Surface supplied air helmet diver drowns

[DandyDon]

Somewhere there is a lot of open sand and few critters.

I suspect they feed fish to amuse the tourists. If you have never breathed underwater before, it could be fun for some.

 

[Garrett in PI]

Both my wife and I had our first underwater experience in Boracay on a helmet dive just like this, booked through a dive shop. We had such a good time we did our first DSD dive the next day, then never looked back. We had no intention of diving, and had just gone to Boracay for the beach and relaxation, and the helmet dive was a way for a dive shop to attract new customers.

On the helmet dive there were two divers in the water with us the whole time, and I believe after talking to my wife about it there was at least one more diver in the area, as they were bringing people up and down the ladder pretty regularly. I never felt the slightest worry for the safety of my wife, and there are probably hundreds of people a day at that one location in Boracay doing the same helmet dive. Plus dozens of other operations. I would guess that is how someone could get to the 200,000 number quoted before, though I realize he wasn't referring to Boracay.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

200,000 people walking around on the ocean floor?! Somewhere there is a lot of open sand and few critters. As for the pic above, that seems very strange because walking around on concrete walkways is not at all what I go into the ocean for. Also makes we wonder, if they make so much money doing this whether I could flip this around to do it on land. I'd fill the helmet full of water with a little tube to breathe from and let people walk around in the lines at amusement parks... It'd be great until DandyDon posted his first message about it

I get what you're saying, but consider that for many non-scuba people the attraction is little other than the act of being able to breathe underwater. I vividly remember the first time I ever ducked my head beneath the surface on scuba gear. I was kneeling in the shallow end of the pool, and my first thought was that this was the coolest thing I've done since I shared sex with my first girlfriend.

Yes, it's an amusement park. As long as it's controlled, safe, and doesn't damage or kill anything I don't see why not ... it's way better than what you see at many popular resorts, where poorly trained people on scuba gear damage and destroy coral reefs every day ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[scagrotto]

the math boggles my mind.

Of course I'm perfectly happy to believe that the figure supplied by somebody who seems to have joined specifically to resurrect a thread that died 3 1/2 years ago may be somewhat suspect, but if you actually did the math I'm afraid your mind must be easily boggled.

I've got a friend who did this in St Maarten quite some time ago. It was almost certainly15 years ago, and quite possibly more than that. If the op referenced above has been around for 15 years they'd need to have averaged 13,333 per year to have had 200,000 people do it. That's 43 people per day if they take Sundays and Christmas off. That's a tiny fraction of the number of people who visit Stingray City in Grand Cayman, so it seems plausible at busy tourist destination.

 

[EastEndDiver]

I can plug in numbers to come up with answers as easily as you just did........I would like the person who made the statement to "enlighten" me as to how they attained such a high number and over what period of time.

Thanks for the insult I'm sure you are so much smarter than me.

[QUOTE=", but if you actually did the math I'm afraid your mind must be easily boggled.

.[/QUOTE]

 

[Flutter]

I would imangine that people who do not dive might try snuba or the sea trek (helmet walk) for the novelty & adventure - to see better what they perhaps barely observe in glass bottomed boats, or when deep water snorkeling.
My sister was recently scuba certified and wished to encourage her husband to consider being certified. They did a snuba excursion together at the USVI. She loved it, but her husband said it was too claustrophobic for him (He stated that he felt he couldn't breathe. He just wanted to rip it off & end the "dive", but didn't). Afterward, he went a step further & stated that if snuba was anything like scuba, he would never get certified. My brother in law enjoys snorkeling, so I guess for some snuba (& possibly sea traking) also might weed out those people, from the general population, who perhaps would not make good divers. Just a thought.