The Comparative cost of scuba, including instruction

[Bigbella]

You can get creative with SCUBA if geographically you can or want to do things like shore diving, but neither activity is economically friendly. Are you getting your money's worth out of either?

After taking scuba as a teenager, that first Summer paid for all of my gear, some newer gear, and boat dives, by retrieving lost keys, watches (there was once a Rolex in that mix!) -- and by replacing zincs at the local harbor.

Never had that much disposable cash before, as a slack-jawed punk.

Commercial diving became an obvious choice after college, since a degree in biology at that time (before the real explosion of biotech), may as well have been one in theater, atonal Sapphic verse, or maybe comparative religion . . .

 

[JuLe]

I got a bit curious and looked into what skiing costs here:

Buying gear would add up to about1200 eur, (skis, boots, poles, helmet, goggles and clothing)
Instruction 60 eur / hour, (private lessons)
day ticket for ski lify 40 eur (at our local molehill, 58 eur at a big hill up north)

Start up cost quite a bit less than for scuba. After the initial investment, doing our local dives is cheaper than skiing.

However, I did pay the equivalent of a skilift day ticket for each dive when doing touristy dives in Cyprus last summer..

Anyhow, hobbies cost money.
As someone stated, scuba and skiing are cheap compared to motorsports. Want to try aviation?

 

[JuLe]

Sky diving? Seems very close. Any skydivers care to comment on costs?

Skydiving was the cheapest way to get into the air when I was young. Very affordable compared to getting a pilots license. I'm sure prices have gone up, but relation between the two remains the same. (16 year old me learned to jump and some years later learned to fly)

 

[lowwall]

As someone stated, scuba and skiing are cheap compared to motorsports. Want to try aviation?

Offshore powerboating?
AC75 racing? (foiling yachts used for the last 2 America's Cups)

 

[lowwall]

Skydiving was the cheapest way to get into the air when I was young. Very affordable compared to getting a pilots license. I'm sure prices have gone up, but relation between the two remains the same. (16 year old me learned to jump and some years later learned to fly)

Do you get bored of it after a while? It seems like it would get repetitive. I know a lot of experienced skydivers get into formation stuff. But I suspect at some point it's more about hanging out with friends/post dive partying than the actual freefall.

 

[JuLe]

Do you get bored of it after a while? It seems like it would get repetitive. I know a lot of experienced skydivers get into formation stuff. But I suspect at some point it's more about hanging out with friends/post dive partying than the actual freefall.

I never got bored, but eventualy sort of grew out of it. Had to set priorities straight regarding where to put money and time. Somewhere along the line hanging out at the airport days on end didn't seem like the best thing to do. Getting older and starting a family can do that.

 

[LFMarm]

Agree with the comments on skiing in the US. Skiing in Europe is expensive but still reasonable for normal people. An alternative to paying a lot for ski passes is skimo – it's a little bit like shore diving vs boat diving.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

A lot of us around here started freediving before scuba. I was an avid abalone diver for a few years before taking OW.
I walked into the dive shop and bought a one piece suit, hood, booties, gloves, mask, snorkel, fins, weightbelt, float tube, ab iron and 7" gauge, a pole spear in case I wanted some fish too, and off I went!
I didn't think it was that expensive and it got me in the ocean having fun and gaining watermanship skills. Not mention all the delicious abalone.
After freediving and acclimating to the ocean, OW was a breeze. All I needed to do then was add a reg set and bcd, I already had the rest of the stuff. Didn't need a computer because they taught us tables and the shore dive depths were such that you'd run out of air way before getting close to NDL. So in that respect I saved on the expense of computer which were pretty basic then anyway (and relatively expensive).

 

[BabyLitigator]

I guess I’d say that diving has some components that do not appeal to larger luxury market. For one, many people have anxiety from jumping into water with unknowns (they think sharks are going to get them), or anxiety about breathing underwater (at least this one is more reasonable). Then later on to that the fact that the industry is basically the same as it was in the 1990s. Sure you have online course work, but the way dive shops work and market themselves is no different than the 90s in my opinion. People are used to getting everything they need from the internet, when/where is the class, who’s teaching it, what are my options, what equipment do I need how can I order it online, how much is it. I find that by and large dive shops have outdated websites, the prices are not even accurate or kept up with, you have to go down to the store to inquire about courses, I don’t know when/if they are offering a course (for most stores, some exceptions), and the whole thing is just clunky. Meanwhile, if I’m a skier, I can sign up for and pay for everything I want to do online. I can rent equipment ahead and see what that will cost. Also we’re talking about a hobby that involves learning a little science, which I think those of us who love this sport enjoy, but as a scientist myself who frequently gets the eye rolls when I get excited about something nerdy, I fully recognize this science and gear not what everyone finds interesting. So I think it’s kindof a multilayered thing. But I personally am not looking to have to wait in line for 15 min to climb back up the ladder like one does to get on a ski lift, so I’m thinking maybe I don’t want it to be such an enormous thing?

You also have the issue that scuba is not "the thing" at the luxury locations. Vail, Aspen, Steamboat, Killington, Park City, etc., are ski locations first and all the other stuff kind of grew up around it.

Playa del Carmen is very much not a "cenotes first" location, nor is Southern Florida a "scuba first" location. It's just not as central outside of more remote locations like Dahab or Chuuk.

 

[lowwall]

A lot of us around here started freediving before scuba. I was an avid abalone diver for a few years before taking OW.
I walked into the dive shop and bought a one piece suit, hood, booties, gloves, mask, snorkel, fins, weightbelt, float tube, ab iron and 7" gauge, a pole spear in case I wanted some fish too, and off I went!
I didn't think it was that expensive and it got me in the ocean having fun and gaining watermanship skills. Not mention all the delicious abalone.
After freediving and acclimating to the ocean, OW was a breeze. All I needed to do then was add a reg set and bcd, I already had the rest of the stuff. Didn't need a computer because they taught us tables and the shore dive depths were such that you'd run out of air way before getting close to NDL. So in that respect I saved on the expense of computer which were pretty basic then anyway (and relatively expensive).

That's pretty much the early history of scuba. All the pioneers were freediving hunters who wanted to extend their stay underwater. OK, a couple of scientists mixed in.