CHAPTER 1

Switching Attitude Gears

As the saying goes, there are old divers and there are bold divers, but thereare no old, bold divers. I have no idea where the saying came from. It couldhave originated from a wise old diver who wanted to make a point about thefoolishness of youth, but I think it was more likely first proclaimed by a youngperson as a way of thumping the chest and announcing to the world, "Look at me,I'm young and bold." I think this because the corollary, "Look at me, I'm oldand cowardly," just doesn't sound right. Whatever the case, now that I'm whatmust be considered an old diver, the saying doesn't seem quite as pithy to me asit once did.

Of course, being old does not necessarily mean being smart, but it does give mea perspective on the evolution of the sport of scuba diving that younger diversmight not have.

Don't panic! I'm not about to start waxing nostalgic about the "good old days"of scuba. The fact is, there has never been a better time to be a scuba diverthan right now. Scuba divers today have the benefit of options that simply didnot exist in the past—options ranging from interesting and accessibledestinations to a veritable plethora of training opportunities.

PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) was a young certifyingagency when I got my Basic certification in 1973. The class was made up entirelyof young men, and it was conducted in a pseudomilitary fashion. We swam laps andtreaded water; we swam with blackened masks in a pool while our instructorharassed us. When it was all over, we took a written test and made a single divein the ocean. Surviving that, we were certified scuba divers—as qualifiedon paper as Jacques Cousteau himself.

Our visits to the local scuba shop after initial certification were solely forthe purposes of filling tanks or replacing gear. Advanced training wasavailable, but it was not promoted and was primarily for those wishing to becomeinstructors. Nobody logged dives (something I regret today), and divers wereknown locally only by reputation. Scuba certification was an either-orproposition. Either you were certified or you were not. Degrees orclassifications of certification simply did not exist as a practical matter.

Equipment was basic in those days. We had hard backpacks onto which steel 72-cubic-foot tanks were strapped. The negative buoyancy of the tanks pretty muchnegated the need for weight belts. We had uncomfortable safety vests that couldbe inflated on the surface by means of a small CO₂ cartridge, but we seldom worethem. Submersible pressure gauges to keep track of our air were newfangledgadgets that were actually condemned by some hard-core divers of the day.Choices regarding gear were limited, and our rubber masks and fins rottedquickly.

Much of our gear was manufactured by the AMF/Voit/Swimaster Company and wascomparable in fit and quality to the packaged snorkel gear that can be found indrugstores today. We typically dove in nothing but a bathing suit or a pair ofshorts. Those who chose to dive in an "exposure suit" wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. The really fancy guys wore coveralls.

The lack of an established dive infrastructure limited our dive opportunities.Charter boats that catered to divers were virtually nonexistent in most areas ofthe country. Dive travel to the Caribbean was exotic and dicey. The islands weredifficult to reach and provided little, if any, support to recreational diving.Pacific destinations were worse.

Yet, we dove. We drove to the Florida Keys and other isolated pockets with diveinfrastructures. We weaseled our way on board local fishing boats, and we madetrips on independently owned boats. We dove off beaches and jetties. We dove anyway and anywhere we could.

Dive techniques in those days differed significantly from techniques used today.We made no safety stops, and our ascent rate was determined by the smallestbubbles of our exhalations. Of course, there were no dive computers, and our useof the dive tables was sporadic and undisciplined. Sometimes we dove with commonsense, but sometimes we dove with the common nonsense of youth. The fact thatnobody in my personal dive fraternity of friends ever suffered a serious diveinjury is a testament to the inherent safety of the sport of scuba diving.

Recreational scuba diving has certainly come a long way since then. In the pastthirty years, scuba has evolved into a mainstream activity enjoyed equally bymen and women. Manufacturers now offer a baffling array of high-qualityequipment, and most scuba shops offer an entire curriculum of training options.The sport is far safer and more convenient than it has ever been.

At the same time, something seems to have been lost. Despite an exponentialexplosion in the number of certified divers, relatively few divers are actuallystriking out by themselves and going diving. A whole new genre of "classroomdivers" has emerged as divers continue to pursue dive training but never seem toget around to using it.

I can think of more than one explanation for this. As scuba became moreavailable to those with only a casual interest, it stands to reason that morecasual divers would be produced. There's nothing wrong with that. Many resortscater to the casual diver, and the diving is supervised, fun, and safe.

There's another possible explanation that bothers me a little. As advanced-training options became commonplace, many divers began to get the idea thattheir Open Water I certification was somehow inadequate. If you enjoy diving andif you are reasonably confident and comfortable in the water, this idea issimply false. Your Open Water I certification is not merely a prerequisite formore-advanced training. It is your ticket to real diving adventure, and it isproof that you are a "real" diver, albeit possibly an inexperienced one.

Let's make this analogy: Scuba diving is like driving a car. Both activitiesrequire special training and the development of skills, and both can take you toplaces that you might otherwise not be able to reach. Once training is complete,both require a written test and a transitional period before you becomelicensed. For driving a car, this...