuffled to the door like a scolded child. I think hen-pecked is becoming more the norm than the exception.
Friday, I was in a parking lot outside a hair salon. An attractive blonde got out of the passenger seat of an SUV commanding, "You are getting your hair cut whether you like it or not." I expected a kid to get out of the back seat. Nope. Just her husband who was grumbling about having to get a cut as he shuffled to the door like a scolded child. I think hen-pecked is becoming more the norm than the exception.
Tony387
Contributor
drrich2
Contributor
Over time, more households have jointly earned income; stands to reason in some the women have a stronger say in how that income is spent. It's one thing to say I'm going hunting; it's another to say I'm dropping $1,000 for airfare, $1,500 for a single hotel room & dive package at Buddy Dive, another $500 in baggage & miscellaneous expenses like food, and will be back from Bonaire in a week. And that's all 'our' money. See ya then!
In our home my wife and I do have decent autonomy. She tried to refuse me to pursue solo diving; nope! I didn't like her having a motorcycle, but she did. I don't like her smoking (neither does she, but it's hard to quit). And so on.
One interesting dynamic is how much 'together time' a couple 'needs' on vacation & major expenditures. I grew up an only child mostly in a rural setting disinterested in local activities such as school sports and hunting, so I'm used to solitude and doing my own thing. My wife grew up with siblings, and thinks the idea of separate vacations is odd. Today a guy at Church asked me how much I actually dive, and I know he's interested, but his wife has no interest in diving or even snorkeling, and I think they're the 'do things together' type.
In some of these couples where the wife veto's some purchases, like scuba gear, be mindful the husband's influence may help veto some jewelry choices, keep the clothing closet from exploding, the shoe collection under a dozen pair, etc...
Richard.
In our home my wife and I do have decent autonomy. She tried to refuse me to pursue solo diving; nope! I didn't like her having a motorcycle, but she did. I don't like her smoking (neither does she, but it's hard to quit). And so on.
One interesting dynamic is how much 'together time' a couple 'needs' on vacation & major expenditures. I grew up an only child mostly in a rural setting disinterested in local activities such as school sports and hunting, so I'm used to solitude and doing my own thing. My wife grew up with siblings, and thinks the idea of separate vacations is odd. Today a guy at Church asked me how much I actually dive, and I know he's interested, but his wife has no interest in diving or even snorkeling, and I think they're the 'do things together' type.
In some of these couples where the wife veto's some purchases, like scuba gear, be mindful the husband's influence may help veto some jewelry choices, keep the clothing closet from exploding, the shoe collection under a dozen pair, etc...
Richard.
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