Popular SCUBA diving myths and urban legends exposed

SCUBA diving is one of the most beautiful and enjoyable activities on the planet today, at least according to dive industry officials.

Despite the beauty (and challenges) that go with SCUBA diving, there are many myths out there keeping people out of the water. Here's a brief look at SCUBA myths AND realities!

MYTH: Diving is a very dangerous activity
TRUTH: When done within the guidelines you’ll learn about in your open water certification course, diving has an extraordinary safety record. Diving is an exciting activity that combines all the thrills of exploration and adventure, with a safety record that compares favorably to sports such as bowling.

MYTH: Diving is complicated and difficult to learn
TRUTH: Learning to dive is easy today. Professional diving instructors use all the learning materials and proven strategies to make it simple and fun to learn. Before you know it you’ll be breathing underwater and using all the cool "toys" that make diving easier than ever before to learn and participate regularly.

MYTH: You have to be in top physical condition to dive
TRUTH: Like any active sport, diving is more enjoyable if you’re physically fit. And you do need some basic swimming skills in order to learn. But it’s nothing extreme; if you’re comfortable in the deep end of a pool, can swim, and you can walk for several minutes without getting winded, you can probably learn to dive.

MYTH: The ocean is full of dangerous animals like sharks
TRUTH: Most divers actually consider a shark sighting to be a special and memorable occasion, since it is rare to see them. While such critters as sharks and barracuda should be respected and treated as wild animals, the vast majority subsist on a diet of things considerably smaller than a scuba diver. In fact, most sharks and barracuda are somewhat intimidated by divers; with our long fins and other equipment, we appear big to them … something they don’t want to mess with! Besides, it’s a myth that sharks are perpetually hungry or are always on the attack. It’s not uncommon at all for a shark to go two weeks without hunting, and in one documented case, a healthy shark did not eat for better than a year.

MYTH: It’s expensive
TRUTH: When you put it up against other leisure activities, such as owning a quality mountain bike, golfing, boating, or skiing, diving compares very favorably. And the more you dive, the more true that becomes. Dive gear, for instance, is very durable and can last for years and years; after a short while, the cost of your gear can work out to just a few pennies per dive.

Credit to our friends at the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) for assisting in creating this list.

Girl Power!

It started out a couple of chilly mornings this weekend in Open Water Class! But the weather wasn't going to hold this class back before everyone started jumping in!...

Then it was back out of the water to... dry their hair?? No. Some dry land navigation skills basics! Towel overhead, dive compass in hand, and guided by their dive buddy, the students perilously criss'd and cross'd the north side of the parking lot very successfully!

The girls seemed to be the dominant group today (who out-numbered the boys 2-1!). As you can see, they're very happy to show their scuba gender-team camaraderie! ;-)

Poor Sabrina wasn't pictured above because, since she's only eleven years old!, her high energy level always seemed to keep her two fin-kicks ahead of the rest of the girls! Great going Sabrina!

After receiving their official Open Water Diver Certificate, Leslie & Nicole just had to show how they and all of us divers feel, "Like a Supa-Stahr!!" ;-)




Don't forget to add your comments below...
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GLDC Graduate Goes Abroad

GLDC Spring class graduate, Sofia, keeps in touch by sharing a few pics for the rest of us homeland-bound divers... she's in Mexico and taking the diver's tour of the best sites down south.

It looks like she's been having a great time in ChiKin-Ha Cenote, Playa del Carmen, and Cozumel.

She's baraged me with so many great photos; but most of them have a wide group of sponges, corals and tropical fish! Can't wait to get her first-hand account of her first salt-water adventures! By the pictures and the smiles it seems to be a great success, great going Sofia!

August 2009 Class Ready for the Water

With a full class load of students this weekend, we were busy getting through only half of the required skills so it'll be back in the pool next weekend!

In between skills I had no shortage of willing underwater subjects for my class pictures I must say! (Here we have subjects #1 & #2)

And then yet another subject, #3...

But this happens to be my favorite! ;-) I'm afraid to say that my girlfriend stole my show with her finely tuned bouyancy skills! Good going hunny!! ;-) (Sorry other students...)

Chicago Shedd Aquarium Opens Up!

On my favorite TODAY Show I saw that Beluga Whales are the talk of the Shedd Aquarium this summer! Although not quite a diver's destination yet like the Epcot Living Seas or the Maui Ocean Center, the Shedd Aquarium is opening its doors to the public to experience some one-on-one time in the water with one of the most rare and endangered species in the ocean.

Note to Shedd: Make diving another piece of your public outreach, "build it", and the divers will come! ;-)

Regina mas Fina!

