How many dives is "a lot" in a year?

[mstachowsky]

Howdy all,

I'm about to go for my OW certification dives, and I was wondering: for a typical scuba diver, how many dives is a lot in a year? Or, I guess, how often do you dive? I'd like to dive as much as I can, but I'm curious if what I think is a lot is...a lot

MIKE

 

[buddhasummer]

Welcome to ScubaBoard.

I will dive as much is possible, which unfortunately at the moment due to location, work and money is not always as often as Id like, if I can hit a 100 each year Im happy, more than a 100 I'm in heaven...roll on retirement...

 

[HowardE]

I think you'll find that most people on SB are not "typical" scuba divers.

Me; I've averaged over the 10 years I've been certified 150 - 200 dives a year.

The vast majority of typical divers (statistically as a whole, and not SB members) dive once a year, like a week long dive vacation where they do < 20 dives total in a year.

 

[chrpai]

Yes, "a lot" is subjective. What'd I love to know is if a diver does 'x' number of dives a year what percentile is he in.

Here's my guestimates:

>10 50th
>20 90th
>50 95th
>100 98th
>200 99th

My personal guess for me now that I'm back from retirement is around 50 - 75 dives a year. I'm guessing 2 dives a week during the local dive season ( I only have a 3mm ) and a flower gardens and/or BlackBeards / Comumel trip.

Personally I tend to think of it as how long it's been since I got wet rather then how many times I've gotten wet.

 

[drbill]

In intense years I've done 250-350 dives a year, in slow years as little as zero. Currently 100-150. But then I live an easy walk from a pretty good dive site and can dive year-round here in SoCal!

 

[JamesK]

It depends. Some years have been little as 0 and others have been around 200. I can thank the Army for my lack of diving, and for the great diving I am getting in this year. Over 100 dives in the last 9 months.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Depends on where you live, and how much time you have for scuba. My first year on scuba I did 138 dives. My instructor told me that was a LOT of scuba diving. I've now been diving for 11 years, and am at right around 3,000 dives. But I live 5 minutes from a great dive site, with ready access to a great many more, within easy driving distance to some world-class sites on Vancouver Island, and can dive year-round. And I have a job that pays me well enough to allow me to afford to dive whenever I want to.

Not many people have those kind of opportunities ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[gurnie]

The board members are more active than most, I get about 200 dives a year while the wife gets in about 20.

 

[mathauck0814]

I think it depends. If you work at a resort in Grand Cayman, 1000 might be a lot. If you live in a land locked state 100 might be a lot. We live on the coast and try to dive 4-5 days a week (~200ish/year). I personally wouldn't think of anyone diving <100/yr as diving "a lot" but that's somewhat arbitrary.

 

[TSandM]

If I remember correctly, PADI defines an "active diver" as someone who does more than 12 dives a year.

I'm like Bob; I'm lucky enough to live in a place with access to a lot of shore diving and where water conditions permit diving most days of the year. I also do some travel. I've been averaging about 180 dives a year, although this year that total may fall a bit.