Wants Data to Back Up Comments on Solo Diving
CDN:
I read Michael H. Kane’s letter where he writes there have been an “extraordinary amount of fatalities in California…. the vast majority related to solo diving.” That is, to me, an extraordinary comment. Are there any data to support this comment? I have been solo diving for years. I always spend extra time planning and checking equipment, dive with an extra second stage and a Spare Air, dive cautiously, abort quickly if uncomfortable (e.g., too much current), try to stay above 60 feet and have never come close to having a problem. I would certainly be very much interested in hearing information on what “fatalities” have occurred and how they happened. If there are some facts, perhaps we can all learn something from them.

Murray McDole
via e-mail

How Old is Marineland?
CDN:
Dale Sheckler must be a youngster. He refers to Marineland of the Pacific as “the oldest amusement park in the western United States.”

There was an earlier one, “Pacific Ocean Park,” located south of Santa Monica that opened in 1958. Although short-lived, it closed in 1967. It was also marine oriented and had some great rides and tanks.

Tom Hatfield
via e-mail

Tom,
While young at heart, chronologically I am not as young as you think. Marineland of the Pacific opened in 1954, predating me by three years, Disneyland by one year, and Pacific Ocean Park (POP) by four years.

Dale Sheckler
Editor

Good Instruction and Bad
Dear CDN,
Last year my wife and I learned to dive and for the most part enjoyed our course. The class consisted of a classroom where we watched videos and went over homework from our textbook. We went to a couple of pool sessions and went to the ocean before receiving our cards, all of which gave us the feeling we were ready to go out on our own. There is where the problem lies.

This past weekend we went on our first beach dive since our course (with all new equipment we gave each other for the holidays). And from the onset we began to feel a little over our heads. Our instructor was always there to help put together our rented equipment, but this time we had our own equipment and it didn’t seem to all fit together.

Just before we threw in the towel we noticed other divers about to get ready. I decided to listen in and watch and maybe I could figure out what we were doing wrong. It was obvious at that point that these divers were here for a class dive, but it was nothing like the dive with my instructor. The instructor started by doing what he called a site survey (we never did that). He pointed out a number of things that I, myself, would never have noticed, both fun stuff and hazards. They put on their wetsuits and went on a snorkel dive, going over a number of different types of entries and exits and placing some sort of float where they had planned to go with scuba (this was also not done in my class).

When they returned I asked if they could take a look and see what I had done wrong and without hesitation the instructor, his name is Mike Brandow, quickly found the problem and showed me how to fix it. From there they assembled their equipment and suited up. Upon suiting up they spent time doing what that instructor called a “buddy check,” going over pieces of equipment each had that was different (again, something my instructor didn’t do).

At the same time my wife and I decided to suit up and try our luck. We were a few minutes behind them and when we ran across them on the bottom they were at the end of what I remember as the skills we did on our last ocean dive. We followed (not too closely) them on their bottom tour, and throughout the dive Mike was pointing out marine life and other things all over the ocean bottom (our instructor just led us back to the beach underwater). It was the best time we had underwater so far.

On the drive back home my wife realized a couple of things. First, although we “learned” to dive, we never were exposed to what diving is. We don’t feel cheated as our course was exactly what they told us it would be (we got what we paid for), but something has to be said about the little things of diving that books and videos don’t teach you. Second, we never got around to thanking Mike for his help with our new equipment and for what we learned from him (even though I’m sure he never knew he was teaching us).

But most of all he gave a little exposure to the experience of diving. So with that said, thanks goes out to Mike Brandow. We hope to run into you again real soon. We would love to take a course from you in the future.

Steven and Dana Crutchfield
Porter Ranch, CA