The Diving Bug

[nolatom]

This could sound contrarian and dumb, but I think i still enjoy diving because I haven't progressed to diving really often, nor going to the exotic, distant, more challenging dive meccas. I stay fairly regional, cheap, and seldom (just look at my log, about 230 dives in about 17 years, but it's steadily between around 10 to 25 per year, so I'm not "dry" for more than four or five months at a stretch).

But since I've never really moved beyond the "entry-level drug" to the harder stuff, I never "overdosed" on it and burned out to where just plain old getting wet was boring. So I still get a kick out of an entirely ordinary day-trip dive at a familiar site where the sensation of being weightless is still sorta new, and still very cool.

 

[fmerkel]

Your aren't going to hear from the ones that dropped out here, are you.

The drop out rate in diving is pretty high actually. Hazards seem to be cost (equipment, travel), health (may or may not be diving related), lack of buddies, and KIDS. Kids are a huge one, seldom overcome.

 

[Storker]

Kids are a huge one, seldom overcome.

Fortunately, that's a temporary problem. At least for for most of us. As they grow up most kids take less and less of their parents' time. Most hobbies have to be put on hold when you have toddlers, pre-schoolers or primary schoolers. Why would diving be an exception?

 

[fmerkel]

Why would diving be an exception?

It's not specifically, although the potential danger, though small, can be an additional influence.

I'm part of a married couple that has had a lot of active hobbies over the years. Few of our married friends that were involved in these sports continued. None of the divers having kids continued, though we have seen a few come back after the kids are gone.

 

[Storker]

None of the divers having kids continued, though we have seen a few come back after the kids are gone.

Pretty much as for a lot of other hobbies that take a significant amount of your free time, then. When the kids are small, you just don't have the time to keep up the activity. When they get up into middle and high school, you start realizing that you actually have some free time. That's when you pick up some of the hobbies you had before you started to breed.

Me, I took my first dive cert when our oldest has started in college and our youngest was in middle school. Before that, the chance of me having the time to dive was smaller than the chance of the proverbial snowball to survive for more than a week.

 

[EricTheDood]

did you experience such all consuming addiction from the very start?

Just about every equipment-heavy activity is like that. You spend time researching gear, buy it, then want to use it.

Whether the fever dies down depends on your personality. Do you have golf clubs, a high end bike, or something similar collecting dust in the garage? If so, chances are your dive gear will eventually collect dust in the garage as well.

 

[Bubblesong]

I got cert 28 years ago but felt I had to stop for kid's sake. Once my interested kid got cert at 12, we have been diving together since, and look forward to lots of great experiences.

 

[turnburglar]

Just about every equipment-heavy activity is like that. You spend time researching gear, buy it, then want to use it.

Whether the fever dies down depends on your personality. Do you have golf clubs, a high end bike, or something similar collecting dust in the garage? If so, chances are your dive gear will eventually collect dust in the garage as well.

I disagree. I think peoples attrition has more to do with access to the hobby than getting bored of the activity. I did a total of ZERO diving when life pulled me away from the ocean. Now that I am moving back I am starting to dive again.

If someone got into an activity that required the stars to align for them to do it, they just aren't gonna make it happen that often. Now that I am thinking of all my past hobbies, the ones I did multiple times a week where because it was an activity I could fit into an evening. The ones that I could only do once a month or once every few months where because they required an entire weekend to be dedicated to the activity.

 

[kodiak81]

I started diving only two months ago. I managed to finish my OW, AOW, two specs, and log more than 25 dives in this time period. The diving bug has caught hard. I still don't know what I want to do with it or the end goal here - for the time being, it has simply become an all consuming obsession.

I am interested in hearing from some of the more experienced members here about how it was like to start diving - did you experience such all consuming addiction from the very start? If so, did it wither away by time? Do you think that diving (like more adventurous sports) is simply an outlet from a mundane life or an unsatisfying career, and that such an obsession only reflects a deep seated dissatisfaction with our daily lives? Or is it more about fantasizing to live the lifestyle of a scuba instructor/professional - diving in the day, seeing pretty girls in bikinis (and meeting new ones on a daily basis), and chilling and drinking by night?

When you start diving it is a new exciting activity with incredible number of new toys. There is always something new to learn and new specialties give a person achievable goals to look forward to. After some time the novelty wears off only to be replaced by mastering attempts. Can this facet of my gear/setup/diving/trim be improved?

I think of diving as being in environment few get to see in person and getting to meet people I otherwise wouldn't. Someone going into diving for pretty girls in bikinis will get disillusioned very quickly.

 

[TMHeimer]

I snorkeled basically my whole life when in a place where it made sense and I could collect shells. From age 23-50 I was basically in Northern Manitoba, with no interest in diving northern lakes, though I enjoyed swimming there and once even in Hudson Bay (with Sept. snow on the ground). In moving back to the East Coast to Nova Scotia (grew up near NYC), I figured to get into scuba, and quite by accident walked into the shop. This of course increased my shell collecting abilities, both here (not so great) and down South. Doing continuing ed. courses got me to doing 4 years as a DM assisting with OW courses. My goal this year is to hit 80 dives (70 so far, with winter coming), and MAYBE hit 1K before I'm too old. It's all about fun, goals and routine, the last of which my wife says I have plenty of.