Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[boulderjohn]

When I was thinking about getting certified for scuba, my wife and I had two teenage sons, with college in the near future and retirement not all that far after that. We controlled our spending very, very carefully. We were about to take a vacation to site famous for its diving. I hate sitting on a beach, and I thought I might want to do some diving there instead. I looked into the cost of getting certified locally first, and I looked at the referral option. I looked at the cost of doing it all on vacation. Every dollar was important to me. My wife and I talked about it and decided that we could afford it and the subsequent dives, but the cheapest option was what we looked for, and that was doing the whole thing on vacation. That's what I did. If the only option for me was a long course that was much more expensive, I would probably still not be a diver today.

This thread is so long now that I can't remember if I already wrote about this, but last year I certified two old friends. They were very concerned about the cost of the course, and the fact that I would refuse to accept payment from these friends was an important factor in their decision to get certified. They were also concerned that they would not like it and would never dive again after the vacation for which I was training them. That would make the cost of certification a total waste. They were still in that mode of thinking when I certified them for AOW later in the year. Today, less than a year after that first hesitant taste of diving, they are avid divers who own all their own equipment. Once they saw how much fun it can be, they were ready to go all in on it.

 

[daniel1948]

I hear your concern about being unable to do planned dives for lack of divers to fill the boat. I didn't realize that was so common. I guess I'm one of those not-so-serious divers. I love diving, but there are other outdoor activities I love more (especially hiking) so it's been three years (IIRC) since I dived last. I'll be diving on an upcoming trip in the spring, but diving will probably make up 1/4 of my activity time. I've read descriptions of diving instruction in the "old days" and I'd probably have flunked out. Swim to the bottom of the pool and then, at the bottom, assemble and don your gear? I would not have even signed up for the class. Have an instructor swim up behind you at depth and turn off your air, so you have to take off your gear and turn the air back on so you can resume breathing? I would not have signed up for a course where that happens. Hey, I was scared of having to take my mask off under water, and the only reason I managed it was that my very kind and patient instructor worked me up to it in baby steps.

Maybe I'm the guy some folks think shouldn't be diving, because I'm not dedicated enough to the sport, but I love diving, seeing the pretty fishes and the amazing corals. I am very careful not to touch anything but the water, I have decent buoyancy control, and good enough SAC that I'm usually among the last third of the group to finish the dive. But I'm not comfortable going below about 60 feet, though I've been deeper, and I have no interest in deco diving or overhead environments.

For good or ill, I'm a diver because PADI and modern gear made it pretty easy to get certified, and I'll probably include a few dives in one trip every couple of years, other trips being for other activities entirely, since I'm not dedicated enough to diving for it to be my only vacation activity.

 

[boulderjohn]

I've read descriptions of diving instruction in the "old days" and I'd probably have flunked out. Swim to the bottom of the pool and then, at the bottom, assemble and don your gear? I would not have even signed up for the class. Have an instructor swim up behind you at depth and turn off your air, so you have to take off your gear and turn the air back on so you can resume breathing? I would not have signed up for a course where that happens. Hey, I was scared of having to take my mask off under water, and the only reason I managed it was that my very kind and patient instructor worked me up to it in baby steps.

When you read such descriptions of the way scuba was done "in the old days," you are reading the description by SOME people of what happened in THEIR classes. That does not mean it was universal practice.

This History of NAUI, written by one of its founders and his son, describes in fascinating detail the early days of organized scuba instruction. The author was the director of the first organized scuba instruction agency, Los Angeles County, in the late 1950s. At that time almost all instruction in the U.S. was done by independent instructors, with no agreement on what needed to be covered or how it should be done. Since Los Angeles was tax payer supported, they could not extend their reach. They then tried to make the first true national agency by bringing instructors from all over the country together to agree on standards and practices and create the first certified instructors. The most important such meeting took place in Houston in 1960, and in recollecting those events, the author describes how surprised they were to see some of the instructors performing the harassment you described. His disagreement with those tactics is clear in his description. In discussing those tactics, one of the founding fathers of NAUI offered the opinion that the only true reason for it was that the instructors who did it enjoyed doing it.

