"In most of the diving training during the 1950s and 1960s, there was a consistent 50% failure rate in professional diving courses. This meant that some sort of standard was being applied. In comparison, there is little or no failure rate in many of the recreational diving courses now being held - suggesting that few or no standards are really being applied, other than the ability to pay."

(Diving and Subaquatic Medicine: Edmonds, Lowry, and Pennefeather)

Before purchasing our sloop, Moondance, we were very heavily into scuba diving. Our addiction to compressed air lead us to quit our jobs in 1990 and spend over a year backpacking around the world - including a 9 month stint in the Cayman Islands working as dive instructors. In addition to warm waters from Central America to the Caribbean, Australia, and Thailand, we've dived numerous Atlantic wrecks from North Carolina to New York as well as a kelp forest off California. Alas, passions change and we do very little diving now.