Budget Diving

[CBulla]

I'm going out on a limb here and going to touch a subject that I'm sure is hitting all of our pocket books: Diving on the new budgets that the current economic changes are introducing to us. Personally, I'm having to be pretty sure there is a 70% or better chance of good conditions, no more than a 2 hour drive, and pretty much boat rides are out as they no longer fit the budget. Currently my closest regular buddy is 30 miles from me and on the way to one of the sites, and we have carpooled to the site in the past which is nice.

What are you doing to be able to keep diving without putting to much of a dent into your budget?

Aside from the TOS, the only rule here: No blame raised on this, take it to W&C (politics, world issues, etc, as the root cause, we get it), this is about creative diving or your creativity in order to continue being able to dive.

 

[Melicertes]

Hey CBulla,
I hear you loud and clear on this one. I've been planning on getting new drysuits for my wife and myself for a while now and where I otherwise would have been much more willing and able to spend the $ and get them perhaps last year already we've had to be a bit more frugal in our expenses lately. We chose to wait a bit and saved our way up for them a bit more every month and finally with the absolutely awesome help and deals from Joe over at ScubaToys we're getting the suits this month.

We have also tapered down a bit in our frequency of diving because we're also weighing up the drive times, making sure conditions really are promising, and choosing to do more shore diving. We've also decided that if we're not expecting good conditions for diving, that's worth all the effort and energy, we'd hit the pool instead (beyond our normal day to day swimming program,) to help work off more of this flabbyness around our waists that's been accumulating lately. At least this way we feel we're more productive than just staying at home watching TV

 

[ClayJar]

I've always had a rather nice arrangement with diving expenses. I happen to be one of those crazies that actually *enjoys* lakes and quarries and such. It's still about the same cost to get there and back, of course, but since I've never had a quarry dive scrubbed due to high seas, the average travel cost per dive is lower. :biggrin:

Of course, it's obviously much nicer when I can split gas with a buddy.

 

[jimdiverman]

I'm going out on a limb here and going to touch a subject that I'm sure is hitting all of our pocket books: Diving on the new budgets that the current economic changes are introducing to us. Personally, I'm having to be pretty sure there is a 70% or better chance of good conditions, no more than a 2 hour drive, and pretty much boat rides are out as they no longer fit the budget. Currently my closest regular buddy is 30 miles from me and on the way to one of the sites, and we have carpooled to the site in the past which is nice.

What are you doing to be able to keep diving without putting to much of a dent into your budget?

Aside from the TOS, the only rule here: No blame raised on this, take it to W&C (politics, world issues, etc, as the root cause, we get it), this is about creative diving or your creativity in order to continue being able to dive.

As I was just posting in another thread, it is 3-1/2 hours drive to the Gulf, and 5-1/2 hours drive to decent cave diving. I have not gone out on a boat dive in over a year now, so I don't know firsthand if the costs have increased because of rising fuel costs.

Right now my Explorer is in the shop getting the EGR valve replaced and exhaust system flushed because it failed the emissions test. If something major happened to my 2002 vehicle that forced me to buy a new vehicle, that would put a serious crimp in my diving, especially considering I don't know what I would get to replace it. With the price of fuel the way it is now, I need to balance that with the need to dive out of the back of it. I think a hybrid like the Ford Escape might be a good option from the choices I see on the market now.

Let's pray for a stronger dollar and hope that the price of gas doesn't hit $10/gallon.

 

[BrianMac]

I hear ya, I have just gotten into diving, I'm lucky though, I live close to Lake Ontario on the canadian side so my drives are short and I to like the shore, quarry stuff. Sicne I am new I am just getting into purchacing dive equipment and with the price of everything going up.....2 kids and all the rest I have to be very frugal. I also dive and explorer (1996) and ya price of fuel is a big issue,...hovering around $1.20 per liter ($4.06 per gallon US) and expected to go up to $1.40 liter ($5.40 pre gallon) this summer, not sure about how much traveling I'm gona be doing for diving. My issue is the same,.....what do i replace the vehicle with, I also run a training service and i have to drag my portable class room and all my teaching kit with me so I need lots of inside cargo space, same with the dive gear and the familys frequent (although less frequent this year) camping trip (do u realize how much crap u have to drag along when u camp with 2 teen girls...?).

Anyway I hope we see a turn around in the economy, if not i really fear for the well being of some dive shops and the dive industry as a whole, as it is and I think will always be a....fairly $ intensive sport........unfortunatly it's like coffe,....once we get into it....its adictive.

Brian

 

[Garrobo]

Since Skybus took a dive I've been buying my tickets to Florida and motel rentals a few months ahead of time. Can't do much else. Whatever, it's worth the money. I've thought about selling the farm and moving south but I can't stand the constant heat, rediculous non-landscape and all the activity down there. Too bad there's no ocean in Ohio.

 

[TravisD]

We live about 5 minutes from the local dive quarry... and budget or not, we're hoping to spend more time there this year than last.

Even with gas prices, we're also thinking about a driving trip to Florida. The cost of driving is still better than dealing with the airlines now, (cost+new policies+TSA).

 

[cruiser]

I'm fortunate that I don't mind low viz, and make weekly drives to our local dive hole--CSSP in Terrell where viz varies widely, depending on algae bloom and newbies churning up the bottom.

It's nice to be able to see, but not a requirement for me. Just getting wet and neutral is what I need.

 

[RonFrank]

My major issue is with the airlines. They just eliminated a second chunk of luggage not because there is any real need to do so, but rather because they prefer to spread the charges out. So Airline prices are up about $75 per ticket or more from last year, and one has to pay another $50 for luggage that was included in the price just last month.

Boat diving has gone up as well, but I have not found out exactly how much as of yet. I guess I will know in July!

Overall I'm less upset with the dive industry, and more upset with our current administration. Hmmm, what does he own again... ohhh... OIL!

 

[starryeye]

This is a good topic. It takes us 4 hours roundtrip to go for local shore diving, so that's all gas money. We scrimp by (mostly) not staying overnight (making it a day trip), we try to split the room with others, or rarely - we go camping. We can also cram a maximum of three divers in our vehicle.

However, every once in awhile, when we *need* :satisfied a longer dive weekend, we'll splurge on the hotel and eat modestly (don't order drinks at the restaurant, don't over-order, bring snacks for the hotel.)

The only time I've been on a boat for diving was for a manta ray dive in Kona. I probably should have splurged on the boat ride to Molokini, but balancing budgets versus experiences is sometimes difficult in foresight (and we were fresh newbies then and wary of a boat dive.)