How many divers got hooked on scuba through Discover Scuba?

[ozziworld]

I was wondering how many regular divers are products of Discover Scuba?

I feel the course can be risky and can even give one the impression there is ''nothing to it''.

For those of you who took Discover Scuba course, did you find it was the main reason you got into diving on a regular basis?

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

Thats how I started, actually I took 2 discover scuba classes through the YMCA. a year later I took my open water class...

 

[mikeyjoe]

Count me as one who got hooked on diving through a Discover Scuba course. 3 of them to be exact:

Curacao
Sandals Montego Bay (had to do a swim test first)
Manzanillo

Then got certified August of 2006.

My wife just got certified as a result of a Discover Scuba course, and some encouraging from her husband.....

 

[pidgiepoo]

Made both grandkids take the discover scuba pool course just to see if they would like it before we put a lot of money in time and equipment. We thought it would also prove to us just how serious and safety conscious they would be. Both the ten and thirteen year old did great(better than the adults in the class). We've had them to Cozumel for two summer vacations now and they love diving. The 14 year old got his Advanced last summer and plans to get his Rescue this year. So yes, I think it was a great idea to "check them out" before allowing them to get certified.
I'm sure they plan to dive for years to come.

 

[ScubaSteve]

WORSE!!! Mine was a sort of DSD but it all took place in 4 feet of water and that was it.....they had the hook in me. It all happened over about 45 minutes in a resort swimming pool.

 

[oreocookie]

I'm not sure Discover Scuba got me hooked, cause I wanted to dive even before I did it. Taking the "course" (in a 12ft deep pool) was more of a stop-gap than anything else until I had the money to do the OW course. The benefit though, is that after enough bugging my friend (who is studying to be a marine biologist) went with me for the session and went from "I'll learn to scuba dive eventually, but not at this point in my life" to "When can we get lessons?" That was in August of '07. Last June, we had some money and were signing up for OW. AOW is coming this summer.

 

[Teamcasa]

My wife got the bug after a SNUBA dive in Hawaii. My brother got it after a Discover dive on a cruise. My nephew after his Discover Dive in Kauai.

 

[Guba]

I took a "resort course" off Playa del Carmen. The pool was closed for maintenance, so the DM and I hit the beach and about 15 feet of water for the "training". In the afternoon, we hit the boat for the discovery dive. At 45 feet, I remember thinking, "Bill, you're a 43 year-old landlubber from North Central Texas (a loong ways from the ocean)...what in the world are you doing HERE???"

And I also specifically remember answering my own question, "I'm having the TIME OF MY LIFE!"

Yup, I was completely hooked, and I also remember saying to myself at depth that the moment I got back home, I was finding a shop and getting my certification. I haven't regretted it one bit.

 

[AndyDragon]

DSD's are so good at pulling people in to OWD classes, we often run them dirt cheap or free. The biggest draw-backs to taking an OWD class we've heard are:

1. cost - DSD does nothing for this (except maybe tease them enough to break down)
2. can't swim - can't swim, can't SCUBA, take some lessons, come back
3. scary - DSD fixes this, controlled enivronment, gets them excited, if done properly provides safety skills required to dive safely within the DSD limits
4. don't think I can do it - same as point 3
5. didn't know it was around here - shows them clearly people in the area SCUBA
6. not fit enough - shows them they can do it and often leads to people becoming more fit to be active in SCUBA

 

[BDSC]

My wife just got certified as a result of a Discover Scuba course, and some encouraging from her husband.....

Same here as far as my wife. We were at CoCoView in Roatan and near the end of the week she decided to try the resort course. I told her to be sure she was doing it for her and not because she thought I wanted her to because I'm going diving with or without her. So she and an instructor went out to a shallow reef and she loved it. Got certified when we returned home.