Cost per Dive?

[Degenerate]

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.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

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?”

 

[TMHeimer]

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.

 

[Chavodel8en]

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.

 

[RyanT]

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!

 

[TMHeimer]

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.

 

[KentB]

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

 

[lowwall]

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.

 

[Ben_3]

I’m guessing here but just the diving without considering the gear and courses.. about 25$ per local dive.

 

[arew+4]

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.