Are we really the minority??

[drbill]

Who is talking about spoiled divers? Santa Catalina??

Hey, it's cold and dark out here this time of year. Why, I haven't even been in the water once in 2008.

 

[Buoyant1]

I agree. Now that I am single I am finding it very difficult to find someone to date that is a diver. My friend set me up with someone he described as a "diver"...the guy had not been diving in seven years!

I also don't buy the excuse that these people don't live near the ocean. Most of my diving is in quarries...some that are three hours away. I'm sure that even most landlocked states have diving options within 3-4 hours.

There's the rub...I recenty talked to someone about my recent Florida trip and mentioned that I did a bunch of diving and they responded "Oh yeah, I'm a diver! but I haven't gone in about 10 years" (guess then you really AREN'T a diver anymore then!)

Btw...which quarries do you hit? I'm a regular at Bainbridge, PA and occasional at Dutch Springs, I saw you've been to Dutch. I feel lucky because I'm 20 minutes from Bainbridge and about an hour and a half from Dutch...I have a friend (who slips in here from time to time) that has about a 3 hour trip to the nearest diving...THAT would drive me batty!

 

[Buoyant1]

Maybe we should start a thread : "Where is your favorite school bus dive?"

Dutch Springs!

 

[Buoyant1]

I'm stuck about as dry as can be right now sitting in Baghdad. There's a big man-made lake around Saddam's palace here. I told a guy the other day, 'ya know...if they sunk a bunch of tanks and anti-aircraft pieces in there and let me dive in it even once a week...I wouldn't mind being here.'

Hmmmisn't there anything left from the "former" Iraqi army that you guys can sink???

Better call my congressman to get you guys wet!

 

[chachita]

I would dive every single day if I could - it's what I love doing most in the world, the first thing I think about when I get up and the last thing before falling asleep...

Grew up in Curacao and did a fair amount of diving in my teens but stopped after coming to Canada to attend university in 1976. I'm still here, which is why the bulk of my diving consists of cyber-diving @ the Scuba Board...

There's a lot of diving up here but my Canadian water experiences have been 'problematic'. My first summer I was invited to go sailing in Lake Ontario. It was a sunny, warm day, so I set off in my bikini and had a basket with my shorts, T-shirt & suntan lotion. When I showed up at the pier I was flabbergasted to see everyone in the boat wearing shoes, socks, jeans, heavy sweaters, windbreakers and hats. They, in turn, were staring at me open-mouthed. Obviously we were sailing in different planets.

The summer after that I was invited to a cottage by a lake. Again, a sunny, warm day. I wasn't too keen on the dark water and on not being able to see the bottom, but I love to swim so I dove in. The shock was so tremendous that I thought at first I was having a stroke or a heart attack. This water made the water in the fridge in Curacao seem room-temperature...

My parents are getting older so I now visit Curacao at least once a year and I've taken up diving again - with a vengeance, but I only get to dive 2 or 3 weeks per year. Last year I vowed I'd try it here but talking to local divers made me change my mind. Now, I've added diving here to the list of new year resolutions, although I don't know how I'll last/manage in 50-60 degree water... I looked at my diving log and I always dove in water that was 78 and warmer...

 

[jupitermermaid]

Aye


And now allow myself to correct... myself. It wasn't an article about dive computers (that was the next article), and they didn't use the word "avid.



Endnote 3 pointed to an Undercurrent piece from 2007 by B. Davison entitled How Many Divers are There, available here.

So I'll repeat my answer to DivingPrincessE: Yes. Those of use who make 200+, 100... even 50 dives a year are in the minority.

"So How Many Divers Are There?

If you define active as taking five or more dives a year, which seems reasonable, we think 1.2 million, plus or minus 15 percent, might hit it pretty close.

Wow! 5 or more times a year seems reasonable? I guess for the majority of llandlocked divers and poor souls who don't have easy access to diving areas that would seem feasible, but at this point in my diving addiction, I would go into a deep depression if I couldn't dive at least 5 times in any given month (and that's a minimum!) I consider myself lucky to be able to feed my addiction, and have a great deal of empathy for those who would like to dive more frequently but can't due to their schedules, family, obligations, or location.

 

[jupitermermaid]

Hey, it's cold and dark out here this time of year. Why, I haven't even been in the water once in 2008.

Sounds like you need a fix! Come on down to Fl. I'm diving tomorrow, Sat & Sun (12 & 13), and the following Fri & Sat (18 & 19) so far. Won't see much kelp, but the fishies and coral and sharks are great (not as in Great White, of course) :bubble_fi

 

[emcbride81]

Speaking of Millbrook, don't forget the chilly willy dive on Jan 26 - no thermocline

I would love to!! Sadly, I am flying to Mexico the following day for a week in PDC, so I dont wanna dive before I fly! :14:

 

[drbill]

Sounds like you need a fix! Come on down to Fl. I'm diving tomorrow, Sat & Sun (12 & 13), and the following Fri & Sat (18 & 19) so far. Won't see much kelp, but the fishies and coral and sharks are great (not as in Great White, of course) :bubble_fi

Yep, this has been the worst 3 months out of the last decade or so. At least I've gotten a fair bit of editing done on my existing footage.

What's diving without kelp and great whites just out of sight? Of course you do have bull sharks there!

 

[jupitermermaid]

Yep, this has been the worst 3 months out of the last decade or so. At least I've gotten a fair bit of editing done on my existing footage.

What's diving without kelp and great whites just out of sight? Of course you do have bull sharks there!

Oh, bull, Bill.... You can pretend the finger sponges are kelp (we'll get you narced to help......(just kidding), and the lemon sharks are in, so we can use magnifying lenses and pretend they're Great Whites. All it takes is imagination. You can't let your gear dry out and crack. They need to be kept wet for maximum performance (not GUI or DIR endorsed, but SCO {Sandy Cook's Opinion}. You can tell I easily amuse myself.