Posted by Ken Kurtis on July 08, 2002 at 21:11:44:
In Reply to: Hotsy Totsy posted by seaunt on July 08, 2002 at 20:04:44:
(Seahunt made various points about beach diving.)
Although I certainly don't disgaree with many of the points you made about the merits of beach diving, I still think you draw the wrong conclusion.
Let's factor out the entry/exit, which I still contend is the major/only difference between the two.
IMHO, going down is going down.
Again, factoring out the entry/exit, what do you see as the major differences between a beach and a boat dive? I've had great beach dives, bad boat dives, and vice-versa. Again, going down is going down is going down.
My point is that we spend too much time instructionally on something most of them will never do. To me, it'd be like teaching (and requiring) cave techniques when we know most of them will never do it.
We've got a limited (EXTREMELY limited if it's a quickie class) to deal with newbies. Whj not concentrate the effort on the type of dives they're more likely to do? (And - not to put the shameless plug in again - but this is exactly why we came up with the Beach Diving Class concept in the first place.)
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, CA