Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[dmoore19]

Location changes the whole picture. The business model and advertising for the shop on the coast is entirely different than that of one anywhere else.

For example, it was not until I moved to the Front Range of Colorado that I found out more regarding the requirements to be a scuba diver. While those who live on or near the east or west coast have access to training.

So for my answer to why? It has to do with location and accessibility to training.

 

[daniel1948]

There have been many threads comparing shark attacks to other stuff, most of which I find pointless. I believe I have a "rational fear", and not from watching Jaws in 1975. I've known sharks can kill you since I was a little kid. I also know that planes can crash and think of that every time I board one. Yet I doubt anyone has less of a fear of flying than me. But just as I don't seek out sharks, if I had unlimited money I wouldn't fly unless I had to go somewhere.

Fear of an animal that is vanishingly unlikely to attack you (shark) is not a rational fear, just as fear of the safest means of travel (commercial airplane) is not a rational fear. And allowing such fears to rule your life is not a rational choice.

I am very afraid of flying. But knowing that the fear is irrational, I don't allow it to prevent me from traveling. Coming face-on with a shark (which has only happened to me on a shark dive; otherwise they're always swimming away) is very scary, but knowing they are less likely to harm me than that doofus talking on his cell phone while driving next to me on the freeway, I can enjoy their impressive beauty.

Yes, sharks can kill you. They have lots of big, sharp, scary teeth. But you live every day with things that can kill you and are much more likely to, such as your car.

But as to why more people don't take up scuba diving, I think it's largely the rational fear of being so far from open air. Also, of course, being unable to swim (a very good reason for not diving, if you can't swim.) I have a friend who loves to snorkel, but is terrified of the idea of being in water too deep to see the bottom. I was scared of the idea of having to take my mask off under water, and fearful that I'd get water up my nose when I did so. (Until someone suggested taking my mask off at the surface while snorkeling, where it would be easy to life my head above water. I discovered to my surprise that I could breathe through my mouth and not get water up my nose. But it was still difficult to take my mask off under water, and I managed it only because a very patient instructor took me though it by baby steps.) We are land animals and below the surface of the water is very foreign to us.

And there are indeed dangers down there. Sharks are not particularly dangerous if respected, but there are poisonous critters and critters much more aggressive than sharks, and equipment can fail, or you can get bad air, and any medical emergency is much more critical 60 or 100 feet down.

And sadly, most people are indeed governed by their irrational fears while at the same time engaging in activities that are truly dangerous without even thinking of the danger.

And finally, no sport appeals to everyone. Plenty of people are just not attracted to the joys we experience while diving, or they prefer to spend their disposable income in other ways.

 

[kr2y5]

For me, scuba diving was never so much about sapphire blue waters and pretty fish... more like swallowing the red pill to vomit my way out of the Matrix. Chasing the white rabbit down the hole into the wonderland, not expecting to find anything in particular... just enjoying the ride, and feeling more alive. On yesterday's dive, I was frozen all the way to the bone, then back home I could not get out of the car because the air coming out of the heating vent felt OMG sooo good... by far, the most memorable time I had during the whole week! Now, how do I explain that to my non-diving friends...

 

[Doomnova]

There have been many threads comparing shark attacks to other stuff, most of which I find pointless. I believe I have a "rational fear", and not from watching Jaws in 1975. I've known sharks can kill you since I was a little kid. I also know that planes can crash and think of that every time I board one. Yet I doubt anyone has less of a fear of flying than me. But just as I don't seek out sharks, if I had unlimited money I wouldn't fly unless I had to go somewhere.

There is a point to fear and there is a point to respect. You can also have both. Respectful fear. Respectful fear or rational fear as you call it is healthy it keeps us on our toes and helps keep us safe. But the fear of sharks is perpetrated not by rational but blind instinctual fear. Do I worry about taking walks in the woods where mountain lions may tread? No I carry precautions and have respectful fear I don't run around demanding every Cougar die so I can go for a walk in the woods and honestly I would not want that.

The point I'm getting at is too many people are worried about "maybes and what ifs" that push winning lotto
chances of happening to you. I live in victoria do I loose sleep over the 10% chance of a meagthrust EQ in the next 50 years here? No but I am prepared for it if it happens. I'll take a pinch of risk and live my life.

 

[TMHeimer]

A couple of posters implied that I have an irrational fear of sharks and perhaps this may haunt me when diving. Not true at all. I just don't seek them out purposely. Nor do I wander in the Kenyan jungle seeking a face to face with an elephant. I'm sure a lot of the statistics (like cell phoning drivers) that other stuff is far more deadly are true. But most of us have to drive and some of us have to fly. No one has to purposely seek encounters with sharks, though more power to you if you do. Getting back to the OP, I believe there are more divers today than ever. What is the % of divers to general population? Do we WANT more divers?

 

[Diving Dubai]

​Having recently come back from a Thailand Liveaboard I thought I'd update my perceptions to RJP's original question.

I don't think Scuba diving is declining its just that people choose to partake when it suits them.

