I recently read an article on AquaViews that posed the question, are scuba agencies sacrificing training quality for numbers?
I don’t think anyone would deny that most scuba agencies are after numbers. Anyone who has gone through a pro-level certification can tell you that. Is it such a bad thing? Having numbers drives the accessibility up (and price down) for scuba diving, but what if the price is too high?

To answer this question, we really have to look at the standards. Fortunately, most major agencies follow the same set of scuba standards for each level of certification. I think anyone who has competence in the required skills can not be called a bad diver. They’re not guaranteed to be good divers, either. I think the one thing we can glean from them is that they are the absolute minimum set of requirements for a diver with basic competence.

An extra dive or two over the required four dives would probably be quite advantageous—most divers don’t begin to get comfortable until dive number four anyway. The problem here, of course, is that each additional dive drives up the cost and time commitment, and thus limits the potential clients. Let me translate that for you: it’s not gonna happen anytime soon.

I think the problem, if there is one, is requirements for certifying instructors. As it stands, pretty much anyone can be an instructor. Is that scary? Rather than focus on certifying too many students, what if we take care of things at the instructor level, and let the results trickle down?

A diver can go from entry level certification to instructor-level very quickly. Often, this is done to “bring an instructor up” to work at a shop, usually in overseas locales. It is very clear this person’s job is to certify paying customers and take them out on dives. Denying certification doesn’t fit in that picture very well, does it?

Duane at Precision Diving had a recent post on the difficulty of saying, “no”. He is mostly referring to tec diving, but it applies to recreational as well. When does an instructor tell a student they can’t pass? I would hope that if an instructor even slightly thinks that a diver would be danger to himself or others in the water with him, she would withhold certification. I would like to think this, but it’s much harder to look an earnest young diver in the face and tell them they can’t go on that upcoming trip to Bonaire.

I don’t think most shops are being scoundrels and purposely filling the ocean with bad divers. In fact, to really assess the situation, we have to look at the numbers. And the numbers tell us one thing: undertrained divers are not causing accidents. They’re simply not. It could be luck, but compared to the number of dives, there are quite few accidents. And it’s not obvious they could be prevented by longer certification processes. I’m guessing some people would debate this.

Agencies like being self-regulated. Part of this process is monitoring accident statistics and responding appropriately—before outside intervention. If there were a serious problem here, I imagine there would have been intervention at some level. The standards are tight, but doable for an adequate level of instruction.

I think what it all really comes down to, though, is diver comfort in the water, and that comes with experience. You need more than a few certification dives to get that, though. Experience, and a sense of your own abilities, which a good instructor can give you.

This post is a bit stream-of-consciousness. Feel free to join in on the flow in the comments and keep the conversation going. I’d like to hear your opinion.

It’s been a while! Did you miss me? I’ve had some real-life business to attend to, but I’m back, and ready to kick off the new year in style! Let’s start with a backlog of links.

Scuba Diving magazine named North Carolina the best place in North America to dive with big critters and also the top shipwreck destination. I’m guessing the competition for diving in North America is low, but I’m surprised NC bested Florida. Something to consider if you’re ever near the Outer Banks.

We’ve talked before about eating Lionfish, but did you know there’s a new Lionfish cookbook? Tough time to be a Lionfish.

Sort of old news now, but the Shark Conservation Act made it to the U.S. President’s desk. Who knows for sure what kind of impact this will have, but hopefully it will exert some influence on those who practice shark finning.

Check out this Frommer’s Favorite Travel Moment photo contest winner. Let’s just say it involves a sperm whale.

A man was injured when a scuba tank fell and exploded in his garage. Make sure to lay your tanks on their sides, kids!

Scientists have discovered new coral reefs off Puerto Rico. They’re not really good for diving, unless you’re a tec diver, but they’re good for supplying fish and other nutrients to the ecosystem.

It’s great to be back! Expect a regular posting schedule from now on.

This time of the year, every blog under the digital sun is talking about New Year’s resolutions. Personally, I can’t stand them. I think it’s ridiculous that there is one time of the year when you are supposed to get your life under control. Why do we have to wait until January 1?

If anything, I much prefer a general “year in review” period of reflection where you can look at what you did last year and consider what you’d like to accomplish in the upcoming year. Even with this improved protocol, the date of January 1 is completely arbitrary. It makes even less sense for someone like me, whose career’s natural cycle follows semesters, with “years” starting in the fall. But really, there’s no reason anyone has to stick to the first day of the year.

Moving on, let’s assume you are making some sort of resolutions, goals, life directions, whatever you want to call them. Maybe you want to include some scuba in there? Most divers are not professional, and have no desire to be. This is fine (in fact, it is quite good for those that do want to be professionals). So if you’re not a professional, is it silly to have scuba-related goals? Are you demeaning the value of your other goals by putting something so superfluous?

I’m not sure, but I’d have to think “no”. Having a formal goal about diving might be unnecessary for some people. However, here’s what I do know: unless you specifically make a point to do something, you won’t ever do it.

So go ahead, write down “5 day dive trip to Cozumel” on your page of resolutions. By writing it down, you are making it a priority in your life, and there’s nothing absolutely wrong with that. In fact, I hope to see you there.

