“When sex was safe, and diving dangerous.” I first saw that provocative phrase painted on a wooden placard in a beach shack bar on the windswept east coast of Cozumel over a decade ago. It has stuck with me ever since. I don’t know of its exact origins, but I guess it’s a bit of ironic nostalgia for the 1960s, an era of both free love, and a boom time for the burgeoning adventure sport of scuba diving. In my mind, it’s also a commentary on the current state of things and, while I won’t comment on the hazards of promiscuity, I will say that diving has gotten “too safe.” Or at least that’s the common perception and one that, ironically, is keeping people from getting in the water. What diving needs is a rebranding campaign.
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