What Innovations Have Caused Growth In Scuba Diving?

[Akimbo]

How many of these early 'he-man divers' mainly traveled to tropical destinations with benign conditions for most of their diving?

How many were shore divers?...

There were very few boats that would take divers out and few divers could afford them if there were any. The majority of dive shops and magazines of the 1950s through the early 1960s were devoted to underwater hunting (spearfishing, Abalone, and Lobster). Most households had one car, one income, and two or more kids. Most vacations were by car not airplane… at least on the West coast where I grew up. Tropical destinations started getting more press in dive magazines about the mid-60s.

“Skin Diving” was a young man’s sport, therefore most had a young family and were nowhere near their peak earning potential. Sure, there were a few divers with disposable income but most couldn’t imagine a vacation to the Caribbean or South Pacific. Working-class people would save up to call their family on the other coast and men wore a suit and tie to fly. Most grew up during the War or depression so expectations were very different.

 

[drrich2]

Akimbo:

Good to know! I never set foot outside the U.S. till '06 on my honeymoon; trained to be ready to dive on that cruise. As much as people diss cruisers as 'pod people' & disdain the ships, I think cruising has had some impact. My reasoning:

1.) Thanks to cruising, the family can go to the Caribbean & have a great time economically, in a fun sounding package that most people have heard of so it's not all that unconventional, gets good word of mouth and raises awareness of what the Caribbean islands are (& where they are; people who've never left the U.S. often don't know how close all that is), and let's people go visit a number of islands quickly in the safe, insulated luxury cruise ship environment with paid excursions so 'handlers' (excursion leaders) shuttle them around on little adventures. All very safe and non-threatening sounding.

2.) Contrast that to a dedicated scuba trip to the Caribbean. You need to know you're going to love diving. People often leave non-diving family home, or somebody (maybe everybody) compromises on destination (RJP has posted elsewhere about his trips with non-diving family to Curacao, and I got the impression he doesn't dive as much when the wife's along as he would on a dive trip without her).

3.) The readily availability of warm water Caribbean & Florida diving for U.S. scuba divers is a big draw to the hobby, rather than quarry & turbid lake diving. Cruising has made it easier to 'go check it out.' Otherwise, a potential U.S. diver who doesn't live in Florida or southern California & doesn't want to look at blue gill in a quarry has to be convinced he's going to love diving in order to pursue the gear & training for dive trips that sound expensive and outside his prior experience/familiarity/comfort zone.

There's a public perception problem that tropical exotic vacations are the domain of the rich, not something the working & middle class do. Consider the old adage about cruise ship demographics; the newly wed, over fed & nearly dead.

Maybe instead of dissing the cruise industry, we ought to encourage it as 'the dive boats the whole family will love.' Emphasize that Caribbean vacations are economical, fun, not too long on flight time, mainly to heavily English speaking destinations and that Americans feel safe and comfortable there, without much trouble.

That Americanized touristy sensibility that a number of current divers disdain.

Richard.

 

[RJP]

Maybe instead of dissing the cruise industry, we ought to encourage it as 'the dive boats the whole family will love.' Emphasize that Caribbean vacations are economical, fun, not too long on flight time, mainly to heavily English speaking destinations and that Americans feel safe and comfortable there, without much trouble.

That Americanized touristy sensibility that a number of current divers disdain.

I like it!

 

[undrwater]

That addresses the "service" aspect I was talking about earlier. The product that might go with it could be equipment that is more robust and resistant to wear and tear.

The other problem with cruises is the real and perceived detriment to the local ecologies. Cruise lines that can demonstrate some sense of minimizing their impact on their destinations, or even improving the destination (planting trees - no...corals!) would go a long way to help the perceptions.

 

[RJP]

That addresses the "service" aspect I was talking about earlier. The product that might go with it could be equipment that is more robust and resistant to wear and tear.

The other problem with cruises is the real and perceived detriment to the local ecologies. Cruise lines that can demonstrate some sense of minimizing their impact on their destinations, or even improving the destination (planting trees - no...corals!) would go a long way to help the perceptions.

Plus - I would think that getting some of THEIR passengers underwater to gain a better appreciation for the aquatic environment can only help.