So let’s say you’re planning a dive trip to the Red Sea, but aren’t sure which dive sites would most interest you.
Well, PADI is introducing a new virtual reality app — in partnership with I Love The Sea — that by the end of this year will allow you to view a variety of dive sites via your mobile phone or even Oculus VR goggles.
I Love The Sea‘s app series — called “The Must Of The Sea” — will be offered in three tiers: “Feel,” the first app to launch, features a sensorial experience for divers and non-divers alike, delivers three compelling, 360-degree undersea adventures: Shipwrecks, Caves and Gardens & Sea Life.
The second app in the suite, “View & Plan,” will launch in November 2016. This app serves as a virtual tour to seven of the best dive routes the Red Sea has to offer, creating an easy way for you to plan your dive adventure. You’ll be able to analyze the best dive sites of each route with information like geo-positioning, illustrations, dive route planning and 360-degree photos.
The third app, “Pro Guide,” will be launched in the months after “View & Plan.”
Drew Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of PADI Worldwide, says:
“PADI recognizes the importance of keeping pace with new technologies and staying up-to-date with trends that divers enjoy. I’m confident that PADI Divers will love this new virtual reality app, but I believe it will be particularly enticing for non-divers, allowing them to experience the aquatic realm in a new way and motivating them to join us in exploring the wondrous world beneath the waves by becoming divers themselves. This innovative new app is an extension of PADI’s continuing efforts to inspire a legion of new ocean advocates by bringing new divers into the sport.”
Kristin Valette, Chief Marketing Officer for PADI Worldwide, sees the new app as a marketing tool for PADI members:
“Members often encounter people who are interested in learning to dive but have yet to take the plunge. PADI Dive Centers and Resorts can use the new app to give consumers a taste of the awesome adventure that awaits them under the waves, which can be an effective tool for closing the sale. After all, this app is as close as you can get to diving without getting wet!
“While the immersive virtual reality experience is a draw for non-divers, PADI Members will also delight in using the app themselves, because it not only provides a novel way to explore legendary dive sites, it can also be used to give friends and families a taste of the fun and adventure our members find in diving — and demonstrate in a new and utterly convincing way why we all love diving so much!”
PADI will be demonstrating the new app at next month’s DEMA Show in Las Vegas, and count on us at DeeperBlue.com to provide our readers with a first-hand account of this new technology, so stay tuned!
For more info, download the first app at themustofthesea.com or check out the video below.
