Sharkbully
Registered
What would you have said?
I went to lunch with 2 co-workers the other day. One, a female, is getting married next month and honeymooning in the Caribbean. We got into a general conversation about diving, she is interested but a little nervous, and was asking for advice.
The other person with us has done a couple different Resort Discover Scuba dives. He is young, athletic, very bright, and basically a natural at anything he tries.
I began by advising her she really needed to take an instruction course and if possible complete her certification before she leaves. I did mention she could start here and complete her training on vacation, if need be.
The other person suggested the resort dive option he did. I then started explaining why I wouldn't recommend this, that there are a lot of serious issues that require good training. The other person then mentioned that they would only take you down to about 30 feet so it was not a big issue. I countered with the "the biggest pressure change occurs from 30 feet up and the risks of DCS, AGE, CAGE, Lung expansion injury,etc.
At this point 2 things happened that made me decide to drop the topic. First, The other person stated, "Yes, but really how often does that ever happen, etc."
And she then said that she was really nervous about diving.
First, I did not want to scare her anymore, I hope that she will take the sport up, and making it sound like "facing death" type exciting was not IMHO very productive.
Second, I know the other person (non certified diver) is incorrect in his cavellier approach, but I don't have any real statistics to support my argument.
So rather than venture down a path where I was uninformed, and not going to achieve either goal, I decided I would seek advice here.
Anyone??
I went to lunch with 2 co-workers the other day. One, a female, is getting married next month and honeymooning in the Caribbean. We got into a general conversation about diving, she is interested but a little nervous, and was asking for advice.
The other person with us has done a couple different Resort Discover Scuba dives. He is young, athletic, very bright, and basically a natural at anything he tries.
I began by advising her she really needed to take an instruction course and if possible complete her certification before she leaves. I did mention she could start here and complete her training on vacation, if need be.
The other person suggested the resort dive option he did. I then started explaining why I wouldn't recommend this, that there are a lot of serious issues that require good training. The other person then mentioned that they would only take you down to about 30 feet so it was not a big issue. I countered with the "the biggest pressure change occurs from 30 feet up and the risks of DCS, AGE, CAGE, Lung expansion injury,etc.
At this point 2 things happened that made me decide to drop the topic. First, The other person stated, "Yes, but really how often does that ever happen, etc."
And she then said that she was really nervous about diving.
First, I did not want to scare her anymore, I hope that she will take the sport up, and making it sound like "facing death" type exciting was not IMHO very productive.
Second, I know the other person (non certified diver) is incorrect in his cavellier approach, but I don't have any real statistics to support my argument.
So rather than venture down a path where I was uninformed, and not going to achieve either goal, I decided I would seek advice here.
Anyone??