Diving simplified.

[Red Sea Explorer]

Hi All.

At the risk of being slammed by all the dive professionals I am going to put this up for discussion.


One of the things that make people anxious the first time they try scuba is that they do not feel in control of the elements around them. Actually many licensed open water divers have the same anxiety. All the time people say that it is only lack of experience. Actually it is all about control. If they feel in control they will be comfortable. When people come to start diving they are like a white slate and the instructor forms them.

Simplifying the dive gear and giving divers control of their buoyancy by making them neutral does wonders. We have made a video demonstrating how much control a person has even from the first time in the water if they are taught to control their buoyancy from the start.

We have tried this with hundreds of people ranging from those comfortable in the water to those with phobias and we have found it to be more enjoyable for them and more controllable for us. I am interested in people's comments and opinions. Please watch the video and read the post then come back and give us your opinion.

The link is: Red Sea Explorers - Intro Diving d=1

[purple vonny]

I'm not sure what to say. They certainly look comfortable in the water.

What would happen if, say, the big guy had a heart attack and you had to bring him up and recue him? Just jettison the kit?

Is this just for try dives?

Oh, and as for the video, I like the music.

I am racking my brains to think of a useful comment. Interesting.

[big_si]

Rob Dobson invited me to do some monkey diving many moons ago... I haven't tried it yet... Looks interesting though!

[PeeBee]

That's back to basics in a big way, I can see some advantages as far as getting a newbie comfortable quickly but I would think that anytrainees who had done any research would be saying "if it's this simple why do the experienced people carry so much stuff?" But as for controlling their buoyancy, surely what you mean is getting them neutral, they have little control beyond that, or am I missing something?

[steveharriss]

Not wishing to piss on your chips but what exactly were these novice/first time divers doing on Little Brother when I thought the safety requirement was a minimum of 50 dives? Or does that not apply to your particular centre?

Wouldn't they have been better served, and safer, in a more controlled environment?

It certainly looked fun...but is it diving? I think not

[markosis]

If they are new divers then they look very, very comfortable.

It's certianly a pretty novel way of getting new divers into the water.

I'm not sure if I think it's a good or a bad idea though.

[Stesh]

.

[ratcliffe]

Is it diving or isn't it diving ?

It most certainly *is* diving. They are underwater, enjoying themselves. Period. Thats diving, surely ?

OK, its not diving as we know it, nor is it the way that we have been taught. But I think as long as it is in a properly controlled environment, then it gives people a simplified way to experience diving. As long as it is made clear that they will have to learn the "normal" way of doing it if they take up diving, I see that as OK, as they will be fairly comfortable in the water after a couple of intro dives with this monkey configuration.
Its a novel approach and one I quite like the idea of. It could teach a few of us on here some appreciation of buoyancy I am sure

As for the requirement of 50 dives on the Little Brother, well I have no idea on that, if someone is shortcutting regulations then naughty, but I don't know how it works out there, so I'll withhold judgement on that.

[Stesh]

Looking at your other "monkey" diving videos on Youtube:-



You all look very comfortable,

Sadly at bit more comfortable than the turtle on one of your other videos:-



Or the relatives of the victims of the Salem Express when you do your guided tours through it :-

As ever, it was a dive everybody enjoyed (even if that's not the correct term), with the majority of buddy pairs choosing to take lights and head down into the main car deck, an eerie reminder of the tragedy this wreck is as you swim past mounds and mounds of suitcases and personal belongings, childrens bicycles, shoes, toys, and the like. Following this, the groups came outside to continue the external tour of the wreck

source:- Red Sea Explorers - Brothers, Daedalus, Elphinstone - May 2007

[Red Sea Explorer]

Originally Posted by steveharriss

Not wishing to piss on your chips but what exactly were these novice/first time divers doing on Little Brother when I thought the safety requirement was a minimum of 50 dives? Or does that not apply to your particular centre?

Wouldn't they have been better served, and safer, in a more controlled environment?

It certainly looked fun...but is it diving? I think not

I think it is somewhere between diving and snorkeling. Depends on how far you take it and how you look at it.

In the case of people diving for the first time we keep them within 10 meters of water most of the time around 6 meters. So for them it is like advanced snorkeling. When other advanced divers do it a bit deeper then it is diving I guess.

It is true the rules say a diver must have 50 dives to go to Brothers. But the people in this picture are Non-divers. They are not doing any of the dives behind the reef or on the wrecks. They spend most of the day sustaining. They only went in the water to for the intro dives 1to1 with the instructor.
I am not sure if this is braking the rules, but we tried to be as safe as possible by staying close to the boat and but keeping a RIB on top of us at all times.