Last week, Examiner.com ran an exclusive story about the media doing more damage to the scuba diving industry than the actual BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (Media Damages the Keys). Apparently, dive operators in the Florida Keys are not the only scuba retailers feeling the effects from the ‘media storm.’
Merrick VanLandingham has worked at Gulf Coast Dive Pros in Pensacola, Florida for 20 years. His operation is one of the leading scuba training facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. “When the spill first happened, there was an occasional call. Then the media reports started coming in and then the calls increased and people started canceling trips.”
Unlike the Florida Keys which has seen steady business (Divers Keep Coming Despite Oil), VanLandingham said he can see a direct correlation between media reports, concern from his customers and decreasing business.
“We haven’t canceled one dive because of the oil,” he points out. “However, we HAVE had to cancel dives because divers called and said that they saw on TV that the oil would keep us from diving. That’s simply not true and it’s very frustrating.”
This isn’t to say that the operation hasn’t been affected by the oil at all. “We actually lost one of our training sites last week,” he explains. “Fort Pickens was a great place for students. It’s a shore dive and last week one of our instructors came up and encountered some oil. It’s no longer available to us and all of our diving now has to be via boat.” He said the store is now taking students to an inland site protected from any effects from the oil.
Some divers in the area have told VanLandingham that he’s the only dive boat still taking out divers in the area. “I can’t confirm that because I’ve been too busy doing damage control.” This includes regular contact with legal counsel. “There isn’t an operator anywhere down here that doesn’t have a lawyer,” he points out.
Florida Dive Pros regularly takes divers to popular sites like the USS Oriskany wreck, an hour’s boat ride from shore. The Oriskany is one of the more popular sites with divers because it’s a large wreck accessible to divers. Twenty-five miles off-shore, the wreck is unaffected by the oil spill, according to reports from divers and divemasters exploring the wreck each day.
Groups of divers are still heading out to the Oriskany and other sites via boat each day, but the numbers are declining. In fact, one trip that was canceled at the last minute strikes a chord of cruel irony. “We had to cancel an afternoon boat when the divers said they were scared about the oil. It’s interesting that the boat still went out with a last minute charter -- a group of media wanting to go look for oil slicks.”
For more details about Van Landingham’s dive operation, go to http://www.florida-divepros.com/
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Comments
We ALL understand the concern of gulf coast business and life...And the truth hurts!! Truth is there is oil...the sheen goes right to the beach! The waves turn it up, beach goers do not see this! How can the "spill" be such a conspiracy to so many? I have pictures from the beach and offshore... I have put my hands in three inch thick oil and... See More ... rescued birds in the middle of tarballs...To promote people diving and swimming just because you don't "see" the oil is absurd...if there's a ban on fishing ALL waters why should we let our children play in them? If someone wants the truth of the gulf...ask someone working out in it!! We work it everyday! We run Dive Charters and work closely with Dive Pros of Pensacola Florida and do not understand the promotion of dive operations while a Health advisory has been established across the county. Our economy is hurting like all other business across the gulf but should we put peoples health in jeopardy because of our own Finances?
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