Posted by Ken Kurtis on February 07, 2001 at 23:17:26:
In Reply to: Re: Interesting. Really? posted by mike on February 07, 2001 at 22:55:37:
(Mike Brennan posted) "I have heard that So Cal is home to the greatest concentration of Scuba Divers in the World . . . Can anyone verify whether or not this is true? "
First of all, remember that there are no verifiable statistics, so what follows is pure conjecture. Also, I'm not sure if you mean residents (people who actually live in that particular region) or if it should include visitors as well.
In the US, I'd assume Florida is #1, followed by Hawaii. We're probably #3. There are also large active diving populations in metro New York, Chicago, and Denver.
Worldwide, based on tourist dives as well as local, Cayman is usually #1, followed by either the Bahamas or Cozumel. I think Bonaire is #4. Belieze and Roatan are up there too. Australia doesn't rank really high in just tourism, but when you add in all the local divers, it probably would score highly. Same for Japan.
But again, this is all just an educated guess.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.