Posted by Bob G. on March 19, 19102 at 10:02:38:
Allow me a personal observation:
I have volunteered at every Ghost-Ships festival. I think it is growing rapidly in interest. The reason for that, I believe, is because its unique perspective. Many festivals have a perspective of diving on shipwrecks (or in some festivals, coral reefs). While Ghost-Ships is still about diving, even tech diving, the perspective is shifted more toward the shipwrecks themselves. What are their stories? How did they get there? Why are we diving on them? Is the diving revealing more about them? The display booths reflect that perspective too. There are more archeologically-oriented organizations. While we have a complement of dive organizations, as we should, we also have a lot of museums, state archeological organizations and preservation societies.
I personally find that refreshing, because long ago I became less interested on just seeing the underwater artifacts and more interested in knowing the stories behind them. And what wonderful stories there are to tell. That is what why I think Ghost-Ships is so refreshing, and why I hope to see it continue to grow. I think there is a real hunger among divers today to know about and help preserve what they dive upon.