Posted by Don Lake on August 06, 2001 at 23:26:33:
In Reply to: Re: Facts: is Casino Point really "Death Park"? posted by AADIVER on August 06, 2001 at 22:59:14:
In my opinion, this reason for the problem is primarily money. The dive business is not a great money maker. The instruction and dive trips are the best money makers. PADI and others sell the basic class with the idea that the students will keep taking all the other classes to get more experienced, i.e. more money. I have no problem with dive instructors making money. They should make sure that their classes really are intense enough to make the inexperienced into good divers. Unfortunately that takes time. To take a person with no ocean experience and limited snorkeling experience and turn him/her into a scuba diver in a few hours is dangerous. When you couple that with the junk they sell them in the shops, you have a big problem. There are so few places that you can really get the right services and equipment.
You and I know that it takes years of experience in the ocean to become a good diver. I am spending years teaching my kids to snorkel and learn about the ocean. My kids are 8 and 10. They won't be taking some BS kids scuba class. The discussion about 10 year old divers is nuts! I was 10 and wanted to scuba. My father had the common sense to tell me to wait. He was right. My kids still have years to wait. Meanwhile we are having fun freediving.
I hope you can visit the dive park this summer to see what goes on there. You will be shaking your head. When you see people diving that are terribly out of shape, can't put their gear on correctly, have on dive gear junk or look like deer in the headlights when they are going down the steps, you wonder how they make it back up the steps. I saw one class last weekend of 15 students and one instructor. How many failed? I bet not one. There probably isn't a good solution short of government intervention which I would be opposed to.
take care
don