Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

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My LDS seem to do all they can to make it difficult to spend money even if you want to. I've been diving 3 years, it's Saturday hours have done from 9:30 - 16:00 to , 9:30 - 12:30 to not open at all on a saturday, they have also slightly shortened the hours they are open during the week and changed the 4 weekdays they are open. Even when they had their opening hours on Saturday they weren't always actually open when they said they were. I asked about the diving club and they told me to sign up on the website and all the information was years old.

The selection of equipment in the shop is very limited and forget about getting a BPW!

I understand that it isn't very lucrative, but at the very least staying open for the advertised hours, or updating the website would be helpful!

Thankfully I've found a better shop further away with a much larger selection of items, although I'll probably try to keep using the LDC for servicing my regs which were originally purchased there, and anything else they can offer me which doesn't require the other shop, if I can get across from work at lunch time.
 
Bob, the TV project I just worked on has everything to do with scuba diving.

So talk about your project and leave the social commentary for the off-topic forums ... this is the Basic Scuba forum.

On the topic of the thread ... I don't particularly WANT to see more people taking up scuba diving. It's not an activity for everyone ... and frankly, a lot of people who are currently involved in scuba would be better off (both for them and the rest of us) if they found some other use for their recreational time and money.

Why would anyone not in the business of selling scuba equipment, classes and/or trips want more participation? If you've traveled to any of the popular dive destinations for any period of time, you will have undoubtedly noticed that the reefs have been degraded significantly ... primarily due to overuse by the underqualified.

I'd rather see fewer divers who were more committed to the sustainability of diving ... which means reasonable maintenance of the reasons why we dive.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
As a new diver the thing that I struggle most with is finding dive buddies. I've got my own boat and all my equipment including tanks, but finding someone to dive with is not easy. Yeah....tell someone you have five dives under your belt and see how quickly they want you as their dive buddy. They just smile and refer you to someone else. I don't think this sport loses people before the class. They lose them after.
 
As a new diver the thing that I struggle most with is finding dive buddies. I've got my own boat and all my equipment including tanks, but finding someone to dive with is not easy. Yeah....tell someone you have five dives under your belt and see how quickly they want you as their dive buddy. They just smile and refer you to someone else. I don't think this sport loses people before the class. They lose them after.

Definitely a problem. I remember when I was new and faced the same issue. Ended up doing most of my first 20 dives or so with another diver who was in my OW class.

Have you considered joining a dive club? Many have programs that cater to matching new divers with more experienced mentors ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
I had this problem here in the UK, I dive with wife abroad and we both own drysuits and have done some diving here, but she doesn't like diving in the cold, so we don't dive in the UK regularly. Thankfully last time we were diving together we bumped into a guy who was training to be an instructor when we trained, he's now an instructor and I have dived a few times with his dive club, very friendly and helpful!
 
I have been living here in Melbourne, FL for almost three years. I got my OW cert. last year and my oldest daughter [12 yrs.] did her Jr. OW this summer. My younger daughter will do her's next summer, and I am still working on my wife. My hope is that this will be something we can do as a family. I have worked with two LDS's and they both keep dive classes going just about year round. So people are definitely getting into the sport. But the reality is most people that get certified never dive again after the class.

There have been three barriers to overcome. 1] Location. This has been the first place in a long time where good, warm saltwater dive spots were close at hand. 2] Cost. Fortunately, I have been given a lot a gear and been able to purchase used gear at a cheap price. And shore dives are relatively cheap. 3] Lack of a partner. With my daughter getting certified, I have a live in dive partner. Kaitlin & I have made more dives this summer than what I did all of last year. I think these are the same things that either keep people from getting into it in the first place or push people out of it.
 
Yes, I think it is often for one holiday that people learn. My wife and I only learned originally as my parents have an apartment in Egypt, not sure I would have gone to the trouble for one holiday. Many people I talk to about it just don't like the sound of diving, I don't understand it :(
 
My first year I did join the local dive club. I did a couple of dives with them and no problem teaming with more advanced divers. Too bad my distance from the shop/usual desired dive sites caused me to quit. Through the shop I did manage to hook up with a fellow newbie for 3-4 years. He moved, thus the solo diving. Our shop also runs annual "treasure hunt", "pumpkin" and New Years Day dives--also good places to meet others.
 
As a new diver the thing that I struggle most with is finding dive buddies. I've got my own boat and all my equipment including tanks, but finding someone to dive with is not easy. Yeah....tell someone you have five dives under your belt and see how quickly they want you as their dive buddy. They just smile and refer you to someone else. I don't think this sport loses people before the class. They lose them after.
That was my problem when I first certified. One of my friends that was certified only dives in warm water. The other person 5 years ago said they would take a fresher. It's still 5 years later and has yet to recertify. I went out with a local dive club and got left on the reef by myself. Posted a rant here on Scubaboard. TSandM was kind enough to try and set me up with someone she knew for a dive buddy, but when female dive buddy came in on my email (I share same email with my wife) got a little awkward. No marital impropriety but wife wasn't all that happy. Now have teenage daughter and adult nephew, with hopefully younger son eventually going to certify. Helps to home grow your own dive buddy!
 
I still like an interesting dive. I have everything here to dive...tanks, compressor, boat etc...but I free dive mostly and shoot fish.

But my son and I installed a couple FADs last year in deep water. That was fun. We used scuba to tie coconut leaves to the line down to about 100 feet in 300 feet deep water. We learned that there's a lot more to installing a deep mooring than meets the eye. Currents, floatation etc...interesting. But someone stole both of them within a week.

In the next couple days my newly formed company :D, Bauman and Bauman Commercial Divers....(my son Jake and me) has to do a job here on the farm. We have a 200 lb, 4 legged pyramid frame with a collar that holds our 6 inch PVC standpipe erect off the sea bottom in about 15 feet of water. It also has four, 100 lb cement feet that need to be bolted to it.

Getting all that in the boat, getting the boat right over the pipe, dropping the gear, diving down and putting it all together....that's the kind of diving I like now. But at 59 I don't think any real commercial dive company would hire me....
 
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