The Comparative cost of scuba, including instruction

[SpeedyJ]

Deaths per participant

Scuba Diving = 1 in 34,400
Snow Skiing = 1 in 1,140,000

Citation link along with other sports:

https://www.tetongravity.com/story/News/your-chances-of-dying-ranked-by-sport-and-activity

Now do injuries requiring an ER visit

 

[rmorgan]

I'd travel with you; it would be no problem if you paid. People think I am Scottish with my last name, so no problem there.

Dude--you're not Scottish!?!?!?!?

 

[lowwall]

Deaths per participant

Scuba Diving = 1 in 34,400
Snow Skiing = 1 in 1,140,000

I looked up the numbers and they are measuring different things. The scuba number is for fatalities per participant for a full year of diving (fatalities divided the number of people who did at least one dive in the past year). The skiing one is for fatalities per skier day.

The per dive fatality rate is approximately 1.8 per million. If we assume an average of 2 dives per day, then the comparable daily fatality rate for scuba is around 4x that of skiing. Not great, but much better than the 33x shown in the graphic.

FWIW, the skiing fatality rate is up dramatically (over 50% higher) since the widespread adoption of helmets. Now correlation isn't causation, but...

 

[BoltSnap]

Dude--you're not Scottish!?!?!?!?

It's more like Irish lol

 

[Allen-1]

Most beginner scuba divers want good viz, warm blue water, and colorful fish. In the Continental U.S., I think some part of the equation is that this is really only consistently available in S.E. Florida. For most of the other 47 states, S.E. Florida is a plane trip or super long drive (about 12 hours of driving from me in Tennessee). For most, this makes scuba a vacation sport rather than a consistent hobby -- and consistency makes one more comfortable, and then more passionate about it.

Contrast that with ski resorts from Maine down to Georgia and across to California -- most of the U.S. lives within a manageable weekend drive of some skiing that's at least halfway decent. Same can be said of golf (available in about every city), making both golf and skiing easier activities to participate in than scuba.

Sure, I now like murky quarry dives, murky Gulf dives, etc., but it was warm blue water, clear viz and colorful fish that got me into the sport.

I'm still at the stage where I like the pretty fish and warm water. I'm about six hours from West Palm Beach - and the distance and the cost make it a planned trip rather than spur of the moment.

I'm diving in three weeks, and it'll cost me a little over a grand for the extended weekend. Not an outrageous amount of money, but certainly enough that it has to be budgeted. The time also has to be budgeted, I'm taking two days off work. Drive down Friday, dive Saturday and Sunday and drive home Monday.

Deaths per participant

Scuba Diving = 1 in 34,400
Snow Skiing = 1 in 1,140,000

Citation link along with other sports:

https://www.tetongravity.com/story/News/your-chances-of-dying-ranked-by-sport-and-activity

I examined that chart and I did not see any numbers for men who incorrectly answered "do these pants make my butt look big?".

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

I was thinking of spending the whole summer vacation with the family in the US, FL, but that sounds will be WAY out of reach.

Brother, you're a brown Muslim. Do you really think Florida is a good idea?

 

[Tracy]

Brother, you're a brown Muslim. Do you really think Florida is a good idea?

Yeah, definitely not a great vacation spot for any type of minority these days.

 

[BoltSnap]

Brother, you're a brown Muslim. Do you really think Florida is a good idea?

Yeah, definitely not a great vacation spot for any type of minority these days.

You guys are serious about this? Is it that bad there now?

 

[lowwall]

You guys are serious about this? Is it that bad there now?

You'd be fine as long as you don't sign up for flight training or try to order large amounts of fertilizer.

Anyway, you are welcome in Chicago. Might want to wait until the ice on the lake melts though.

Here's the view from my window yesterday morning.

 

[BoltSnap]

I was thinking of summer vacation. Now, I have to recalculate. I need a place where I can always go diving and where the kids can enjoy touristy places and summer camps.