Rec & Tec Diving charters operating out of Port Sanilac is responsible for the smiles on our faces here! Captain Gary Venet was the very gracious host for the day for our dive on the "Regina".


Jim and I were pretty much all smiles the whole afternoon... Luckily the weather held out and we only saw SUN allll day! ;-)


Gary's boat was incredibly clean and organized which made boat-side pre-dive activities flow so much smoother... I have to say that his charters are highly recommended!




I'd L...O...V...E... to say I have pictures to show you about our dive... BUT, "Note to self: Keep the moisture out of your camera before your dive!"

When closing up your underwater camera, BE SURE there's no moisture in it! When traveling downwards from an 80 degree topside temp to the sub 40 degree water of the Regina at 90 feet, that condensation DOES NOT help make for quality photos when the lens completely fogs over! :-( Oh well, I guess you'll just have to dive it for yourself to see all the Majesty!
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Gitmo Got It!

This is a GREAT story that I came across while watching some early morning news (before my day's dive on the Regina!)... very thankful for having seen it!

This organization MUST be represented! "S.U.D.S." is Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba. This group allows for disabled veterans to dive the untouched, U.S. Military protected coral reefs of Guantanamo, Cuba. In fact, everyday divers can reportedly take charters from the Bahamas and Mexico to meet up with military divemasters off the coast near Gitmo to experience what is claimed to be the most untouched, natural coral reefs in the world.


Military vets come from all over the world to experience the freedom and serenity that diving can bring to not just most everyday diver, but especially to the disabled. Here a military diver tries out a prosthetic leg with a modified fin that allows him to make the same dive that you or I take so much for granted.

If you have a chance, peruse the SUDS website and learn more about their program!

Passionate New Divers

This is a relaxed but proud portrait of the future Summer GLDC Class of future divers! Everyone's skills improved markedly today, whether by bouyancy control or equipment handling, these divers are ready for the open water, I put my stamp of approval on it!

Dave (right), helps students with proper alternate air source sharing form; locking arms and keeping together is critical to a successful safe exercise.

Unfortunately for Julie, she caught my photographic radar today. It's not just because she caught my attention by some unknown instructor filling her diving cap with air at one point in the class (not pictured), but that she unknowingly captured my eye as the most improved student of the day! At first she was intimidated by a mere giant stride entry, but by the end of the day she was fine tuning her bouyancy skills!

Great job today guys, and good luck next weekend at White Star!

(P.S. Keep in touch and lets go diving the next weekend!)

An Undisclosed Location!

This is the only photo allowed to be released by my scuba buddy dive team for the day. Our treasure trove of goodies we found for the day is to be kept secret, Shhhh! and watch out for the tankers!

My prized find, a "Hathorn Springs, Saratoga, N.Y." bottle is rumored to be "beginner's luck", but when I look at it on my shelf, I think differently! ;-)

A history excerpt from "HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.", by NATHANIEL BARTLETT SYLVESTER:

This spring is on Spring street, directly opposite the north wing of Congress Hall. It was discovered in 1869 by some workmen employed in placing the foundation of the brick block which contains the ball-room of Congress Hall. It is named in honor of the Hon. Henry H. Hathorn, who first developed the spring and rebuilt the famous Congress Hall Hotel. The spring was very securely tubed in 1872, at the large expense of $15,000. The Hathorn spring has since become one of the most valuable springs in Saratoga. Large quantities of water are bottled and sold in the leading towns and cities of the United States and Canada.

My cool bottle dates back to the 1880's! And at dinner that night, someone revealed a hair tonic bottle from London, England that dates back to the 1820's! There's good stuff in the St. Clair River, go dive it (with me)!

Cultural Experiences in Diving

The store was busy today! Mitch (far right) had stories to share with some divers from Yugoslovia; especially since he's just days from travelling there to see family! If that's not ironic enough, they're currently living and working in Toronto where Mitch's wife used to call home... it's such a small (but fun) world!

And then came Andy whose from Birmingham, England! It turns out that Andy lives 20 minutes north of Canary Warf where my brother used to live!

I still had to put him through the paces with his 200 yard swim... my joke about shaving 10 seconds off of his lap time was really my subliminal hint to prepare him for at least his Rescue Diver training! ;-)

Frank (top, center) is a peer instructor student with me who joined Mitch to lead an entire class of new Open Water divers-to-be.

Another great weekend of meeting future dive buddies!

DUI "Dog" Days Delight!

To say that Drysuit diving is nicer because "its warmer" doesn't quite describe the experience completely! DUI's "DOG" (DUI Owners Group) Day lets divers experience it first hand and try out the entire line of dry suits available to them.

