Posted by tleemay on April 27, 2000 at 14:40:53:
In Reply to: No experience divers>? posted by Sarah on April 26, 2000 at 14:03:23:
The basics have been covered... common sense says
that until you are properly certified to dive can
you then decide to dive SoCal. Even after
becoming certified, the water might be a tad too
cold for you, or the vis isn't quite a good as
that pool or Florida Keys water you did your checkout
dives in.
There is a very tight knit SCUBA business
community in SoCal that is very sensative to the
request you made. Liability issues aside, no one
want to hear about a death or injury resulting
from a diving activity. When such instances happen,
the entire diving community will suffer, not just
the shop that rented you the gear or filled your
tank, or the Charter operator who hauled you out
to the site. These people have their livelyhood
on the line, they don't want to see anyone get
injured or killed. While at DEMA this past year,
I read a study from some marketing company that
stated for every 1 local death reported while
conducting recreational SCUBA activities, 40 to
other divers in the community will give
the sport up. They went on to say that besides
that mean 45 divers no longer hitting the water,
the potential of losing future students to a
shop or training org can be amplified 2 fold.