Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[drrich2]

"But also, It may be assumed assumed that if you sign up for OW you are serious about it and probably will finish the course (In my experience, a large majority do). So you'll need the stuff anyway."

True, but scuba divers also need a BCD and regulator, and those aren't required, plus I imagine many people who rent gear at dive tourist destinations rent fins as part of the package.

I'm an 'odd size' kinda guy, but someone of more normal proportions wouldn't need to buy fins up front. Some people don't even have much trouble getting a good fit with a mask; again, I'm one of those who do.

Richard.

 

[Lorenzoid]

What's really Monty Python-esque is that Ray can simply re-post his Monty Python sketch every 700 posts or so, and people who haven't been following the thread think he has too much time on his hands.

 

[Neilwood]

What's really Monty Python-esque is that Ray can simply re-post his Monty Python sketch every 700 posts or so, and people who haven't been following the thread think he has too much time on his hands.

In my defence, I wasn't a member of the forum when this thread started!

 

[RJP]

What's really Monty Python-esque is that Ray can simply re-post his Monty Python sketch every 700 posts or so, and people who haven't been following the thread think he has too much time on his hands.

I figured that the original got so discombobulated with the software switch that I would clean it up and re-repost. Which, frankly, took almost as long as it took to craft the original.

 

[Lorenzoid]

And it's still a fun read.

People wonder why threads sometimes seem to go around in circles. I realize this one is over 700 posts at this point, but taking the time to at least read post No. 1 might be a good idea.

 

[RJP]

but taking the time to at least read post No. 1 might be a good idea.

It's nearly unreadable as it stands today

 

[REVAN]

Did I miss it? They didn't even go into adding another $125 per dive go out on the boat. That Cayman wall is too far from shore for most people to do without getting a boat ride to the edge of the wall.

 

[kelemvor]

It's nearly unreadable as it stands today

It's too bad there wasn't some sort of "post conversion" when scubaboard switched to xenforo. Lots and lots of old but good posts were messed up pretty badly.

 

[Reku]

It's too bad there wasn't some sort of "post conversion" when scubaboard switched to xenforo. Lots and lots of old but good posts were messed up pretty badly.

You could duplicate the scubaboard database and run a fuzzy regex on the database tables that the posts are stored in and extract only the text and copy it all into a new table. All of the garbage in the posts seem to follow a similar structure and if you look closely the original text is still intact. It's fixable - it just takes effort.


oh and all those random characters are what is known as a Numeric character reference - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - each pattern of characters corresponds to 1 character from the universal set of unicode.

 

[mdb]

SCUBA missed Gen X and the Millennials. There was no word of mouth. The very short/online courses created divers who were, in many cases, unskilled and unsure. They dropped out at huge rates. Dive stores fought the internet way too long. Real new certs for divers have been in decline for well over a decade. No easy solution in sight.