The diving community over the past month has been mourning dive pioneer Hal Watts, who created the the Professional Scuba Association International, the world’s oldest scuba certification agency.
Watts, who died at age 89, also set a world record in 1967 with a dive to 390ft/119m off the Miami coast. In 1970, he set a cave-diving record of 415ft/127m.
In an obituary published this week in The Telegraph, he was quoted as saying:
“The water seemed to be screaming by us, each breath was getting colder and colder. It was though I was breathing through ice water.”
He later said:
“Scuba diving is not a safe sport. However, the program our club had designed through the years was the “safest way” to participate in an inherently dangerous sport.”
The maxim he was most known for, “Plan your dive, dive your plan,” came from his experience as a pilot.
“I used to be a private pilot and we’d say: ‘Plan your flight, fly your plan’. I’ve seen so many incidents and fatalities that could have been avoided through proper planning.”
