Horrible Divers Everywhere?

[Centrals]

Now wonder people move on to tec. It's to get tf away from the masses?

It has nothing to do with training or whatnot.
It is in their mind set.

 

[happy-diver]

If you can jump in the water go do some scuba and come back up and climb out again
you're a seasoned diver in waiting, and just trying to survive during a snapshot in time!

And hopefully that snapshot will be repeated week in week out but with different folks!

 

[rob.mwpropane]

I do like everyone's responses. To me its interesting because I've never experienced anything like that before. I'm all about dive and let dive, its just a shame to see things the way they are.

Maybe standards haven't changed, but peoples idea of instant gratification in obtaining a card have. It doesn't seem like the mindset is "I want to learn to dive" as much as it is "I want the card".

Edit: I'd also like to add that I was of that mindset but that's how it was advertised to me. When I looked at the PADI anything there was always the next "level" to get to. Thank goodness I stopped at AOW and just went diving, so easy to get lost in that pyramid without any genuine guidance.

 

[decompression]

I do like everyone's responses. To me its interesting because I've never experienced anything like that before. I'm all about dive and let dive, its just a shame to see things the way they are.

Maybe standards haven't changed, but peoples idea of instant gratification in obtaining a card have. It doesn't seem like the mindset is "I want to learn to dive" as much as it is "I want the card".

Edit: I'd also like to add that I was of that mindset but that's how it was advertised to me. When I looked at the PADI anything there was always the next "level" to get to. Thank goodness I stopped at AOW and just went diving, so easy to get lost in that pyramid without any genuine guidance.

If I may, there is a shop in Maryland called submerged, they teach a very high standard program, open water is neutral from the beginning, the OWs are taught balanced rig and rock bottom gas planning. I’m 100% confident you’ll be satisfied with their training.

 

[AfterDark]

It has nothing to do with training or whatnot.
It is in their mind set.

The correct training can have positive affects on mindset. I've seen it as a handgun / personal defense instructor.

IMO current training mindset is diving as recreation akin to hiking, bicycling, water skiing and such. When in fact it is more akin to mountain climbing, skydiving and such. The only "clue" a new student gets that diving might be a little different from the kayaking class they took last summer is the medical clearance. I don't think bicycling, hiking and such requires med clearance, but skydiving and probably mountain climbing does.

 

[Esprise Me]

Some people just cant dive.

Just the other day i've witnessed 2 divers at a famous wreck at a depth of 100FT acting like complete bell ends.

Their balance was terrible , they kept going from 60 to 100 FT like a yo-yo resulting in them smashing to the floor and absolutely decimating all of the corals near by, kicking up the sand on what they didint physically destroy.
I tried keeping up with them to keep an eye because i could tell they are a safety risk to themselves but they were going so fast i had to stop to avoid being exhausted .

Eventually i've seen one of them making the "lets go back" sign to his buddy and they begin their journey to shore but going in the complete opposite way, low on air and only getting deeper and further from shore. (None of them had a compass)
Thankfully for those numb-nuts a couple of tech divers were coming out of the deep waters and were able to escort them back to shore.
After they got out i approached and tried explaining and giving them some tips and i realized neither of them had a dive computer or any clue about dive charts.

Besides gently telling them off for all the damage they've done i also made sure they knew how easily one of them could have died now.
I also stressed to them that should they be in trouble they cant rely on each other to help because neither of them can even take care of themselves.

Mind you, both of them are qualified.

I don't really see that as an example of people who "just can't dive;" more like people who think bad things won't happen to them. You see that mindset elsewhere too, for instance people who keep getting in car accidents (or getting tickets or having near-misses) and keep drinking/texting/whatever. My grandmother burned down the house twice after falling asleep in bed with a cigarette but continued smoking in bed until the day she died, even after she had to be put on oxygen. I hope you got through to those knuckleheads, but I'm not holding my breath.

I do think there may be people who "just can't dive," but I'd use that to describe people who keep failing their OW class because they can't even approximate the skills, not people who pass and then immediately exceed their limits. If you barely passed because this stuff is really hard for you, but you're not an idiot, you'll stick with the guides and shallow dive sites, where you can crawl around on the bottom if you have to until you either get the hang of it or give up. Only an arrogant idiot goes to a dive site that deep with the skill set you describe.

 

[Mason Gierke]

I'm a new diver so I cant speak about watered down training. I just got back from a week in the FL keys and saw plenty that made me shake my head. If your a a**hole above water it wont change under the water. The person that cuts you off in traffic is the same one that is going to drop down to the bottom in front of everyone to get the pic they want and then kick like crazy to go up and silt it up for everyone else. Or the person who insists of touching everything to try and make it move, wish he would of been bit. Any way, I think it's as much about the person as the training.

 

[Aviyes]

Training hasn't been watered down. It is just unfortunately hit or miss with instructors that care versus the certification factories in some parts of the world.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Training hasn't been watered down. It is just unfortunately hit or miss with instructors that care versus the certification factories in some parts of the world.

So one might say training has not been watered down, but quality control over instructors is looser.

 

[Esprise Me]

After diving with a few people who were certified in the '60s and '70s, I'm becoming a bit skeptical of the notion that training was better or more rigorous back then.