Making The Scuba Industry Better

[Peter Guy]

Oh what a difference the environment makes. As several people have written, there is really no feasible way for someone to do four OW dives in our environment -- at least not diving wet which is the norm for the beginner.

As always, we have mixed up two different issues -- training and sales.

The more I instruct, the more convinced I am that, for the most part, the "quality" of the OW training is irrelevant on the issue of "diver retention." Whether it is a "quickie course" done overweighted, on the knees and with the minimal amount of instruction, or a "long course" per the "Neutral Buoyancy Model" MOST of the students are going to try it, go on their vacation and just keep the card as a souvenir. It seems that only at the margins (scared student or amazed student) will the basic instruction make a difference.

So, to the OP's question -- PERHAPS in the "resort" (i.e., tropical) setting, the 4 dive day might make some sense -- since they'll probably go out the next day and, in effect, do two more "guided" dives in pretty much the same benign waters.

But that is the training side and probably won't help the sales side very much. For that "the industry" needs to figure out what IS "the market" and then create a sales and market plan aimed at the market. IF "the market" is the one-off resort/vacation diver, then that's what needs to be marketed -- high volume, low price, low margin which is NOT the current pricing/marketing strategy for most.

On a perhaps related topic, I've been reading the PADI/DSAT TEC Deep Manual in preparation for a class. I've been struck by the number of times the author(s) have written "In Tec Diving we do it this way because it is better/more efficient/safer than in recreational diving." And often, of course, it is the less expensive alternative to what is sold as "recreational" diving. I can't help but think, IF the guru's at PADI actually believe what they have written in this manual, why the hell don't they teach the same thing at the recreational level? IF (and a big if) there IS a correlation between training and diver retention, then why not teach the best way from the get-go?

Just another few comments from the PNW's peanut gallery.

 

[kritsm]

I'm a new diver, only 6 dives, and i thought id weigh into this discussion. i got my certification in Mexico on a vacation and the school i did the diving with spread the lessons out over four days. for the first three days we did a pool dive in the morning and then an open water reef dive at lunch with the instructor covering different skills every day and reviewing old ones. i think the fact that we did one open water dive per day with time for rest was a benefit because someitmes the conditions were choppy and people who hadn't gotten their sea legs yet weren't up for another round of diving. it also gave time for the material to sink in. i know this type of lesson would be hard to conduct if people are not on vacation but this spread out teaching made for a much nicer learning experience.
now the only thing keeping me out of the water is money and exams.

 

[Mike Boswell]

I'm truly hoping the OP was meant as satire ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Maybe this was the tipoff:

"We have to assume that someone - somewhere decided there was a good reason to require two days. I don't know who that was or when, but I do know there is no good reason for it."

 

[boulderjohn]

In addition, there is another phenomenon, which is what the subconscious is doing with the information in the interim. When I used to take riding lessons once a week, I was surprised that there would actually be improvement from lesson to lesson, despite not having any opportunity to practice in the meantime. My brain was clearly integrating some information during the intervening week. I am absolutely sure the same thing occurs for diving students.

This is a very important concept, and it holds true for shorter periods of time as well. For example, in the pool sessions students are required to set up and break down equipment 5 times in total. I have seen instructors do three setups right away. I think that is a mistake. If there is even a little intervening time between setups, the student will benefit. That gap in time not only allows the brain time to process, it forces the student to think it through a little more the next time it is tried rather than jsut do a quick repeat of what they did a few minutes before. To repeat what I said earlier, that is not only why I favor doing the dives over at least two days, it is also why I am bothered when instructors violate standards and do all the mask and buoyancy skills on the first two dives.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

As always, we have mixed up two different issues -- training and sales.

I'm afraid I'm the guilty one on bringing up the sales and marketing issues.
I saw "Making the scuba industry better" and thought it meant the whole industry not just wether open water dives should be crammed into one day or two. Sorry, my bad.

 

[Mike Boswell]

OP: Surely, an important part of the "Scuba Industry" is the large body of already-certified divers, boat operators, DM's, etc.

I'm ridiculously generous with my time and I love to help newbies. But .... I have had many vacation dives messed up by new divers who didn't know how much weight to use, couldn't clear their ears, sucked up all their air, bashed into the coral, etc etc. That is inexcusable.

So how about considering us divers? Do we want to buddy up with new divers who underwent this one-day OW checkout dive program? Do we want to share a dive boat with them? Do we want to be responsible for them?

It may be an inconvenience for instructors to spend two days in the water with their students, but I and my fellow divers will have to spend a week or two with them once they arrive at their first dive destination. I am paying for that diving - and I am not getting paid to complete their training.