Thus, the truly harassing tactics you read about were only done by some instructors, and by no means all. Many people think that because it was done to them way back when, it was done to everyone, but that is not the case.

Most agencies ban those tactics today, even at the tech level, and there is a good reason for it. However, you will find individual instructors who still do it, and I am sure they are convinced they are doing the right thing.

 

[Learn It]

$$$, location, time

 

[RJP]

$$$, location, time

Why, then, do far more people ski and/or golf than scuba dive?

(Hint: you're only looking at half​ the equation.)

 

[acwest]

I was trained in what appears to be one of the very few remaining clubs doing active training, outside of BSAC in Britain. I really wonder why the clubs have all but vanished. To me the club system seems like the ideal way to do scuba instruction, but it seems I am in a rather small minority there.
It feels like at some point the scuba market started pursuing short term profits at the expense of the long term viability of the industry. Any marketing I have seen has been in the pursuit of that initial OW certification fee, with very little thought into retaining the divers once they are in. I see a lot of discussion of the problem, but so far nothing seems to get past the discussion to actual implementation. (Says the guy discussing the problem, without a solution...)
Independent clubs seem like they are a step in the right direction. It gives a social structure that helps keep people involved in diving that isn't directly tied to getting money out of your wallet, which seems to be a problem with shop clubs. Although even with the independent clubs, the fight to keep the club economically viable seems to be hurting us. I'm still looking for a solution to that one...

 

[EFX]

$$$, location, time

Why, then, do far more people ski and/or golf than scuba dive?

There are many reasons why more people don't get into diving as opposed to skiing or golf. The main reason is money. To get certified you need to buy your own personal dive gear: mask=$70, fins=$85, snorkel=$30, subtotal=$185. The OW course is $275? Quarry fees=$40 or boat fee=$85. The grand total is $500 not including gas and food. To continue diving I need a buddy, I need to rent and haul some heavy equipment. The OW class requires a test and some thinking on physics, physiology, and how to use the dive tables.

In contrast, I can rent skies and clubs. There is no personal gear to buy. There is no certification. No exam. No physics. No tables. I can ski and golf without a buddy. No heavy equipment to haul around. No wetsuits/drysuits to put on and I can drink and get a tan while doing it. No DCS, AGE, jelly fish, snapping turtles, entanglements, vis, LOA, or OOA issues.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

Skiing - comes across as a family sport - you can get your kids on skis or boards at a really young age - not everyone needs to be on the slopes at once - some can leave their group and go to the lodge to warm up or get some food and everyone has a cell phone so you know they are safe. In Golf you could do the same thing if you wanted - be a hack and still enjoy the game (yes I am a golfing hack) go to the bar and have a drink or soda or a hot dog.
Scuba takes a bigger commitment in my opinion - as it should. You cant leave your buddy to go sit on the boat and enjoy the view. The view is below with your buddy. I could not imagine taking my 4 kids and wife on a dive and be the lead for all of them - my RMV would be in the high 2.5's... Yet we all go skiing as a family and really enjoy it and in the glades too.
Maybe I am overstating but above water activities are easy to do and plan. Underwater where you know there are exponentially more hazards make me a lot more cautious with my son. I can tell you because I track RMV - when he first learned it was high - now that we are diving more - it is coming down - and when I solo it is back to below normal because I don't worry about him underwater... It is just me, silence and the views so I take my time and get to relax...

 

[Doomnova]

There are many reasons why more people don't get into diving as opposed to skiing or golf. The main reason is money. To get certified you need to buy your own personal dive gear: mask=$70, fins=$85, snorkel=$30, subtotal=$185. The OW course is $275? Quarry fees=$40 or boat fee=$85. The grand total is $500 not including gas and food. To continue diving I need a buddy, I need to rent and haul some heavy equipment. The OW class requires a test and some thinking on physics, physiology, and how to use the dive tables.