The first aerial shot was courteousy of Vertical Reality's climbing and repelling tower! The tower is the tallest in the Midwest and hosts training sessions from public rescue agency's as well as letting walk in customers don some gear and try out repelling! Bring your scuba gear and your harness!

My dive buddy, Mitch (students know him as their instructor from GLDC), was a popular guy with his new friends down at Gilboa Quarry! His CLX 450 dry suit kept him nice and toasty and nearly doubled his play time!

I opted for the TLS 350 suit which kept me comfy too! I felt very comfortable exploring Gilboa Airline's Grumman airplane! ;-) Mitch caught me coming down the gang plank... There's so much to explore here at Gilboa, take a moment and check out the site.

Here's an eery view from inside the plane, yikes! Hope you get to come down to explore the quarry first hand, you won't regret it. Email me or Mitch anytime and we'll buddy with you for Gilboa (or anywhere else! ;-)

Ty Sawyer, from "Sport Diver" magazine was here today snapping shots. DUI's event at Gilboa is the largest dry suit event in the country and will be featured in September's issue. Be sure to check out his photos!

Representatives from Divers Alert Network and DUI spoke about their involvement in the industry. Very impressive was DUI's all-American production facility in San Diego! Personal pics of the great staff working on every aspect of DUI suit production, from sewing to quality control testing. Mention's of respectful involvement in the movie industry as well with help in filming diving scenes in movies like Mission Imposible and the Italian Job. DUI is a very impressive company indeed!

DUI put 172 divers in the water on Saturday alone, but Mitch and I were just happy to be 2 of them! We met fellow dive enthusiasts, DUI dive professionals, and rounded out our own dive experiences by test driving our favorite dry suits! A very successful day!

[Click here to see the entire set of pics!]

Open Water Divers at White Star

Everyone enjoyed the weekend's initial dive brief under great weather and a beautiful sun! Luckily our group started early and grabbed some valuable picnic table space while the rest of the day brought out nearly 100 divers that filled-in almost the entire lake-front shoreline!

Soon, everyone was entering the water and the challenge of weekend OWD Skills were on!

White Star Quarry has done a great job at developing their site to cater to all divers, experienced and the divers-in-training, by providing these great submerged platforms for skills tests.

Mitch (left), an instructor at Great Lakes Dive Center, congratulates a student after a successful controlled emergency swimming ascent to the surface from the training platform. As you can see, visibility here is one of the best in the Great Lakes area.

After a long first day, what better to cap off the night than a tall tasty treat from the local ice cream parlor extradinaire, "Mr. Freeze"! (No relation to the chilly May waters of White Star! ;-)

And who could resist the temptation's of the Ohio "Buckeye Sundae", or my favorite, the "Mudd Sundae" complete with Oreos, Hot Fudge and Gummy Worms! Mmmm!

Some students learned a valuable lesson not to be found in the Instructor Manual... Clean and "Dry" your wetsuit out after your dives! Some of the students found their wetsuits a little chilly on Sunday morning! ;-) But that didn't stop them from getting back in the water with a giant stride entry into the day's activities.

I think Sofia embodies all the satisfaction of becoming a new Diver in this picture! Now a new PADI Open Water Diver, she enjoy's the comfort and peace of mind every diver has after great dives, meeting great new friends, and the thought of great new underwater opportunities!

Great going GLDC Spring Class of '09!

Looking forward to diving with you all in the future!

[Click here for more pics!]

White Star Quarry Enjoys 60' Visibility!

Who is that masked man at the top of the quarry!? It's eerily similar to the "Christ of the Abyss" statue from the Florida Keys!

I'm not sure about other divers this weekend, but at White Star Quarry in Ohio, I saw crystal-clear views like these were found on every dive! I can't express how fun it was to dive in the clarity and content of this site that made up such a fulfilling experience!

On top of the stone crusher in the quarry is "Instructor X", a soon-to-be dive instructor exploring the quarry's in's and outs down near the stone crusher passageway.


This unidentified diver we'll call "jacket winner" didn't want to be identified to keep his cool demeanor absent from the paporazi-style coverage of the weekend. This weekend's focus was on the students to be instructed rather than promoting the success of his dive jacket pursuits.

B-U-T, it wasn't all study, study, study!

When you're not busy doing instructor-in-training skills, why not ride an underwater motorcycle at exceptionally high speed (not really) to keep you grounded!?!?


But whatever you do do, don't STOP taking education classes! To stop diving experiences, training or diving, you limit yourself! Never stop taking your continuing education classes and you'll forever find yourself in new and ever expanding situations of discovery!
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