(Rant over)

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I think way more energy needs to be put into open water training. The way it is now, the people who are serious about becoming divers get screwed because the industry has decided to cater to the volume one timer. I'm not an instructor but I did DM for a few. From what I saw maybe 1 out of 10 people were actually serious about making scuba diving a serious part of their life. The rest were just getting certified to go on vacation. Some of the stuff I saw was pathetic. That's one reason I decided not to become an intructor or go any further down the proffesional path. I didn't want any part of that scam.

Here's what it boils down to.
There has always been and always will be the serious water person that wants to become a diver. They will go through whatever class or series of classes it takes to achieve their goal. Then there is the one summer vacation hero that gets certified (barely), buys a bunch of gear, uses it once or twice, and it all ends up in a storage locker and the following year they move onto the next vacation activity.

If the scuba industry was to increase training standards and have more time spent in open water skills, that alone would wash out many of the one summer warriors and the serious diver would actually get a better value because it would include many things they need to pay twice for that really should be included in open water. Maybe those people need to be washed out? Maybe the scuba industry needs to decide if it wants quality or quantity.

The whole sales model built on the one time vacationer isn't real, that's part of the problem. I think the scuba industry grew way too big too fast on a false premise of who is really a long term diver and now the real truth is coming out. If diver retention is a concern maybe they need to look at who got into it in the first place and why they quit. They would have quit anyway regardless of training standards. Most of those people have the attention span of a flea.
OK so yes they made a quick buck by reducing the standards down to almost nothing and tons of C cards were printed and tons of gear set were sold. But you can't base a business model on that.

They built a bubble and now it burst.
Time to realize who is really their sustainable market and start over with a new plan.

 

[Darnold9999]

Once in the deep dark past I took some courses on education theory and practice. Was trying to become a better instructor(not diving), doubt it helped The short version is that you need to think about what concepts and skills you want the student to go away with. Then figure out the best way to teach these concepts and skills. Taking into consideration that everyone learns best in different ways. This proposal does not seem to consider this at all. The only consideration is financial - not what is best from a learning/teaching perspective.

There is no possible way that cramming four dives into a single day is a good idea from the student's perspective in terms of learning objectives. It might be a good idea from a financial perspective for a student but IMHO all of the other down sides outweigh this financial benefit. They are attempting to learn and assimilate a whole bunch of new concepts in a brand new environment - with some being under significant stress. Can you think of a worse situation to be in for actual learning. Yes you can jump in and do the skills, but by the third dive you will no longer "learning" anything. If the only objective of the OW dives was to practice skills then possibly putting all four on a single day would achieve the objective, but if you plan on actually teaching any concepts or skills then most students will need time on their own (read sleep) to integrate what they have seen, heard, felt and done before they can add new concepts and skills to their toolkits. I took a DIR Fundys course that was crammed into two days rather than the three originally scheduled. While we covered all the same material there is no way I absorbed as much of it in the two days as I would have covering the same material in two days. The same thing would apply here. You will be shortchanging students.

I know that the number of concepts and skills has been drastically reduced since I did my initial training but I can't imagine that the open water dives of today are just tourist dives with no objectives other than swim around and look at the pretty fish. Which is all that the third and fourth dive of the first day you have ever been diving would be good for. As others have said doing 4 dives in a day in my local environment is not even remotely practical for new students. I can barely do it in a dry suit, and at the end of such a day I am wacked. In a wetsuit such a dive schedule would be impossible for most beginners and would likely leave them hypothermic.

Additionally, your students will have likely over stressed their ears in the first two dives of the day - two more dives will likely injure significantly more students.


Add on that most beginning students can't hold their place in the water or a reasonable ascent rate - lets add a risk of DCS as they cork to the surface at the end of the fourth dive.


The only "good" thing about this proposal is that it reduces instruction time for the instructor. While it MAY increase revenue, it has so many down sides from a student learning perspective that I can't imagine it being good for the scuba industry long term.

 

[dmoore19]

Thanks, now I know how to make the scuba industry better.

Get rid of all those damned vacation divers, you know the ones that spend their vacation and their $$$ to go on dive trips to warm water destinations once or twice a year. That's the problem, get rid of them and the industry is fixed. Thanks for your insight.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Thanks, now I know how to make the scuba industry better.

Get rid of all those damned vacation divers, you know the ones that spend their vacation and their $$$ to go on dive trips to warm water destinations once or twice a year. That's the problem, get rid of them and the industry is fixed. Thanks for your insight.

You're very welcome.

You know what, if vacation divers want to get certified maybe they need to step up and not want everything so easy and fast. Scuba is something that is potentially fatal even for some small incidents that can grow into a big problem fast.
The rest of the industry is suffereing because of it.
I'm not saying people shouldn't get certified so they can go on vacation, I'm saying that if they want to get certified they need to prove their capable by going through a course that's designed to turn out real divers not the other way around.

Maybe there needs to be a two tiered open water course, vacation and serious local.
But then we'd have a warm water vacationer thinking they are trained for local diving and we're right back where we started.