Why do so many lose interest in diving?

[dmaziuk]

Some have mentioned lack of comfortability assembling the unit. This was something I had to really concentrate on when I took OW. This is probably not a really valid reason--If I could get it right I would think 99% of all others can.

Some people are not gearheads and some people are unsure of themselves -- between pre-dive jitters and it being "life support equipment". I suppose if you have a buddy who's as bad or worse at it so you can feed on and reinforce each other's anxiety...

 

[markmud]

Hello All,

There are the standard reasons for diver drop-out that have been repeated (in different and unique ways) on this thread and they are (in part):

1. boredom-- not a sport that a person thought it was going to be.
2. fear--it is a big ocean out there and people can get hurt.
3. gear intensive-- lots of gear and the gear needs maintenance.
4. expensive-- beside the gear, travelling to warm water sites is costly.
5. laziness-- some people can't or won't commit to the work involved with SCUBA. Labor of love for me. The entire experience is enjoyable. But, I am not lazy.
6. I have an LDS that does do great trips and they treat divers very well--however, the timing of their trips seems to always conflict with work or grandchild events. Some of their trips are expensive because they are so good! I wish our "gears" would synchromesh. Life happens.
7. Overall, the ocean is a difficult place to recreate or work on. It is an alien environment and only strong-willed people can tolerate it (or grow to love it :blinking: ).

My reasons for envisioning the end of my diving avocation relate to dive ops and their common practice of catering to the lowest common denominator.

1. A buddy and I (a frequent poster on SCUBA board) signed-up for a dive to a particular location. The Charterer did have the caveat published about weather conditions, safety, and reserving the right to change sites or even geographic locations. The day rolled around and we were onboard the boat. It was a beautiful, flat calm, and warm day. We were told that we were going to a local area that was not geographically unique and was dived quite often. My buddy piped-in and stated that we were supposed to go south and dive some intermediate to advanced sites. I told the skipper that I wanted to go south, but that I did not want to witness someone getting hurt because I wanted to dive advanced sites. We did dive a site that was in good condition and another one that is unique in its geography. Nice day, but no advanced diving, no intermediate diving. My buddy and I had a fun day anyways.
2. I communicated with a dive-op a few months before diving with them. They assured me that we would dive named intermediate and advanced sites that are geographically and biologically diverse. It was a struggle to actually dive these areas once we started diving (After travelling across a once great nation to reach the destination).
3. We travelled to the South Pacific. Where we dived the same 3 dive spots for a week, while surrounded by a barrier reef that is untouched (miles and miles of it). What a waste.
4. Follow the leader diving can be boring if you are diving with a lazy guide or crappy group. However, I dived with a DM on Spiegel Grove, and he made it a great dive!! He was animated, he was instructional, and fun to be around. He dived us to our experience level.

I like SoCal type diving the best. They are water taxis that have a safety swimmer on deck. I have the freedom to dive my selected profile. However, sometimes it is hard to dive on good sites as the boats are generally moored in shallow water on beat-up reefs.

I can blow bubbles on a beat-up reef all by myself at Lake Tahoe. And, I don't have to rinse my gear after I am done. Why do I need to travel thousands of miles to dive a beat-up reef and pay for the experience?

markm

 

[Fladiver2015]

For me, it was loosing the group of friends that lost interest due to family, work, economics. But I recently relocated and renewed my interest and hopefully can find local people interested in diving so I can have some friends to go with. Diving to me is a social activity as well as a challenging and fun activity.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hello All,

There are the standard reasons for diver drop-out that have been repeated (in different and unique ways) on this thread and they are (in part):

1. boredom-- not a sport that a person thought it was going to be.
2. fear--it is a big ocean out there and people can get hurt.
3. gear intensive-- lots of gear and the gear needs maintenance.
4. expensive-- beside the gear, travelling to warm water sites is costly.
5. laziness-- some people can't or won't commit to the work involved with SCUBA. Labor of love for me. The entire experience is enjoyable. But, I am not lazy.
6. I have an LDS that does do great trips and they treat divers very well--however, the timing of their trips seems to always conflict with work or grandchild events. Some of their trips are expensive because they are so good! I wish our "gears" would synchromesh. Life happens.
7. Overall, the ocean is a difficult place to recreate or work on. It is an alien environment and only strong-willed people can tolerate it (or grow to love it :blinking: ).

My reasons for envisioning the end of my diving avocation relate to dive ops and their common practice of catering to the lowest common denominator.

