Which state certifies the most divers?
- Thread starter GreenDiverDown
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OP
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I'm not disputing what your link to PADI suggests. I'm just saying that's what I heard. Actually, I don't know. When I heard it, I thought they must be nuts. But then again, some would think I was crazy if I told them Arizona has the most boats per capita.
The deal was something like this:
My buddies are thinking about up-sizing their dive store. Before finalizing the plans they went to see how some other shops are set up. They picked Boulder because some of the shops there lead the country in sales and service, PADI certifications, and dive travel. Apparently, they were quite impressed with the shops that they visited, both in Boulder and Denver.
I thought that unbelievable. Boulder? Wierd!
SA
well I was certified in Hawai'i for open water, but in California for everything else. does that mean Hawai'i or California claims me? or both
You get counted twice. You also get counted twice when they want to know how many divers there are. Makes diving look safer that way.
You mean to tell me that OHIO isn't the hotbed of diving in the US? I don't believe you...we have the most scenic quarries and the coldest water where you don't have to cut through the ice to dive in.
XtremeSea1
Guest
I have heard through a pretty reliable source, that Florida has more uncertified divers than there are certified divers in all of the US. Don't really know how true this is but at almost 20% of my students said they have been diving for years and finally wanted to get the card.
Be very wary of the Colorado model for SCUBA shops; we have some unique demographics here. Much of the population is young, fit outdoors types and theres a lot of disposable income in the greater Denver area (Boulder especially). Diving is just another outdoor sport to these folks, and the shops make most of their money selling training and equipment and trips to folks that only dive once or twice a year on trips to Cozumel. Most are equipment junkies so theyll buy entire setups, dive a couple times and then let it sit in the garage when they move onto whatever next sport they want to get into. Get outside Denver and things change radically. Colorado Springs, which is a big city, can only support two dive shops. We had three for awhile but one went out of business. Contrast this to Denver where there seems to be a SCUBA shop on every other corner!
The SCUBA travel industry in Colorado is huge. 99.9% of the SCUBA divers in the state travel to warm-water destinations exclusively. Those of us that dive locally hardly warrant consideration in the shops yearly planning. I know of only one shop that has successfully managed to run a trip to California. All the divers I talk to about California say the same thing: Too cold.
For those that have followed my posts for the last year or so know Im pretty bitter about quality of basic SCUBA training. This may give you some idea why; the instructors here are Nth generation PADI graduates, and all they know is how to teach and dive in warm water. Instructors who only teach and dive in warm water have taught them, and theyll go on to teach the next generation of instructors. They dont know what they dont know. There are exceptions, but theyre few and far between. I was unable to interest any local instructors in the DIRF class; heck, they have over a thousand dives under their belts! What could they possibly learn?
20% of the video taken during our DIRF class was not of us, but of instructors doing absolutely insane things with classes, like hanging onto the platforms because they were unable to control their own buoyancy. Within the first 10 minutes in the water Andrew, the GUE training director, rescued a woman coming up from about 50 with no mask and no regulator. She was bolting. Her instructor surfaced a couple minutes later after Andrew had gotten her over to shallow water and calmed her down.
Colorado shops are successful because the demographics allow them to be successful, not because they have any secret to success. In my opinion in the vast majority of cases theyre successful DESPITE their numerous shortcomings.
Roak
The SCUBA travel industry in Colorado is huge. 99.9% of the SCUBA divers in the state travel to warm-water destinations exclusively. Those of us that dive locally hardly warrant consideration in the shops yearly planning. I know of only one shop that has successfully managed to run a trip to California. All the divers I talk to about California say the same thing: Too cold.
For those that have followed my posts for the last year or so know Im pretty bitter about quality of basic SCUBA training. This may give you some idea why; the instructors here are Nth generation PADI graduates, and all they know is how to teach and dive in warm water. Instructors who only teach and dive in warm water have taught them, and theyll go on to teach the next generation of instructors. They dont know what they dont know. There are exceptions, but theyre few and far between. I was unable to interest any local instructors in the DIRF class; heck, they have over a thousand dives under their belts! What could they possibly learn?
20% of the video taken during our DIRF class was not of us, but of instructors doing absolutely insane things with classes, like hanging onto the platforms because they were unable to control their own buoyancy. Within the first 10 minutes in the water Andrew, the GUE training director, rescued a woman coming up from about 50 with no mask and no regulator. She was bolting. Her instructor surfaced a couple minutes later after Andrew had gotten her over to shallow water and calmed her down.
Colorado shops are successful because the demographics allow them to be successful, not because they have any secret to success. In my opinion in the vast majority of cases theyre successful DESPITE their numerous shortcomings.
Roak
roakey,
I think it's the same everywhere inland. the money is in sending folks to the Caribbean as fast and cheap as possible.
I think it's the same everywhere inland. the money is in sending folks to the Caribbean as fast and cheap as possible.
To some extent yes, but not to the degree that Colorado is. For instance people keep posting stuff about these SCUBA parks like Gilboa and stuff. There would be no way that such a place would fly here in Colorado, despite the huge number of divers.
Roak
OP
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Yah, but something is different in Boulder/Denver. My buddies noticed that most of the shops that they visited had at least one and sometimes two BIG trips on the board per month... significantly more than even the busiest shop here in the valley... On top of that, some of the trips were adventures that you couldn't give away here. "Indonesia, is it safe there?"
I think Roak has a point about the demographics. Them mountain folk are strange...
SA
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