It's a good vent.
Lost a friend in the 9th grade who went SCUBA diving by himself at Catalina Island. Tangled in the kelp and panicked -apparently. This was BEFORE you needed to be certified to get air.
I've been on two rescues -one off the coast of Ventura and one off Islamorada in the Atlantic off Florida. While I didn't find the bodies I was close enough that it still resonates as to how dangerous "free diving" can be-especially to young adults who believe they can hold their breath and dive to 100 ft. Both of these young men died of what is called "shallow water blackout".
Your point is well taken. In many respects-and I'm sure you have seen this-SCUBA courses today will just about approve anyone and the training can be little if any. There are people who simply don't belong in diving. Every thing is fine and easy until something unexpected happens. See it often. Was on a boat with SCUBA divers on their 1st dive years ago. they had been certified in a lake in Minn. They all jumped off the swim step with cameras, compasses, slates, SCUBA, bags, and what not. Problem: there was a huge current running and we spent the rest of the day picking them up-the last being over a mile down current-some were so frightened that they vowed never to go diving again. Actually it wasn't their fault. It was the skipper who put these just certified divers in the current. I saw how stretched the anchor line was and told him not put these guys in since he was anchored. He didn't pay any attention until all you could hear was "abort, abort". By then it was too late. They were simply gone.
No matter how easy dive shops make it out to be it is dangerous when stuff goes wrong.
End of MY vent.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2018 08:15PM by waterfield.