1. A buddy and I (a frequent poster on SCUBA board) signed-up for a dive to a particular location. The Charterer did have the caveat published about weather conditions, safety, and reserving the right to change sites or even geographic locations. The day rolled around and we were onboard the boat. It was a beautiful, flat calm, and warm day. We were told that we were going to a local area that was not geographically unique and was dived quite often. My buddy piped-in and stated that we were supposed to go south and dive some intermediate to advanced sites. I told the skipper that I wanted to go south, but that I did not want to witness someone getting hurt because I wanted to dive advanced sites. We did dive a site that was in good condition and another one that is unique in its geography. Nice day, but no advanced diving, no intermediate diving. My buddy and I had a fun day anyways.
2. I communicated with a dive-op a few months before diving with them. They assured me that we would dive named intermediate and advanced sites that are geographically and biologically diverse. It was a struggle to actually dive these areas once we started diving (After travelling across a once great nation to reach the destination).
3. We travelled to the South Pacific. Where we dived the same 3 dive spots for a week, while surrounded by a barrier reef that is untouched (miles and miles of it). What a waste.
4. Follow the leader diving can be boring if you are diving with a lazy guide or crappy group. However, I dived with a DM on Spiegel Grove, and he made it a great dive!! He was animated, he was instructional, and fun to be around. He dived us to our experience level.

I like SoCal type diving the best. They are water taxis that have a safety swimmer on deck. I have the freedom to dive my selected profile. However, sometimes it is hard to dive on good sites as the boats are generally moored in shallow water on beat-up reefs.

I can blow bubbles on a beat-up reef all by myself at Lake Tahoe. And, I don't have to rinse my gear after I am done. Why do I need to travel thousands of miles to dive a beat-up reef and pay for the experience?

markm

Back when I did more Socal boat diving I joined the Sea Divers dive club as a satelite member and they always went to advanced sites at the outer islands. I haven't been down there in a few years now.
A lot of my diving is shore based up in Norcal now. It's wild, free, not many people, lush, lots of fish, and it's close. If I only dove here for the rest of my life I would be OK with that.
To me this is real diving.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'm loving the passion in this thread.

After Dark said it all.

I am a diver.

 

[markmud]

Back when I did more Socal boat diving I joined the Sea Divers dive club as a satelite member and they always went to advanced sites at the outer islands. I haven't been down there in a few years now.
A lot of my diving is shore based up in Norcal now. It's wild, free, not many people, lush, lots of fish, and it's close. If I only dove here for the rest of my life I would be OK with that.
To me this is real diving.

Hi Eric,

I have previously scanned the website for various SoCal dive clubs including Sea Divers. Unfortunately, geography and the ability to pay for travel to SoCal becomes an issue for me. It costs me in family time also. Timing is also an issue with work--I need lots of lead time to book vacation and then we have blackout periods. (hmmm...there seems to be a common theme in my last paragraph and the responses to this thread)

I love SoCal diving and I enjoy the temperament of SoCal divers.

Your solution is a good one for my issues.

Another poster wrote that diving is part diving, part social (paraphrase). He is correct. That is why Scuba Board is so successful.

markm

 

[oly5050user]

Some have mentioned lack of comfortability assembling the unit. This was something I had to really concentrate on when I took OW. This is probably not a really valid reason--If I could get it right I would think 99% of all others can.

Not too sure a bout that. It's actually a required standard to assemble,disassemble 5 times during confined water and another 4 times during ow certification dives. After 9 times I would think a student gets it. If not , why? Maybe they really should not be diving because if they need to adjust something in the water or disconnect lp inflator/connect lp inflator inflator and cannot it could cause problems. Not very self sufficient.

 

[Russoft]

Not too sure a bout that. It's actually a required standard to assemble,disassemble 5 times during confined water and another 4 times during ow certification dives. After 9 times I would think a student gets it. If not , why? Maybe they really should not be diving because if they need to adjust something in the water or disconnect lp inflator/connect lp inflator inflator and cannot it could cause problems. Not very self sufficient.

Freshly certified, my wife got confused a few times after OW and needed help. It does take doing it unsupervised for a while to actually learn. Doesn't help that most new divers go quite long before diving again and end up forgetting what they learned. Repetition makes it stick after doing it for a while. A few hand-holding dives during OW often isn't enough in of itself.

 

[archer1960]

Not too sure a bout that. It's actually a required standard to assemble,disassemble 5 times during confined water and another 4 times during ow certification dives. After 9 times I would think a student gets it. If not , why? Maybe they really should not be diving because if they need to adjust something in the water or disconnect lp inflator/connect lp inflator inflator and cannot it could cause problems. Not very self sufficient.

It's easy to forget. My first post-certification dive was about 2.5 months after my last certification dive, and I initially set the tank up backward (valve on the left). I knew it didn't quite seem right and it worked ok, but couldn't figure out what was wrong until someobdy else pointed it out (rather pointedly, too!). 12 more dives in 5 days reinforced it to the point where I probably won't do that again. It doesn't help that I'm left-handed, and having the valve on the left seems more natural to me.

 

[Russoft]

It doesn't help that I'm left-handed, and having the valve on the left seems more natural to me.

I'm left handed, that's no excuse! You should EXPECT everything to be backwards and inconvenient!