Vandit Kalia
Ok, there is going to be a bit of a rant mixed in with the point I am making in this article. But the reality of the diving world today is that there is a significant difference between what students are taught and how diving happens, atleast in the tropical world (which is also where most people dive).
A recap of what you were taught in the Open Water course as far as dive planning goes: as certified divers, you are responsible for planning and executing your own dive. In principle, a very sound philosophy and one that I believe in completely. However, if you are a warm-water/vacation diver (which most divers in the world – and certainly most divers in India) are, when was the last time you planned your own dive, or even had the opportunity to do so?
[To be clear, I am speaking of recreational diving here, and not tech diving]
I do about 6-8 dive trips a year as part of our group tours to all parts of the world, and in virtually every place, the dive guides provide the dive plan for the divers to follow – India, Maldives, Egypt, Kenya, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. Sure, there are occasional exceptions but for the most part, the dive sites and profiles are picked by the dive guides and the divers just follow.
In this article, I want to talk about this difference between theory and reality, and the impact it has upon us as divers.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
To understand how we got to this stage, it is good to have clarity on the role of the dive agencies, so set the standards for recreational diving.
As I have written in my article on The Great Dive Industry Misconception, dive agencies exist to provide liability protection to dive centers – not to create perfect divers. And this is done by providing divers with enough training to ensure they are able to take on the responsibility for their own safety.
Stating that you are supposed to plan your own dive is a big part of this – this way, if something goes wrong, the liability is more likely to be on you, the diver. After all, you have been training on how to dive within your limits, and to self-assess those limits. So any problem that arises has come from your failure to follow your training and its limits. And given the safety of diving in general, this approach works.
This approach had a lot of merit in the early days of diving, when diving was an independent activity done by groups of people, and still does in parts of the world where this sort of diving is still prevalent (US, Europe, UK). Eg, when I used to go diving off Boston, the dive was entirely self-supported: I picked where to dive, I had my own gear and at most, I (and some friends) would charter a boat to take us to the dive site, with the boat captain’s responsibility being just to take us there and back. My diving day was organised by me with some friends, not a commercial trip offered by a dive center.
In this scenario, this approach to training makes a lot of sense – divers are diving independently and being trained as such, and continually make incremental improvements to their knowledge and skills. But the diving industry has changed significantly these days. A vast majority of divers these days are vacation divers – ie, they go diving while on holiday, typically to tropical destinations. And here, the equation is different.
First of all, while independent diving pre-selects a certain level of involvement in the sport, vacation/tropical divers tend to cover a larger spectrum of personality/interest types. Some don’t dive enough to keep their skills polished. Others simply are not vested enough in the sport to try to improve – they just want to see some pretty fish and colorful coral on their holiday. In such cases, a one-size-fits-all solution doesn’t really work.
Second, the nature of vacation diving means that visiting divers, regardless of experience levels, are not familiar with the reefs, prevailing conditions and where to find highlight marine life. Seeing a map of the site does not in any way equate to the same level of familiarity that comes from doing hundreds of dives on the same site.
Both the above factors have resulted in a greater reliance on dive professionals – both to provide additional in-water support to divers who may require this, and to provide
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
And to be head of the typical online wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments that occurs anytime stuff like this is discussed, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When I go somewhere to dive, the guide knows the best place to see stuff and the best place to conduct the dive, especially in potentially varying sea conditions.
At the root of the matter is the fact that training agencies are not there to create great divers but to provide liability management to dive centers (more on this in my article on the Great Dive Industry Misconception)
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
And to be head of the typical online wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments that occurs anytime stuff like this is discussed, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When I go somewhere to dive, the guide knows the best place to see stuff and the best place to conduct the dive, especially in potentially varying sea conditions.
At the root of the matter is the fact that training agencies are not there to create great divers but to provide liability management to dive centers (more on this in my article on the Great Dive Industry Misconception)
