What is the fundamental reason that prevents scuba diving from becoming popular?

[Scuba Client]

Remember: Scubaboard is rated Parental Guidance (PG).

 

[SlugLife]

How popular are we talking about?

Main things i see are

• Fear and potential danger
• Perceived difficulty
• Boring dive agency classes
• Expenses of classes and equipment and fills
• Lack of good local scuba attractions
• No available dive buddy
• Limited social opportunities vs other activities

 

[CuzzA]

Money. Bottom line. It ain't a poor man's sport.

 

[clownfishsydney]

in the 1980s and 90s was very popular in Australia. Now I think the young have too many things to occupy themselves and, at least here, have to work more than one job or work very long hours to make enough money to buy a house etc. Our dive club 25 years ago had an average age I reckon 25 years younger than now.

Even if they do learn, they only do for a year or two and then disappear. I still dive with people I met over 30 years ago and with heaps I have been diving for 15 to 20 years.

 

[Gone for diving]

Takes alot of time... I know buddys that want to dive and I still haven't gotten them out for a first dive this year. They are to busy and never works out in their schedule... I am fairly flexible and it still doesn't work...
our default dive site its 3-4 hr turn around

 

[rhwestfall]

cost-benefit-ratio

so much effort and money for so little time...

 

[SlugLife]

Another good set of questions would be:

• What prevented or slowed you down from beginning diving?
• What got you interested in diving?
• What got you over that hump & actually diving?

For me:

• The expense of classes and equipment & just getting off my butt to actually take the class (procrastination).
• I was always interested, and enjoy spending time relaxing underwater; often just relaxing and slowly swimming underwater while holding my breath. Then, I met a friend who did a LOT of scuba-diving, and would regularly pull up bunches of sunglasses from the lake-bottom.
• I knew the guy for about 8 years, but only started saying "I'm going to get a scuba-certification" about 2 years before I did. Then his main dive-buddy died on the Conception. I inherited some of the gear, and decided it was time to stop procrastinating, and actually do it ... both because I wanted to scuba-dive and also my friend needed a new dive-buddy. Also because I hated just sitting there on the boat while he had fun scuba-diving, lol.

 

[svs]

Do you have another activity in mind which is equipment heavy, expensive, involve some risk and yet more popular than scuba?

 

[SlugLife]

Takes alot of time... I know buddys that want to dive and I still haven't gotten them out for a first dive this year. They are to busy and never works out in their schedule... I am fairly flexible and it still doesn't work...
our default dive site its 3-4 hr turn around

cost-benefit-ratio

so much effort and money for so little time...

That's a great point. When I go diving, it tends to be an all-day thing. Between loading the equipment, getting fills, heading to the dive-site, unloading gear, equipment setup, 2 dives, re-packing gear in my car, driving back, unloading gear, rinsing it, hanging it to dry, and putting it away .... usually at least half the day is gone.

 

[CanadaDan]

My biggest factor in not learning earlier was a perception that it wasn't worth it here in the prairies. I really didn't travel until my 40's. Once I started I ended up at the LDS for basic gear and got 'talked into' doing my AOW here.

Yes it's expensive and intensive but if you want it enough you figure out a way. For me it was a lack of information and inspiration on diving local.