WtF: The Decline in Scuba Participation

[Centrals]

I was first attracted to scuba diving through books, films and TV. But could not afford the sport until money was not an issue and a friend also promised to come along and learn together.
Rest is history.

Divers stop diving for many reasons. There are other things worthwhile to pursuit in life.

 

[runsongas]

cousteau is overrated, i'm with team zissou

 

[Centrals]

Speaking for myself.
It was Cousteau(Odyssey) that got me interested first.
I knew the sport existed earlier even in HK but the moving picture confirmed everything that NO books could had delivered then.

 

[pauldw]

Is the problem that with the emphasis on buoyancy, people don't want to take a class that won't let them lay on the bottom of the pool and see who can blow the best air rings (when the instructor is working with someone else)?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Is the problem that with the emphasis on buoyancy, people don't want to take a class that won't let them lay on the bottom of the pool and see who can blow the best air rings (when the instructor is working with someone else)?

Eureka!!!!!!

 

[Heat Miser]

I disagree. Sure, there is no Sea Hunt or Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. However, more people than ever, especially people from the rising middle class in Asia, are traveling to places offering scuba. They pass by the dive shops on the street or at a resort. They see pretty pictures of fish on the walls. I believe as many people are giving tropical vacation diving a try as ever.

Yep I wonder about this, is it simply that Rec Scuba diving is declining in the USA, and the growth in other countries in SE ASia is not being measured properly.

 

[ginti]

The interest was nudged along first by taking a college PhysEd class to learn scuba (double-hose, never got certified), then by living across the road from one of the Italian Frogmen - Roberto Frassetto - and then by working (in Italy) with the guy who invented the wetsuit, Hugh Bradner.

I always feel proud when people mention the Decima but I didn't know that Bradner has been working in Italy for a time... when and where was it?

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .

I didn't get into diving until my mid-thirties because I couldn't afford it until then. Had I been able to afford it, though, I might have encountered any number of other barriers. For example, divers and dive boats are awfully fond of early mornings, and I never was. It wasn't laziness; young people in general and some in particular, like me, just aren't wired to fall asleep early enough to get up early without being sleep-deprived. It's easier for me now, but when I was already missing out on needed sleep due to work and school, why should I have made the problem worse by getting up even earlier on my days off?

When I lived in SoCal I recall seeing (young?) surfers out there awfully early. But it's possible they were older guys and I was just assuming. Any idea how surfing is doing as a sport nowadays? Surfing, like scuba, takes some dedication before it becomes fun.

 

[tursiops]

I always feel proud when people mention the Decima but I didn't know that Bradner has been working in Italy for a time... when and where was it?

Brad and I were both at the NATO lab in La Spezia, late 60s to early 70s. He was there for just a couple of years on a sabbatical from Scripps. I went from there to a job at Woods Hole, where I finally got certified! Scuba was the way you got work done, not how you had fun. My first dives purely for fun were bottle-searching in the mud of the old harbors around the islands south of Woods Hole, and then finally my first tropical dives in the Bahamas.

My point is that the shows on TV had nothing to do with my lifelong passion. They may have been motivational for some, but clearly were not essential.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

When I lived in SoCal I recall seeing (young?) surfers out there awfully early. But it's possible they were older guys and I was just assuming. Any idea how surfing is doing as a sport nowadays? Surfing, like scuba, takes some dedication before it becomes fun.

Surfing is crazy popular.
My LDS actually opened a surfing department and they are doing fantastic. There are all kinds of surf shops in my area and around the coast. Surfing is more than just shopping for the best internet deal like divers do. They have a groupie or clan mentality with their local surf shops. It almost like “Which surf shop do you belong to?” They are fiercely loyal to their group and surf shop.
There are also so many surfers on any good day out there that they get into territory turf (surf) wars over waves. It’s not unheard of to see two guys fighting over waves.