The International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (ISHF) may not have a site on the Internet or even a permanent home in the real world.
But that didn’t stop it from inducting its first members amid much fanfare this fall. Neither did it temper the proclamations that the new hall of fame would become one of the Cayman Islands’ biggest tourist draws within a few short months.
The hall of fame’s got two things going for it: the Cayman’s legendary reputation in the Scuba community as one of the world’s premier places to dive. And a flashy, informative Web site for divers.
I must admit that of all the destinations I’ve recently dived, I count the Cayman Islands among my favorites. Most of the choice sites are less than 20 minutes from shore, and a majority of them are easy without being boring. The underwater terrain is as varied as any I’ve seen, and best of all, the Caymans are relatively close — about an hour’s flight south of Miami.
If there’s any criticism of this Caribbean island, it’s that it’s too well known. Quite a few of its popular sites are simply dived out. Oftentimes, the boat traffic at the surface – with all the visitors vying for the same spot – reminds me of the confusion above some of the John Pennekamp State Park’s best wrecks in Key Largo, Fla.
So much for an adventure.
If you ignore the occasional boat traffic jams, the official Cayman Islands dive site site is a fitting prelude to a hall of fame visit. From its colorful graphics to enticing narrative, the Scuba page of the Cayman Islands is enough to whet anyone’s appetite for the underwater world. I particularly liked the footage of fish and other wildlife that could be downloaded as streaming video.
But the hall of fame is also, for lack of a better term, empty. It’s well funded and reasonably well organized, but for the moment, there’s also no way to experience this newest institution online. Did the masterminds behind the hall of fame goof when they left the Web page on the backburner?
Maybe, and maybe not.
For all the hype that the dive training organizations are generating about number of divers who are on the Internet, this adventure sport remains decidedly tactile and un-wired. Change is slow. While there are almost certainly more divers online than there were a year ago, the same can probably be said for any other special-interest group, from stamp collectors to nudists. So on the one hand, it doesn’t matter that the hall of fame isn’t represented in cyberspace.
On the other hand, it does matter – and will matter – in the long term if the hall of fame goes Web-less. If it becomes as big a visitor draw as tourism officials hope for, then a forward-thinking Internet presence is imperative. A clever Web site won’t just bring to life the accomplishment of inductees like Jacques Cousteau and Lloyd Bridges, but will encourage divers to experience the adventure of diving as they did.
The organizers assure me that a Web page is forthcoming, that it will be up and running at about the same time the hall of fame moves into its new, permanent building. I wonder, though, if a strategy of putting real life before the virtual is advisable during the middle of the information age.
We may have to wait until the ISHF officially opens to find out.
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