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

[tarponchik]

How do deaths per dive compare with deaths per ski/skydive/football/cycle/motorbike?

Diving's pretty safe although you can't breathe water.

Here you go.

 

[Belzelbub]

Actually it is very nice, but it didn't just happened. Husband and I are in this situation by design.

Isn't it, though. I love diving off of my own boat. Weather cancels dives from time to time, but I'm not dependent on other divers.

Granted Pompano diving is just horrible, a terrible place that everyone should stay away.
For me, the less people in the water the better, reading the thread on the BHB makes me sick ... divers trampling seahorses. and we want more divers?? nah. I don't know what is the answer but more people sure isn't.

Yep. Definitely not more divers. Especially not more poorly trained, or otherwise oblivious, divers.

 

[boulderjohn]

Actually it is very nice, but it didn't just happened. Husband and I are in this situation by design.

We (husband and I) had several opportunities to accept offers to work in locations that were unfriendly to the type of diving we like.
These were positions with up to 3 times the income we were making at the moment. The last move, from the Panhandle to Pompano, included and early retirement for husband , and left me with a job description that some may say was beneath me. The 2 events causing a deficit in our income of about 60%... took me 5 years to get back to "close" to my 2017 income and I changed positions so I'm a hair closer to my perceived "status" , but still in the negative as far as money. Not many divers make this type of decisions, and that's perfectly fine.

It's funny you talk about cancelled trips for lack of other divers. That's the exact reason we decided to say F the dive industry. Being locals in Panama City Beach we would buy dive trips by the dozen, but being the backwards place that was, they didn't ask visitors from the square states up north for credit cards, so they came to the area the night before, got drunk and then didn't show up. Instead of charging those people for not showing, the dive shop response was to cancel on the 3-4 locals, over and over and over again.

That was around 2004-5, from that point our mission to dive as often as we wanted was on. It never occurred to me that it could be solved by depending on the industry or worse yet on other divers, my trust in people is so far in the negative it's difficult to describe.

Things turned out better than expected, but we left a few hundred thousands behind. Our retirement won't include fancy LOB's or trips around the world but we knew it. Was either higher income or what we have now. We are good diving our backyard almost every week. Granted Pompano diving is just horrible, a terrible place that everyone should stay away.
For me, the less people in the water the better, reading the thread on the BHB makes me sick ... divers trampling seahorses. and we want more divers?? nah. I don't know what is the answer but more people sure isn't.

We talked about your experience with divers cancelling trips and your belief that the companies need to charge the divers for that. Here are two responses.

I signed up for a dive with a Pompano dive shop that does take credit card numbers. They say that they will not charge the card until the dive is confirmed--meaning there are enough divers to go. At 7:00 PM the night before the dive, they still had not confirmed, meaning I did not know if I was going to be getting up early the next morning to dive or if I had a chance to book with another operator at the last second. I sent an email to customer service asking for an update. I did not get a reply. About a half hour later, I got two emails at the same time. The first confirmed the dive and charged my credit card, and the second canceled the dive. I wrote back and asked for an explanation, but I got no reply. After a few days, when I saw that my credit card had indeed been charged for the canceled dive, I wrote again. Eventually, I got a credit on the card, again with no explanation.

A few years ago I was scheduled for a dive, and I woke up with the beginnings of a head cold. I thought about it. Maybe I could dive (I really wanted to), but I knew I shouldn't. I called and canceled. It was the right decision. If I knew that my card was going to be charged for that dive, I might have gone, against my better judgment. There is an old policy in scuba--a diver can call off any dive at any time for any reason, with no need to explain and with no judgment. Charging people for canceling dives goes directly against that policy and may push a diver to do a dive that should not be done.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

It's probably our attitudes.

 

[Wibble]

Generally, or in my experience anyway, once you've booked your place, that place is your responsibility to pay for or fill with a substitute. Unless it's cancelled by the boat, you need to pay for it.

The boat I mainly use will go out with very few people -- I've been out on my own before! Recently with a couple of us on the boat, the skipper said there were 4 cancellations, so effectively 6 people going out.

Generally weather cancellations are a couple of days out. In borderline conditions it could be after the 18:00 shipping forecast the night before, although that's rare.


