Where do you find your dive buddies and local diving information?

[ScubaJill]

Do you go through the shop that certified you? Local area clubs or groups? Friends and family? Scubaboard? Is it all destination diving so you really don't interact with your local diving community (however that is defined)?

My reason for asking is this: I live in the DC area and I've been diving for about 2.5 years. All of my dives have taken place outside of the DC area (Caribbean, FL, NC) because I initially saw diving as an activity that took place in warmer, more colorful waters. I also viewed diving as an individual activity versus an activity that was community oriented. Over the last year or so, I've become more familiar with diving, the dive businesses in this area, and I've joined a couple of local dive-related groups. Getting to this point, though, required some degree of commitment, meeting the right people, and spending a lot of time on the Internet (and Scubaboard). And I still end up diving solo a lot of the time. I was wondering if there was anything I could do, in terms of a listserv or information-sharing website, that could help the "me" of last year and even the "me" of this year, to pull all DC area information into one spot, just to get a newish diver who is unfamiliar with online forums or dive lingo launched. I don't want to supplant what is currently available. Any thoughts on this approach? Is my learning curve just one of necessity?

 

[2airishuman]

I've ended up diving solo, for the most part. Most of the local divers I've met have been too far from me -- in distance, diving objectives, schedule limitations, physical condition, and in who we are as people -- for us to dive together much.

In the Minneapolis area, I believe there's been some extremely serious attrition in the local coldwater diving community. I think it's fun to go out in freshwater lakes that have 3-10' viz. I don't mind the cold. I don't care if I have to haul my gear. But that's the exception. Most divers here are tropical vacation divers with little interest in local lakes, let alone local rivers. As the shore divers get older and stop diving, new people aren't replacing them, and in many cases the local knowledge is getting lost.

I'm trying to approach local diving more as just one of many forms of water recreation, and find community with people who canoe, kayak, paddleboard, swim, water ski, etc. I like all those things and snorkeling, freediving, and SCUBA are, in a way, just extensions of that.

 

[TMHeimer]

I don't know if there is an answer to your question. I had one buddy for 2-3 years who I found through the shop where I did OW. Later as a DM there I could have buddied up with quite a few staff and others through the shop but didn't. Distance from the shop, other logistics made solo diving close to our house the better option. I did find one guy on scubaboard who was passing through and we buddied. Going to the N. Gulf of Mex. most winters--like your southern trips--I was alone, so usually (not always) went solo on shore dives and instabuddied on charters. Finding buddies down there was the same--just asking at the shops. Though I did actually find a buddy once to shore dive with down there via Scubaboard. Good luck with your ideas.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Locally, I first started diving with a former instructor who dove prolifically. When at new sites, I try to read up what I can and explore, but preferably dive with someone who has been there before. Fortunately I live in an area where the sites are well documented.

I didn't have much luck via meetup or Facebook when I went to Tampa a ways back, but I did have some excellent luck when I was in Australia on business, via finding folks on a Facebook group.

I have no idea how things will be in your neck of the woods.

 

[Jondjames]

I too am new to diving and sort of understand how you're feeling completely. I wish there was a more active dive community in or around my city, not just people who are friends that dive. I take it that all the DM's and instructors at my LDS probably dive together often but there doesn't seem to be a group for people who are new to diving to come together and learn skills and just hang out or what not. I was certified with my wife but she's not as into it as me, she's more the vacationing diver type. I want to dive everyday lol even tho I've only got 9 dives in. (It's hard to find a buddy) I come here for interaction with the scuba community and just lurk around to gather knowledge and advice so that I can satisfy my hunger for SCUBA! But I'd much rather be out there in the real world getting hands on experience!

 

[ScubaJill]

I too am new to diving and sort of understand how you're feeling completely. I wish there was a more active dive community in or around my city, not just people who are friends that dive. I take it that all the DM's and instructors at my LDS probably dive together often but there doesn't seem to be a group for people who are new to diving to come together and learn skills and just hang out or what not. I was certified with my wife but she's not as into it as me, she's more the vacationing diver type. I want to dive everyday lol even tho I've only got 9 dives in. (It's hard to find a buddy) I come here for interaction with the scuba community and just lurk around to gather knowledge and advice so that I can satisfy my hunger for SCUBA! But I'd much rather be out there in the real world getting hands on experience!

