Are we really the minority??

[Blackwood]

Wow...avid at 5-10...I wonder what that makes us? Psycho? :jump3:

They may have used the term "regular," I don't really remember. Whatever it was, it was a small number of dives (nothing that couldn't be done over a weekend ).

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!

Sounds like it's time for you to move to Florida or California!

 

[cruiser]

While hanging around with divers, I've discovered there are non-enthusiast divers who dive just to keep their spouse company.

At Aquarena one day, while changing in the ladies room (before the fancy-shmancy hot-shower-landing days), a lady was donning her wet suit and told her friend she just does it because her husband enjoys it and wants her along and she really has no interest in it. And I'm thinking, "This is a lot of rigamarole and expense to go through if you're not passionate about it." Of course, the husband had no clue. I wouldn't be so accommodating, I'm afraid.

 

[drbill]

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.

I started my diving career diving freshwater in the Midwest, although that was a seasonal pursuit. I agree that there are generally options for those in landlocked states IF they are passionately into diving. Many "divers" are not. We belong to the minority who are.

Of course having had the benefit of diving world class marine waters for decades now, I doubt I could ever move to a landlocked state unless I had access to enough cash to fund regular (monthly or at least bi-monthly) dive trips to good diving sites! Of course that would most likely require getting a real job... and I'm not willing to do that (but if there is a sugar momma diver out there...)! Yes, I'm spoiled... but I became that way by making certain other sacrifices in my life.

 

[matnik]

Suggest it is the high cost of gear that causes the high fall out rate at certification, I got certified after trying several discover scuba's while on holiday, wanted certification, (life checklist thing, its fun, exciting, and demanding), knew that unless I had the gear once certified I would not dive regularly ($75 charter fee, $125 gear rental or dive vacation) I made the commitment and the purchase, dive as often as a can, anywhere we can.

 

[drbill]

I'm enjoying all the posts from avid divers who have been certified for less than 5 years or so.

Have any of you noticed the number of people on the board saying I was an avid diver back in the day, got out, and am now getting back into it? Well sometimes life catches up with you and you get burned out - not necessarily to the diving but to the hassle of the logistics of it (at least for someone like me who lives in the middle of someplace like Michigan). I'm just saying to be careful how you judge the dedication of other divers and how you view yourself.

There is truth to this. In the many decades I've been diving there were periods of up to several years where I didn't SCUBA dive at all (just free dove). However, I didn't describe myself as a "diver" during those periods. If someone hasn't dived for a few years, I hardly think they are justified in describing themselves currently as a "diver."

 

[jimdiverman]

I was first certified in 1999, and most of my dives up until 2006 were training dives or vacation dives. I don't live in an area where there is good diving, even though I live in a gulf state. It is about 4 hours drive time to reasonable good diving, and to make it to the boat for an early departure usually requires leaving the day before to avoid getting up at 2 am the day of the dive to make the boat on time. I don't have any dive buddies here, and I would love to change that.

 

[TSandM]

I think the industry really needs to do more to enhance a certified diver's experience and enjoyment of the activity. I'm not referring just to further certifications regarding skills, etc. I'm thinking more information about the marine environment to better inform them and get them to really look at what they are seeing and interpret it. Although my focus is on the living things, this should also include historical information on local wrecks, etc.

Dr. Bill, this is SO true. I think one of the best things I did in my first year of diving was take the PADI Distinctive Specialty on Marine Life ID that was offered through my LDS. It was a four-session class, each about 3 hours, with over 1000 photographs of living things in Puget Sound. The instructor's stated goal was to convince all of us that there were more things to look at in the water than wolf eels and GPOs, and he succeeded. For me, there is really no "boring" dive in the Sound, because I understand so much more of what I'm seeing in the sessile or "ordinary" life.

If you swim fast, and don't understand what you're looking at, I can understand why diving wouldn't capture your imagination.

 

[captain]

I'm enjoying all the posts from avid divers who have been certified for less than 5 years or so.

Have any of you noticed the number of people on the board saying I was an avid diver back in the day, got out, and am now getting back into it? Well sometimes life catches up with you and you get burned out - not necessarily to the diving but to the hassle of the logistics of it (at least for someone like me who lives in the middle of someplace like Michigan). I'm just saying to be careful how you judge the dedication of other divers and how you view yourself.

I resemble that. Diving has always been a passion from when I was a wantabe in grammer school. I started at 13 and haven't really lost interest but about 1988 I got burned out and quit, sold the boat but kept the diving gear.
A cruise to Cozumel in 1997 jump started me again. Some years I dive a lot, others only a few times but I'll probably never quit. Just about all of the people who were my dive buddies over the years don't dive and haven't for a long time.

 

[vshearer]

I moved to South Carolina after spending several years in the Caribbean at which time I was diving constantly. (7 months of that was in Roatan) For about 12-13 years here I worked as a boat captain and had many occaisions to return to the same areas and so I stayed fairly active. The waters here are, to say the least, murky and I couldn't understand how anyone would want to dive in this area.... that attitude has changed recently. I now find myself very interested in a lot of diving that previously I hadn't been aware of. Wreck exploration, artifact retrieval (you have to have a license for that in SC) and just basic diving even though the conditions are much different. Looking foward to doing some diving in the Florida springs, which aren't that far. Who knows, maybe I will find myself interested in going caveman...but right now I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to dive way back in a water filled cave

EDIT: Oh, the upside of divers losing interest is there is a lot of nearly new equipment available cheap!

 

[carolrose]

While hanging around with divers, I've discovered there are non-enthusiast divers who dive just to keep their spouse company.

At Aquarena one day, while changing in the ladies room (before the fancy-shmancy hot-shower-landing days), a lady was donning her wet suit and told her friend she just does it because her husband enjoys it and wants her along and she really has no interest in it. And I'm thinking, "This is a lot of rigamarole and expense to go through if you're not passionate about it." Of course, the husband had no clue. I wouldn't be so accommodating, I'm afraid.

My husband started diving primarily just to do do it with me. I thought it was a terrible idea because to me it's either something you love or something you don't care either way about, but that's my perception not his. He enjoys spending the time with me and has grown to enjoy other aspects of it as well--he will never feel the same way I do about it but that's ok. He still did 40-something dives this year, so not too bad for only an 'avid' diver, not a psycho