In contrast, I can rent skies and clubs. There is no personal gear to buy. There is no certification. No exam. No physics. No tables. I can ski and golf without a buddy. No heavy equipment to haul around. No wetsuits/drysuits to put on and I can drink and get a tan while doing it. No DCS, AGE, jelly fish, snapping turtles, entanglements, vis, LOA, or OOA issues.

I dunno about the shops where you live but the 4 in reasonable distance from where I live not one of them require you to have your own personal gear. It is suggested you have your own mask at least and I think we all can understand why. Only one of the shops does any training here in wetsuits outside of the pool when water temps are 6-9c 40-47f (if I remember the f conversions right). one shop does have slightly higher course costs but they do all their course from the boat and the instructors are much better. Also last I heard the dive tables at least with PAID are pretty much on their way out or are out. If they are shown its instructor choice. Hell I didn't even see dive tables till I was doing my CAUS scientific dive training. The basic physics of diving honestly a person in 8/9th grade has learned what is needed for it. Physiology ok thats a bit more advanced but its not that detailed. The exam I though it was a bloody joke.

Now outside of courses the cost of renting gear is a PITA and is not cheap and the question of quality of the gear also comes into play. I cannot in good continence send people I know to one shop for anything but tanks due to their rentals. The other I have no issues with their rentals. The cost here for wetsuit full gear rentals is about $60Cad drysuit varies but around $90. Yea that steep but also up here if your diving without a 2 piece 7mm wetsuit your going to be either A) so cold you won't do the second dive or B) your going to the hospital in hypothermia or C) thumbing the dive pretty damn quick. Hence why pretty much everyone dives dry here(well that and you can barely move in 2 piece 7mm wetsuit).

As for your list of risk(and everything has risk just the issue is what is acceptable for you the persons) for diving most fall under the training guidelines of A) check you equipment both before and during use(which heads offyour OOA issue and others. B) LOA, and vis fall under modifying your dive plans. Here we can have 70ft of vis in the winter month and sometimes during the summer and in the summer get algae blooms so think you can't see your hand till you get under it then its a nice night dive. C) DCS and AGE both are issues to worry about but to get them your either very unlucky (I would by a lottery ticket after that since your due for some serous karma after that) or you did not follow safe diving practices and went on a "trust me dive". Most cases of AGE and DSC have a reason they occurred and when investigated further its pretty quickly found out. Then finally animal species interactions. I'll say this there are not snapping turtles here(way too cold for em). We do have some painful jelly species that you have to keep and eye out for in the summer but that all falls under respect the animal life around you.

Now skiing you have to worry about avalanches (depending on where your skiing) all I have to do during the winter months is turn on the TV and find the latest Darwin Award winners every night. Potential hypothermia and heat exhaustion (rare but I have seen it from people with too many layers and not enough fluid intake). Various potentials for broken bones or sprains.

As for golf I'm not even going to go there since in my list that a "sport" that so far down on the risk ladder its like volley ball or badminton. That is like comparing apples to algae. I tried it for 2 years and hated it. I don't see the fun of sitting there hitting a ball to a hole in the ground which the nature around there are was cut down/removed for the same 18 holes for gods know how long.

I'll say this maybe I'm a nature nut. I've been attracted by the ocean since I was a kid growing up in Alberta. I've always preferred to see wildlife as such wild. I'm not well traveled simply due to the finances of my life at this point and time but if a person going to college working a part time job can get the money to buy his own gear+much more training in the cold west pacific waters that are shared with the PNW. I think many people can go out and pick up diving in warmer places. Where $1200 gets you pretty much everything you need (and FYI my drysuit cost twice that before addons).

As for your issues with buddies ect. does your LDS have drop in dives thats how I get mine in most of the time and most of the shops here have their drop in nights/days staggered so beyond monday/tuesday one shop or another is doing drop ins.

 

[drbill]

I find it strange that I live on an island surrounded 100% by water that has some world-class diving and yet few locals dive. Of the ones that do, most are dive professionals as well as some bug hunters (but hoop nets are making the take of bugs far too easy to do topside). I'm sure $$$ is a good part of the equation for many on the island. Possibly fear of sharks since great whites are reported in our waters with some frequency.