Curious about boat costs in different locations. I pay £60/€70/$75 per day on the UK south coast. Expecting this to go up to £70/€80/$85 soon due to the fuel costs. This is for a two-ish hour dive, generally one dive only, occasionally it's a two dive day if the tides are right. Most commercial boats are for 12 divers, some are smaller, also there are a few RIBs mainly owned by clubs (not my cup of tea).

 

[Ana]

. Charging people for canceling dives goes directly against that policy and may push a diver to do a dive that should not be done.

I understand those situations, maybe there are better ways to keep visitors and locals happy.

Doesn't affect me anymore, but still remember getting to the boat early ready to go, with the internal happiness that only an imminent dive can provide, gear is set so you wait, and wait. Underway time comes and goes, Captain decides to wait longer because being visitors maybe they got lost, sure there's so many side roads out of the ONE main road in that town.
The internal happiness becomes annoyance, soon after you get the news the trip is cancel because those divers aren't going to show up, and the POS shop/charter has nothing more to say.... oh yeah good times.

 

[fantarara]

In Asia scuba diving is more popular than 25 years ago, when I got my first license. Back then often find myself the only Indonesian/Asian in a dive group. Nowadays (well, just before pandemic) I see lots of Asians all over sites - Indonesians, Singaporeans, Malaysians. Before pandemic, dive shops and operators were cropping up everywhere. In early 2000s there was only one dive shop in Gapang, Aceh. Just before the pandemic, around 4-5? It's never going to be as popular as, say, running/jogging or even biking, given costs and logistics, and you wouldn't want to given carrying capacity of sites, but it's definitely growing in Asia.

 

[drrich2]

Charging people for canceling dives goes directly against that policy and may push a diver to do a dive that should not be done.

There's a middle ground. Some physicians' offices charge a 'no show' fee, but a flat fee, not necessarily what a visit with services would've cost. Something on the order of $50 might work. Not enough to compel most people to dangerous risks, but enough to discourage casual, inconsiderate cancellations.

 

[Belzelbub]

There's a middle ground. Some physicians' offices charge a 'no show' fee, but a flat fee, not necessarily what a visit with services would've cost. Something on the order of $50 might work. Not enough to compel most people to dangerous risks, but enough to discourage casual, inconsiderate cancellations.

Yeah, I was thinking of something along those lines. Charge for the dive (or maybe a deposit) at booking. If the diver calls to cancel before the dive, then the cost can be applied as a credit for a future booking. If they don't give the courtesy of a call, then they paid for the empty spot.

 

[Tracy]

We talked about your experience with divers cancelling trips and your belief that the companies need to charge the divers for that. Here are two responses.

I signed up for a dive with a Pompano dive shop that does take credit card numbers. They say that they will not charge the card until the dive is confirmed--meaning there are enough divers to go. At 7:00 PM the night before the dive, they still had not confirmed, meaning I did not know if I was going to be getting up early the next morning to dive or if I had a chance to book with another operator at the last second. I sent an email to customer service asking for an update. I did not get a reply. About a half hour later, I got two emails at the same time. The first confirmed the dive and charged my credit card, and the second canceled the dive. I wrote back and asked for an explanation, but I got no reply. After a few days, when I saw that my credit card had indeed been charged for the canceled dive, I wrote again. Eventually, I got a credit on the card, again with no explanation.

A few years ago I was scheduled for a dive, and I woke up with the beginnings of a head cold. I thought about it. Maybe I could dive (I really wanted to), but I knew I shouldn't. I called and canceled. It was the right decision. If I knew that my card was going to be charged for that dive, I might have gone, against my better judgment. There is an old policy in scuba--a diver can call off any dive at any time for any reason, with no need to explain and with no judgment. Charging people for canceling dives goes directly against that policy and may push a diver to do a dive that should not be done.

From the other end. Friday afternoon I take off early from work. Load up the boat and drag it 3 hours north. I fill it with fuel for the weekend and put it in the water. I wake up saturday morning to someone canceling the charter. Now what?
That is why I charge half of the charter 90 days out and the rest due at completion.
I totally understand being able to cancel at any time, but there is also someone trying to run a business on the other end.