Yesterday’s post got me thinking, what is correct to write, wetsuit (one word) or wet suit (two words)?

The history of compound words is filled with dispute. In general, words tend to follow a particular pattern. Let’s take the word basketball as an example:

basket ball -> basket-ball -> basketball

Two words are used together so much that they eventually take on an identity of their own, beyond their constituent words.

Here’s where things get tricky. Some people (probably young whipper-snappers) like to move briskly through the three stages. This happens often with tech words. For example, electronic mail became e-mail, and, as I prefer, is often now written email.

There are others (usually old purists who don’t like change), however, that insist that a word “pay its dues” for a while in the first two stages before it becomes a new, compound word all on its own.

So where does this leave us with wet suit? My guess is that by now it can be considered a compound word, with no space necessary. After all, wetsuits have been around for quite some time.

What about some validation? My computer’s dictionary has an entry for wetsuit, one word. On the other hand, Merriam-Webster online returns my search for “wetsuit” with a two-word entry, wet suit. Same with dictionary.com. Interesting.

Dictionaries aren’t backing up my position (well, at least 2 / 3 aren’t), so I’ll seek social proof.

GoogleFight allows you to enter two search terms and tells you who has more search results. The results: wetsuit has 275,000 results while wet suit has 933,000, over 3 times as much. This isn’t definitive, though. Searching for wet suit will find instances of the two words not necessarily together, artificially increasing results.

Going to Google directly reveals that the search engine actually substitutes wet suit for wetsuit, giving you a helpful “Did you mean wetsuit” link at the top. So who do you believe, Google or an online dictionary?

Lastly, it is worth noting that Wikipedia’s entry is for wetsuit, one word. Take from that what you will.

Henceforth, I’m writing wetsuit unless someone offers a compelling argument against it. While I’m at it, let’s go a little crazy and say “ditto for drysuit”.

Any passionate linguists out there care to convince me otherwise?

Things are slow around here as work picks up for my day job. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t want you to go without your weekly links! Which reminds me, I’m thinking about giving the Weekly Links a more interesting name. Let me know if you have any suggestions (either in the comments are through the contact page).

Do you love the water? How about being surrounded by it all day? Check out these 5 impressive water bound homes. I’ve always wanted to be king of my own island.

Do you always complain about lack of mobility while wearing a wetsuit? New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wears a wetsuit under his uniform for the extremely cold games! Next time you feel restricted by your suit, imagine winning a Super Bowl while wearing it.

One of the risks involved with scuba diving is if something goes wrong, options are limited. There’s still reason for hope, however. A 66 year old diver in the Cayman Islands was undergoing scuba certification when he had a heart attack. The instructor realized he was having difficulty breathing and successfully brought him to the surface, where CPR was administered. I think this is pretty amazing (and lucky). Definitely a worst-case scenario for an instructor.

America’s first underwater park in the Florida Keys turned 50 years old last week. To celebrate, they had free admission for the day. Happy birthday!

Have you heard about the bizarre shark attacks in the Red Sea yet? 4 swimmers have been injured and one woman killed, 3 of the injuries happened in the same day. This bizarre behavior has scientists puzzled. They suspect when a cargo ship dumped a load of animal carcasses nearby, it made sharks believe the area was a feeding ground. Yay for irresponsible ocean dumpage.

If that didn’t get you, and you’re still in a particularly good mood today, then maybe this article will bring you down a few notches. Scientists spell out the doom and gloom from coral bleaching—a side effect of changing water temperatures.

Flightline recently posted a list of tips for avoiding shark attacks. It’s mostly common sense, but there are a few points I’m not sure I agree with. I’ll go over them one by one:

• Swim in a group. The article claims sharks are less likely to attack a group of divers. This white shark research page claims that sharks target lone or small groups of seals, where “small” is defined is 6 or fewer. How often are divers in a group larger than 6? Besides specially trained divers, you should never be diving alone anyway.
• Do not go in the water if you are bleeding. I agree here. The article even points out that there is no research that indicates menstruating women are in additional danger, although there is probably too little data to conclude anything.
• Do not wear shiny jewelry. I’ve heard this advice often for barracuda, but never for sharks. For one, I don’t think big sharks eat small fish. Second, sharks that are attracted to small fish would quickly realize you are not an easily killed prey and leave you alone.
• If you see a shark, stay calm, stay quiet, and stay where you are. I hope everyone knows not to draw attention to yourself if approached by a shark large enough to view you as prey.

What do you think? Am I off the mark on any of these points? Let everyone know in the comments below.

This is a little contradictory to my last post, but nevertheless, sometimes we want to buy gifts for the divers in our lives.

Back in February I posted a list of Valentine’s Day gifts for scuba divers. There’s nothing holiday-specific to that list, so check it out if you’re looking for quick ideas.

Certification is always a great gift, but if you’re looking for something a little less committal for a non-diver, consider gifting a Discover Scuba Diving session. Most shops will set you up with one, and it allows your loved one to try out scuba diving in a very controlled setting to get a feel for things with minimal training. I think it definitely qualifies as an Experience, rather than Stuff.