Cost per Dive?

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Since returning to the world of diving at the very end of 2018 I've sunk a bit north of 10k on gear, 3k on courses and easily another 3k on gas (most of that is helium though).
Done a bit north of 150 dives since.
Don't even want to make a guess on how much I've spent on gas driving to and from those dives.

No wonder I'm always broke, so worth it though.
 
Total spent to date? I don’t want to know.

Cost for local dives (below) includes $30/trip for fuel.

Regular Entry Pass, tank rental, and unlimited Nitrox

$94.25 / 2 (Dives) = $47.12 per dive
$94.25 /3 (Dives) = $31.42 per dive

Price based upon 10 visit punch card*

$76.30 / 2 (Dives) = $38.15 per dive
$76.30 / 3 (Dives)= $25.43 per dive

*Purchased in advance for $463.50 (about to use up the last of my card)...includes entry, tank, and Nitrox fills.

By the time I factor in the cost of fuel and the waste of my time to get tank fills “locally” (it takes me an hour to get to a shop that does Nitrox or Hyper Air fills...and I have to drop them off and make the trip again on another day to pick them up)...it just makes more sense for me to rent tanks for now. ^Preemptively answering the obvious question “why don’t you just buy your own tanks rather than rent?”
 
I will answer based on my shore diving here locally, since I haven't done a charter since 2015.
Air-- $6.00
Car gas-- $12
Total of $18 CAD ($13 US).
Not counting equipment purchases ( rare for me).
Not counting yearly tank visuals, reg workups.

My apologies as I didn't answer the question properly. If I include the (20+) charters, all the courses I took, DM insurance and PADI membership for 4 years, my flight to & from Panama on my one dive trip, and maybe something else I forgot, my total of $18 would go up a fair bit. Didn't include those things because they are in the past and I don't relate that to what each shore dive costs me now.
Not sure I would have included my dues, courses beyond OW, charters, etc. because I didn't need any of that to do my diving the last few years. I look at it as I only needed OW cert., fills and gas to do my shore diving. Like playing my clarinet--need reeds, cork grease, occasional repair and music to practice at home to keep in shape--don't need the fancy music stand, extra clarinets (C, Eb), the band shirt for concerts with my pro band, etc.
 
My quick, rough calculation for local shore diving only:

~$70 per dive
Sunk costs of training, equipment, and insurance (~$4000 - I am frugal)
Incremental costs of: gasoline (~$25 per trip (usually 2 dives)), tank rental (~$10-15/tank), sometimes ~$10 parking, sometimes ~$15 for Pt Lobos

I didnt try to calculate for travel diving bc there are too many parameters. I dont do "dive trips", as my wife doesnt dive. I travel, and hope to be able to dive, so there's no good way to divide airfare & hotel between "scuba" and "not-scuba" -- too complicated. But anytime you need a boat, that will add ~$50-100 per dive.
 
Wow, so many great comments on this thread! I figure my average cost per dive is somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-250. That includes: travel (air or fuel), lodging, food, charters, and fills. I'm a tech diver, so the fills include a non-trivial fill cost of helium. I'm not including the cost of my equipment, which was fairly expensive upfront as well. If I get blown out some days on a trip, my overall cost per dive higher. Lodging + foods is more expensive than the charter, so lost dive days drive up the per dive cost.

Regardless, I really agree with the sentiments expressed by a number of folks on this thread. I just don't worry about it. I could save a lot of money sitting on my couch watching TV. But then my life would be a lot less interesting, and that's not how I want to spend my time on this planet!
 
My quick, rough calculation for local shore diving only:

~$70 per dive
Sunk costs of training, equipment, and insurance (~$4000 - I am frugal)
Incremental costs of: gas (~$25 per 2 tank trip), tank rental (~$10-15/tank), sometimes ~$10 parking, sometimes ~$15 for Pt Lobos

I didnt try to calculate for travel diving bc there are too many parameters. I dont do "dive trips", as my wife doesnt dive. I travel, and hope to be able to dive, so there's no good way to divide airfare & hotel between "scuba" and "not-scuba" -- too complicated. But anytime you need a boat, that will add ~$50-100 per dive.
Clearify on tanks-- $25 for two fills? ($12.50 a fill?)
-- $10-15 for tank rentals: Don't the fills get included if you rent?
I guess it's expensive out there. When I rented tanks in FL it was like--$6 for air only and $8 for air plus tank rental.
 
I would not want to know.
Trimix blending station with booster, 20 assorted tanks all the regs and gear
CCR and mod 1 alone was 20 grand CAD when it was all said and done
 
I can easily dive for free and even make a tiny profit on the lionfish and other products that we sell. Just catching 20 lionfish at about $9 per fish is $180 per dive day. And all it takes is a $12 fishing license with a $25 SPL add on.
Somebody needs to introduce lionfish into Lake Michigan. Nobody is going to pay you to shoot zebra mussels.

:)

My number is around $150/dive because it's almost all been vacation travel. But I'd have spent a lot of that anyway. For example, I used to ski. But after getting into scuba, I figured out that a week diving in the Caribbean was less expensive than a week skiing in the Rockies. A few months into a Chicago winter, the choice between 80 degree water and frozen water is pretty easy to make.
 
I’m guessing here but just the diving without considering the gear and courses.. about 25$ per local dive.
 
Locally, including gas to get there, tanks, boat ride, uncomfortable stinky 7mm wet suit. About 250 for a two tank, freezer your privates off flash light limited pair of dives.
$125 per dive

Diving on vacation around $125 for a two tank.
$65 per dive.

Dive vacations:

Bay islands boat dives $30

Curacao, Bonaire, St Croix, Cayman Brac, shore dives at $10-15

Of course this is all X5 when you include the wife and kids.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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