Scuba Diving - Why Dive?
Scuba Diving – Why Dive
By now most of you are tired of reading on and on about my adventures in diving so for that reason let's take a look at just why I have encouraged other people to look into the sport.
With my own children and grandchildren, I have never forced them to enter diving. I just didn't want to be the father that looks at his son or daughter and consistently pushes his love for a sport onto them. For this reason, I would just say, do you think you would like to try diving? As for my son Gary, he was just nosy enough to want to see where I would go and what I found when I left the house to go diving. My daughter, on the other hand, had no interest whatsoever in submerging herself into my underwater world.
Author and Gary
Then came the grandchildren. Gary had a boy and a girl also, and when he was old enough his son George expressed an interest in getting into diving where his daughter had other plans, eventually becoming a doctor of physical therapy.
Author, Gary, and George
My daughter Lynette had three boys which you would think would all get the bug to join into the swim. Well, swim they all did but only the oldest, Evan, was interested and joined the group of relations that were parting the waves.
Four boys and no girls you say, yes in my case, but there are a number of girls that participate in the sport. In fact most of the dives I have been on consist of almost half being girls or women participants.
A Whole New World From The Surface
First of all, to enter the water and be able to just submerge yourself into it without the worry that you must return to the surface after the breath you're holding needs to be replenished. You're in a liquid environment, weightless, not knowing just what new things you might see that inhabit this other world.
Eventually, as you reach the bottom it could be anywhere from a beautiful reef teeming with fish and other inhabitants in crystal clear water, the rock formations of a springs where the water is also crystal clear but there are all kinds of caves and caverns millions of years old, the bottom of a rock quarry that may have limited visibility and nothing but items left by the construction or that someone had thrown in, or the bottom of a very limited visibility river where you hope to find some prehistoric remnant of a long-ago world.
What am I getting at? There are so many different liquid areas that can be reached by Scuba Diving that the majority of the population may never see in their lifetime. From my perspective, diving is a great adventure for so many reasons but let's go over some of the opportunities that you could turn this sport into a profession.
Satisfying Hunger
For as long as people have roamed this earth they had to eat and fishing with a line, spears or nets were the methods of choice. Now, with scuba, you can go down and select what you want, that is if what you want happens to swim by. Spearfishing is very popular in the oceans and some inland lakes. Some real sportsmen do free diving without scuba to seek out their prey. In addition to hunting for you and your family, it can very well turn into a commercial venture because local restaurants are always in need of fresh fish for their menu.
The same thing goes for lobsters which are more of a delicacy and probably could fetch a higher price.
Recovery
These are exciting categories for a number of would-be divers and one that not only sparks the interest as far as the history but for the possibility of monetary rewards as well.
Just to view something that has been a part of history, history being a day old or 300 years old doesn't matter, what matters is that you have the ability to view it after it was committed to the deep.
Raising marina boats that went to the bottom during a storm was one of my early diving jobs. It took some basic skills but also earned me some extra cash.
To make this entry-level profession to another level, there are companies that specialize in salvage that encompass repairing boats at the surface, recovering items from sunken vessels, or even raising entire objects no matter what the size.
In addition to this, the oil rigs offshore are always looking for divers. Underwater welding and other mechanical skills are necessary for this job.
Scientific
Another profession connected with diving would be Oceanography.
This requires higher education to learn the trade and being able to dive is a closely related skill in this field. Sure, you could probably be involved in this endeavor without diving but you would be stuck on the surface viewing through a monitor or cleaning beakers, not seeing the discoveries first hand.
Archeology is the way to go if ancient ruins are of interest. Lost cities are being explored every day. Not all ancient cities are on land, there are a number of them that have succumbed to the water due to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, or tsunami.
Environmental studies are at the forefront in the news. This is a profession that allows you to make a difference in replenishing reefs, learning what can be done to revive dying coral or how to establish a reef structure from scratch. Finally, just determine what impact discarded trash has on the life of underwater inhabitants.
Photography
What's the old saying? "A picture is worth a thousand words". This is especially true in diving. How many people do you know that are showing you photos they took while underwater? Photos you have taken underwater are used not only to show others but for your own catalog to bring back those memories you enjoyed on that short or long trip you made to that special location.
And this can be a portion of your hobby that has the ability to turn into a very lucrative profession. Even the most inexpensive underwater camera can lead to shots that capture a moment that someone just has to have for their den or office wall.
Cuddlefish at Night
You would be surprised just how many people are mesmerized by some of the creatures, you managed to show them, exist under that ocean they crossed on their cruise ship.
Teaching
Now, I'm not going to sugarcoat what it takes to become a diving instructor because it can be expensive, depending on what level you want to achieve. It can require several weeks of training as well as thousands of dollars.
The two largest organizations in the United States that offer training to become an instructor are PADI and NAUI. Both are recognized worldwide so whomever you would train could take advantage of any dive location or liveaboard in the world.
Once you have acquired an instructor certification it opens up a number of job opportunities, which could be a dive shop where entry-level training, as well as more advanced courses, are offered. Cruise boats are another possibility because they not only need an instructor to accompany guests to dive locations they visit but also offer dive certification while on board.
Individual dive boats, that take divers out for a two-tank dive, normally have one instructor on board or at least a diver that is in the process of acquiring their instructor rating. Finally, don't overlook the opportunity to seek employment at one of the island resorts where they offer diving to visitors.
No matter whether it's a liveaboard, resort, or cruise boat, most offer advanced courses for those guests that have a basic certification but want to move up to an advanced diver or a Nitrox, more commonly known as enriched gas certification. Most of these can be acquired for an additional fee and the visitors will usually have some spare time to take advantage of these offers.
Military
Want someone to pay for your advanced scuba training? The military is looking for a few men or women willing to get wet. It might be an advantage to be certified and have some diving experience before approaching the military in order to gain entry into their programs, such as the Seals. It's a tough branch but it's a possibility.
Well, I think that covers most of the opportunities for just why you might want to select scuba diving as a hobby, a hobby that could turn into a paying profession, or just something to start a conversation or dazzle those non-divers with your stories or photos.
George