"Dive, Dive, Dive!” with Mary Lynn Berzett
Who Scuba Dives, and What Do They Learn
EDITOR'S
NOTE: “I’ve been diving since Moby Dick
was a guppy,” says Dennis “Skinny”
Hallmark of Birmingham, Alabama. At the age of 15, Hallmark
made his first scuba dive with a friend in the quarry
near his home, and in his words, “I was hooked.”
Over the past 35 years, Hallmark has taught thousands
of first-time scuba divers and diving instructors and
owned dive shops in three Alabama cities in the 1980s.
Certified by the Professional Association of Diving
Instructors (PADI) and the National Association of Underwater
Instructors (NAUI), Hallmark also teaches instructors
how to teach firemen and police to perform rescue dives.
The International Diving Educators’ Association
(IDEA) of Jacksonville, Florida, honored Hallmark in
2002 as its Worldwide Instructor of the Year.
Night Hawk: Who scuba dives?
Hallmark: I’ve taught doctors, lawyers, engineers,
military personnel, police, firemen, housewives, high
school and college students and even preachers of all
ages.
Night Hawk: What does learning how to scuba dive cost?
Hallmark: In Birmingham, it usually costs around $400.
I furnish all the equipment so there’s really
nothing to buy. If we go down to the fresh-water springs
at Ponce de Leon near De Funiak Springs, Florida, the
cost is about $475. Again I furnish all the equipment
in addition to the motel room for two nights.
Night
Hawk: What do you learn?
Hallmark: In a diving class, you learn the safety part
of scuba diving, including the do’s and don’ts.
We go over the equipment, including the tank, the wet
suit, the regulator, the buoyancy compensation device
(BCD) and the weight belt. You’ll learn about
how the tanks function and the air you’ll breathe.
Most people think you breathe oxygen, when you scuba
dive, but you’re really breathing the same air
underwater as you breathe above water. It’s just
filtered before it goes into the tank. This air is cleaner
and is actually called clean air. You’ll also
learn about putting air in the BCD to equalize yourself
on the bottom. Your weight belt is actually an emergency
piece of equipment, because when you remove it, you’ll
automatically go up to the surface. For deeper dives,
specialty or tech diving, you’ll learn about mixing
gases. However, I don’t do deep, deep diving.
The deepest a scuba diver wants to go is around 120
feet, an average depth of 80 feet, and for the beginner
about 60 feet.
Night Hawk: How long does learning scuba diving take?
Hallmark: The course requires about two weekends. The
first weekend involves reviewing the written material
and doing the pool classes. The second weekend you’ll
do five dives in open water in a lake, a quarry, springs
or salt water. To be certified, you must pass a written
test and two water tests. The water tests are a swim
of 200 yards, nonstop, no time limit, and any stroke
as long as you keep going. The second water test is
a 10-minute float or treading water. The written test
consists of 100 questions taken from the book you receive
at your first class. Most people score 90 or above on
the test simply by listening in class and reading over
the book.
Night
Hawk: Can you try scuba diving out before you decide
to take the course?
Hallmark: Yes, that is just what you want to do. For
instance in the Birmingham area, we’ll take you
out to Blue Water, sign releases and explain what’s
going to happen. We’ll put you in about 4 to 5
feet of water and let you play around on one of the
platforms there. We can’t let you go off and scuba
dive by yourself, but we can give you a simulated scuba
dive. I think many scuba places offer this type of trial
run.
Night Hawk: What kind of person are you looking for
to be a student?
Hallmark: A diver can’t be under the influence
of drugs or alcohol because of the pressure changes
you experience diving. There really is no average type
of person. I’ve taught all types of groups, including
Boy Scouts and single guys in their late teens or early
20’s. I’ve also taught divorced people who’ve
married early and then divorced in their mid- to late
20’s or 30’s. Currently, the groups I’m
teaching are in their 40’s, established in their
careers and have disposable income. They’re seeking
some fun in their lives, something other than work.
Classes usually are made up of people within 10 years
of age of one another, with an occasional father and
son team. Rarely do I have several 12-or 60-year-old
students.
Night Hawk: What kind of attitude should a person have
to make learning to scuba dive a great experience?
Hallmark: You should want to learn to dive because
you want to, not because someone else wants to make
you learn. This sometimes happens when a husband wants
his wife to learn. I’ve had boyfriends who want
their girlfriends to learn, and if they don’t,
then the guys quit dating them. The attitude I look
for in a student is a desire to learn, a willingness
to work hard and a thirst for adventure. You can’t
dive alone, so it’s good to have a buddy when
learning.
Night
Hawk: Do you or have you taught people who can’t
swim to scuba dive?
Hallmark: In the past, I have taught people to dive
even though they can’t swim. About 10-years ago,
the insurance regulations changed, requiring a person
to be able to float for 10 minutes and to swim 200 yards.
The insurance companies now require a diver to be able
to save himself or herself.
To contact Skinny Hallmark for further information,
call him at home, (205) 980-0008, call his cell phone,
(205) 907-0824 or contact him at skinnyhallmark@charter.net.
His website is currently being redone and is unavailable.
He also has a DVD that he’ll be glad to send out.
TOMORROW: COSTS OF SCUBA-DIVING
TRIPS
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