Question Recreational Divers: What are the biggest problems you face in this sport?

[DreadnoughtNH]

Any side effects?

I'm going bald and have a compulsion to wear white t-shirts...

Joking aside, none that I can see. I cut a small square out of the eraser, wet the glass, and do a quick polish between dives. I have VERY oily skin, and the residue left on the mask is sufficient to cause fogging after 2.5 dives. I've also switched to using SeaDrops/SeaGold on my mask pre-dive in lieu of J&J baby shampoo.

These 2 changes have eliminated my fogging problems.

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

Wow!

You mean you soak one of those crumbly white spongy things and scrub, they are quite coarse, is that it

Yep, I cut a small cube out of the eraser and keep it in my mask bag. Pre-dive, I wet down the mask, give it a quick polish, treat with no-fog (I use SeaDrops/SeaGold), and I'm good to go.

I suppose if your mask has any films on the inner glass the eraser could cause issues. Mine are glass with glass prescription lenses bonded to them. No issues.

 

[Johnoly]

Yep, I cut a small cube out of the eraser and keep it in my mask bag. Pre-dive, I wet down the mask, give it a quick polish, treat with no-fog (I use SeaDrops/SeaGold), and I'm good to go.

Thanks for posting this. While on the boat that would definitely be faster than toothpaste between dives. Just ordered a 1 inch clickable plastic tube (pen type) and will give it a try. 2nd dive fog doesn't happen very often to me, but your solution is fast, effective, & $2 cheap. Thx!

 

[PDodson]

My drysuit has leaked 3/4 of my last dives. I think it's around the neck seal. But not sure if it is my hair getting caught in there or something else. But definitely tired of surfacing damp.

I work every Saturday so finding dive buddies/groups going on Sun-Tues has been a challenge, especially having relocated to the area just a year ago.

And while it's not the small hassle like the examples in the post, the cost of diving is a bummer. I worry about the industry's future with the barrier to entry cost can be and the challenges of running a successful brick and mortar store today.

 

[MacDuyver]

Wondering what some of the biggest pain points are for everyone. Fogged up mask? Underwater communication?

Getting away from work

 

[MacDuyver]

Thanks for posting this. While on the boat that would definitely be faster than toothpaste between dives. Just ordered a 1 inch clickable plastic tube (pen type) and will give it a try. 2nd dive fog doesn't happen very often to me, but your solution is fast, effective, & $2 cheap. Thx!

Just toss a travel bottle of baby shampoo in your mask case. Easy day

 

[Knockneed Man]

Living in a land locked state

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

Just toss a travel bottle of baby shampoo in your mask case. Easy day

My problem was the baby shampoo/SeaDrops were not removing the residue; they were just compounding (pun intended) the problem.

 

[Jai Bar]

Time and funds

 

[SKS22]

Living in Northern VA and money!

It's a long drive to quarries/lakes with decent viz. Even longer drive to Ocean City or VA beach, which don't offer great conditions, but at least it's the ocean.

Everything has gotten more expensive and SCUBA is no different, but SCUBA was already expensive to begin with. Nowadays I find myself doing more shore diving on vacation instead of boat diving. I've recently noticed that some vacation destinations have some sort of cartel going on. None of the dive shops will rent cylinders to shore divers. Those, of course, are the places with the most outrageous prices for boat dives. In those places I free dive instead. Back in the day I thought calling apnea free diving was because of how free it felt to be under without gear. But now, it's all about the $ savings in my mind.