From an infinitesimally small sample group (I'm saying 40 people - the boat held 20 on each 3 day trip, some chose 2 trips, some chose only 1 and we chose 3 I can provide the following "facts"

Only 4 people had their own kit, although possibly another 5 had their own computers All the rest rented

Only 5 people had over 100 dives, only 3 had more than 200

6 people had chosen to come to get their OW

10 people chose to get their AoW

Over 50 % already had their AoW

Only 3 divers had their Nitrox cert

The Mix of people were always generally the same proportions 50% from Mainland Europe, 25% from UK and 25% from the US

With the exception of the OW students most of the people on the boat considered themselves regular divers but only did 1 vacation every 1 or 2 years, No-one with the exception of ourselves dived in their own country. Only 4 people came on their own all others had a diving partner or friend. Tow people had taken a break from diving until they ahd persuaded a partner to learn to dive

The majority of people were in their mid 20's to mid 30's

With the exception of ourselves all had chosen to fly a minimum of 13hrs, for this holiday. Some were only diving some were doing onshore activities.

Now I know there were at least a further 5 boats in this area alone so you might extrapolate this in saying that during the season there would be 100 - 150 divers every week or 4000 Unique divers over the 6 month season in this area alone. Although if you allow for other boats from other ports then this would probably double.

If we were to take into account all the liveaboards and all the hotels in the world offering resort diving - I wonder how many unique divers that would be a year? RJP???

Clearly the manufacturers are doing okay given the rental gear may only last a few seasons thus need replacing, and given the cost of renting gear at $10 per day you would have a hard time justifying spending $1500 - $2000 on gear that would take 25 years to recoup the cost at 1 trip a year!


Now of course regular divers look down on vacation divers but its these divers who add money to the industry with their trips keeping dive shops and professionals employed - its just that they choose to spend their money in warmer destinations.

How many of these far flung destinations were easily accessible or affordable to the average person 10 or 15 years ago?

Over to RJP to pick the bones out of that

 

[drrich2]

A couple of posters implied that I have an irrational fear of sharks and perhaps this may haunt me when diving. Not true at all. I just don't seek them out purposely. Nor do I wander in the Kenyan jungle seeking a face to face with an elephant.

Do you tend to just use the term 'shark' without breaking it down, as to what you'd rather not come across. To use your elephant metaphor, imagine if I said I'd rather not run across a mammal on an African safari. A 3 feet Caribbean reef shark, a 6 foot nurse shark, an 8 foot bull shark and a 14 foot tiger shark are all different things.

I love to see reef & nurse sharks, hope to see a bull eventually, and maybe someday a tiger, but I'd still be a bit hesitant about that last one (if it were a big one).

Diving Dubai:

I think a key issue with your report is to ask to what extent various markets around the globe are facing the same issues. From what I read of Caribbean live-aboard, they tend to draw seasoned divers with hundreds of dives, for example. Are the dynamics in your region much the same as those in the U.S./Canada/Caribbean region?

Richard.

 

[Leadking]

I just got back from PNG and Australia and talked with dive operators there as to market conditions. They state that many dive operations have gone out of business and those left are looking at other revenue streams. i.e ocean kayaking, wind surfing, bird watching and other activities due to the decline in diving customers.

 

[boulderjohn]

It's really tough to look at personal experiences and then draw a conclusion about the whole. I used to teach that lesson regularly when I was a journalism teacher trying to teach students how to do surveys. The primary reason is that birds of a feather really do flock together. I once taught two sections of a 10th grade writing course designed for 11th grade (or older) students who had failed the class at least once. In the course of the discussion on a topic, I learned that every one of those students had been arrested at least once, and most more than once. They refused to believe that anyone in America got through high school without being arrested. When I told them I had reached my ripe old age without ever being arrested, they were incredulous. I also taught many sections of Advanced Placement English. It is very possible that none of those students had ever been arrested, and they probably never would.

I have been on a number of liveaboards over the years, and most of them were organized trips by the local dive shop with which I was associated. On those trips, a large percentage were instructors, and the majority had well over 100 dives. Some had thousands. On the other hand, this spring I went with some newly certified friends to Australia and did a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef. At the beginning of the trip I sat an waited my turn to show my credentials and describe experience. Between that and talking with people over the ensuing days, I got to know everyone's experience. There was only one person other than me with more than 50 dives, and he did not have 100. My friends and I were the only ones with nitrox certification. One lady had to have the crew explain to her that her scuba diver certification card, obtained more than 5 years before with no intervening dives, meant that she was required to have a DM dive with her at very shallow depths throughout the week. Those liveaboard experiences were as different as the English classes described in the paragraph, and none of them can be considered to represent the world of diving as a whole.

---------- Post added December 7th, 2014 at 09:42 AM ----------

Do we WANT more divers?

You want more divers if you don't want to end up in a situation in which you can't do any diving because the dive operators have gone out of business:

I just got back from PNG and Australia and talked with dive operators there as to market conditions. They state that many dive operations have gone out of business and those left are looking at other revenue streams. i.e ocean kayaking, wind surfing, bird watching and other activities due to the decline in diving customers.

I have had more than a few dive excursions canceled at the last minute because not enough people signed up. I will take a crowded dive boat over sitting in a condo trying to think of something to do any day.

 

[radtype]

I know quite a few divers that want to dive and can't find someone they trust to buddy with. I also know others that only want to dive with a divemaster and in a group.

Based on reading posts on this board, most divers have a buddy, dive solo, or dread diving with an insta buddy. I am included in this group.

i've seen dive shops advertise guided tours on a requested basis and usually a fee. The key word is you have to request. Why not provide a guide service on a routine basis and advertise. Meet at dive shop or ..... Good way to sell gear or additional training.