When you really get into scuba diving, it does feel like a hunger, doesn't it?

 

[Neilwood]

I got very lucky in that the dive shop that I learned with have a pretty active dive plan with local trips (1-2hr drive) most weekends and a number of trips abroad for those interested. They have a pretty regular group of active divers so it is usually no problem getting "hooked up" with someone to do a dive.

 

[sheeper]

So the best things to do are simple. Find that local dive shop where people hang out. that shop where you can have some coffee or bring a sandwich and sit at that table while hanging out and talking with other divers. Shops like that are awesome.
Second best is a great dive club. Our Vero Beach Scuba Club has about 600 followers on facebook and about 100 dues-paying active members. they range from new divers with less than 25 dives to experienced trimix and rebreather instructors. Club events, dives, and socials are great places to find out about dive sites, dive trips and meet that new dive buddy.

now if you find yourself on Florida's Treasure Coast, you're welcome to come dive with us!

 

[ScubaJill]

So the best things to do are simple. Find that local dive shop where people hang out. that shop where you can have some coffee or bring a sandwich and sit at that table while hanging out and talking with other divers. Shops like that are awesome.
Second best is a great dive club. Our Vero Beach Scuba Club has about 600 followers on facebook and about 100 dues-paying active members. they range from new divers with less than 25 dives to experienced trimix and rebreather instructors. Club events, dives, and socials are great places to find out about dive sites, dive trips and meet that new dive buddy.

now if you find yourself on Florida's Treasure Coast, you're welcome to come dive with us!

Well, I have dived with you, and I have a shirt to prove it!

We don't have any clubs in this area. Some meetups, but the folks who attend don't create a cohesive dive community. As I found, there are a number of shops in the area, just none close enough to me to make hanging out feasible. But anyway, joining up with a dive shop - which is likely a fairly blind choice in the beginning - seems to be a pretty big investment for all but the most invested. And I'm betting that there are a large number of newer divers who are interested but not invested. Still, rather than this being about me, I'm thinking about the "me" of the past and how I can help others in that same predicament.

Does your club have a website other than Facebook? How do you communicate with the group?

 

[thatmark]

@ScubaJill

From the you of last year (aka the me of this year) thanks for this thread and for connecting me to the local meetup. Unfortunately I was a total failure at meeting folks down at Lake Phoenix the other weekend, but hopefully I'll be able to connect with you and others this coming Tuesday. As a starting point, I'll agree with @sheeper about using a dive shop to coordinate. Several of us who have met through classes at Submerged usually piggyback on their class schedule to meet up for non-class dives when they have something going on and coordinate who will be there through the shop. But, we've also been discussing finding other times to get together and other ways to plan dives. Of course, that was mostly around the idea of connecting with each other, but it could definitely be extended. It also doesn't help people who aren't affiliated with a particular shop or who are visiting the area.

So then, continuing down the path that isn't related to a particular shop...

First, I'd say if we're talking about a local group to do local dives (even if that means driving a few hours) I think it's good to have met in person first if at all possible. It seems like Meetup can definitely fill that role. I don't have a good sense of how Facebook groups work and maybe they offer a more elegant solution, but it seems like if we could get everyone who potentially wanted to dive together using Meetup then anyone could create an event when they were thinking about going diving locally and anyone who wanted to could join. That kind of defeats the idea of having met first, but maybe there are controls that can be put in place within the app to help with who can join a particular meetup.

The other option I can see (if something else doesn't already exist) would be a public, shared Google calendar or people sharing links to a diving specific personal Google calendar. The trouble I can see with the shared Google calendar solutions is the potential for accidental (or taking off my "were all nice adults here hat" deliberate, mischievous, or malicious) editing of the calendar. I can also see trouble with circulating a notice that people should look at a particular personal calendar when it was updated. I'd imagine the solution to the public calendar would be having a limited number of editors that people could email requests to, but that means someone being willing to take on that responsibility.

One last idea that I just had, since we're discussing this here, would be if ScubaBoard could add calendars to the Regional Forums. I know this would require moderators/ administrators to be involved which I'm sure is not a small request, but it is a place that already exists and that we know a good number of divers from many areas are visiting with some regularity. It's also an easily remembered name to share. Maybe some other folks will chime in with ideas and opinions.

Mark