Average age of divers today???

[tr3a]

yess!!
to disqualify for not diving locally is stupid

 

[LakeCountyDiver]

I am a vacation diver ie: I don't dive at home, as Puget Sound is too cold for me. But I manage to log 55 - 60 dives per year. Am I a real diver?

Some people can get so weird over a comment and not seem to read it thoroughly. As "most" vacation divers I can only assume that one gets to go on vacation once maybe twice a year in that maybe making 2-4 dives. If you log 2-4 dives a year IMO you lose basic skills this I think are needed for safe diving. If you "need" a DM in the water with you because you don't feel safe then I don't think of one as a real diver.

You get "60" dives a year thats more than a lot of divers I know.
Just wondering what do you do that allows you to get 60 dives on vacation every year?

 

[mickd]

I am 34 and just entered the world of diving. The majority of divers I see are definitely older and I'd agree with many of the posters that it's probably a financial thing. Unless you live near a beach, diving is very expensive and most youth can not afford it. And if they're landlocked, like I was growing up, there are way too many other sports of interest locally. I had always wanted to dive and even grew up as a competitve swimmer, but it Dallas, TX, diving required quite a trip to get anywhere. I wasn't really able to pursue it until I moved to Florida, and now I'm loving it...but even if I had grown up in Florida, I could not have afforded it when I was young.

 

[JamesBon92007]

When I was a kid it cost $20 to get my certification. I managed to come up with the money and get a ride to the dive shop for every lesson. My first tank, backpack, and regulator cost around $60 brand new. I borrowed a neighbor's wet suit but scraped up enough to get mask, snorkel, fins, knife, etc. Working part time for $1.50/hour I managed to go diving two or three times a week and I lived 25 miles from the ocean. My dive watch was from a drug store and it cost $13. According to me I own all the equipment I need to go scuba diving. According the to LDS I need to spend at least a couple thousand more to be properly equipped. BTW I fit into the age bracket with the highest score

 

[Fishfngr]

Hitting 56 in two months been in the water for the past 15 years, and love it.

Cheers

Graham

 

[rucus7]

Lets see . . . . I've been certified 21 years. . . .let me do the arithmetic . . . . that makes me 58. . . . yikes, I got old!!!

 

[mmintz]

I'm 21 now and have been diving since I was 14. I was lucky that my mom wanted to get certified, and so did I. The funny thing is my dad didn't even want to get certified and now he is an instructor. Now that I am a dive control specialist and am helping teach I would agree that a majority of the divers that are getting certified tend to be in their mid 30s to 40s. They are the ones established and have the money and time to devote to diving. The kids that are in their late teens and early 20s (18-22) it seems like they are taking scuba through their college. It is tough for me to say the average age of students I have seen while teaching, but I know their ages range from 10-55 or so.

 

[BTravlin]

Turn 53 tomorrow and have been diving for 5 years. Thanks to scuba diving and the economic meltdown I'm scuba experience rich but cash poor!

 

[vs9205066]

Just turned 49 and just PADI certified....

 

[divejay]

I feel the data you are collecting is not as clear as what you see. I have been part of my wife's dive shop in Grand Cayman for 10 years. Last year in just two weeks during Kids Sea Camp there was 88 kids certified from ages 8 thru teenagers. Every summer we see 100's of families diving together. Today's families can not afford to dive on boats every day but they can afford shore diving. Last year we recorded 7,000+ boat dives and 27,000+ shore dives at our two shore diving shops. In the last two years it has been amazing see the number of junior openwater divers shore diving. Because of their deep limitation these families have to shore dive as other older divers do not want that limitation on their vacation.

Plus, I feel this scubaboard is not the social media these younger divers will visit. I feel the question for this poll should allow parents to add their spouses and kids to get a better sample.