The growing cost of diving

[chris kippax]

I am interested to hear about the cost of diving in your area. The below relates to Australia

I rarely dive locally with any of the LDS's as I have always found it expensive and the dive times restrictive. I am a photographer and they cater more towards a tourist crowd.
I have been out of the water for a bit due to pandemic/too much work & recent flooding. My free local shore diving spot is dead from the floods. So I entertained a boat dive with one of the local LDS's

Cost are
2 dive Charter: $135, dive site 5 miles from harbour you get an in water DM if you want it, water/hot soup/tea/coffee and some lollies
Tanks & weights: $34 (I use my own but fills would still cost me $25)
Max dive time allowed 50 mins including safety stop

I imagine our local dives would be somewhat similar to Palm beach diving, head out of an inlet, travel a few miles and splash

We are not a low income earning family but I find it hard to drop $320 odd bucks for the wife and I do have a morning out for a dive. This is also the cheapest dive this LDS does some range up to $235 bare charter for a 2 tank trip. I fully understand that it must be expensive to run a dive business, especially one with prime relaestate on the wharf.

What are the costs of diving like in your local area? Currently I will just save up and Dive in Bali until my local shore dive comes back to life.

 

[Searcaigh]

Diving for me is much cheaper here in the Emirates despite having to travel for almost two hours to the east coast.

There is some very limited shallow shore diving here when I'm desperate, total cost of fuel and air refill is less than USD10.

I have all my own gear including tanks and weights. The dive centre that I use has two different charging systems.

You can purchase a card for AED1,000 for ten dives / five boat trips excluding gear, tanks and weights, which is what I do. This must be paid for in cash! So my boat fee is AED200 (USD54.46)

Pay for a day boat trip (two dives) is AED250 (USD68.07) excluding gear
Almost every other dive centre on the east coast of the UAE is currently charging a minimum AED350 (USD95.30) for two dive boat trips excluding gear.

Nitrox costs me AED250 for 12 fills, which is AED20.83 (USD5.67) per fill irrespective of the mix up to and including 50%. Again this is for a pre-paid card system. I think they charge AED30 now for a one off fill (USD8.17)

Fuel here in the UAE has basically doubled since this time last year, we've had three increases in the first quarter this year already, and I run a 5L V8

In total for a day trip:

Fuel AED200 (USD54.46)
Boat AED200 (USD54.46)
Nitrox AED51.66 (USD11.34)

Total AED441.46 (USD120.26) which I consider pretty cheap compared to most places.

There's limited diving off Dubai and a boat ride for two dives is going to cost no less than AED500 (USD136.14) without any gear and in poor visibility with only wrecks to dive on.

Unlike Australia, tank hydro is every five years so there is some cost saving in that area, and salaries for staff running the boats etc., are probably a lot cheaper too.

Dive times are also limited in most dive centres to the usual 50 mins / 50 bar rule, except the one I use.

But given that most dives are 26-30m for the first dive and 18-22m for the second (all square profile), this does limit the times people dive for.

 

[chris kippax]

Thanks for that Gordon, thats some good detail. For interests sake what is a litre of fuel costing you?
We are above $2 pretty much everywhere now. EV's are looking better by the day
I would say you are right that the labour rate is much lower, Australia has a minimun wage of around $21
I would also assume expat salary's are also quite decent compared to local salaries?
Unfortunately your comment about hydro stung I have 3 tanks due, by bye $180. Not far off having an entire ring around my tank necks from annual hydro stamps. $300 tank with $500 worth of hydro stamps

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Thanks for that Gordon, thats some good detail. For interests sake what is a litre of fuel costing you?
We are above $2 pretty much everywhere now. EV's are looking better by the day
I would say you are right that the labour rate is much lower, Australia has a minimun wage of around $21
I would also assume expat salary's are also quite decent compared to local salaries?
Unfortunately your comment about hydro stung I have 3 tanks due, by bye $180. Not far off having an entire ring around my tank necks from annual hydro stamps. $300 tank with $500 worth of hydro stamps

The cost of everything is up... seems like all we talk about some days. $120 boat ride is now $140-145. Any type of goods are up.. regulators, fins, suits, etc. I won't get out near as much as I did last year.

I do a good bit of local quarry diving. It's cold and dark but it's wet and a lot less expensive than jumping on a boat. Plus it can be as long as I want.. 75 min last Wed. Going again tomorrow.

Annual hydros would put me in the poor house... that's horrible. What guy in office owned a hydro shop to put that law in place? That would cost me $351 / year... no thanks. At least I can spread that cost over 5 years.

Edit : all my prices are in USD

 

[sourdough]

2 tank is still inshore $105, offshore $125 in Panama City for wreck diving, seems reasonable to me. Just don't bother looking for a dive-vacation home, since 2020 many listings have doubled or close to it. F****** ridiculous, better to collect the timber yourself by axe and build a log cabin.

 

[emoreira]

In the begining of last April I dove 3 days in San Andrés - Colombia. 2 tanks per day, a boat ride of something like 15 minutes and the transfer from the hotel to the marina (the dive center was in the hotel). The cost included tanks (air) and weigths. I had every thing else.
US$ 73/day. I guess that I've got no discount for the three days together.
Compared to what I paid several years ago to dive in the Emerald reef 5 miles from Miami South Beach US$ 110/day + US$ 10 for the gear I didn't have, much cheaper.

 

[matts1w]

In Bali (Padang Bai), short trip boat dives run about $90 to $100 USD for 2 dives with minimum 2 divers on board. If you wanted to head to our more "offshore" sites (about an hour) you are looking at $120ish with 4 divers to do the trip.

Shore diving in Tulamben runs around $25 to $30 bucks a dive and includes a private guide and at the higher end nitrox.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

I dive at the quarry an hour from my house, for my wife and I to do 2 dives each, so 2 entrance fees and 4 fills is $100 total. Someone already mentioned Panama City diving (5 hours away) is a little over $100 per person for a 2 tank inshore boat dive.

 

[Searcaigh]

For interests sake what is a litre of fuel costing you?

AED3.66 (USD1.00)

I would also assume expat salary's are also quite decent compared to local salaries?

Salaries here depend on what passport you hold. Dive staff tend to be Indians, Bangladeshis and Filipinos.

Locals own the businesses, some with a Western ex-pat partner generally on a 51/49 ratio

 

[BlueTrin]

Price of everything seems to be up in the UK (seems to be the current trend in many countries)

Cost of fuel is up (1.8 GBP per litre so 10.26 USD per gallon according to google from about 1.55GBP before the Ukraine conflict), accommodation and eating out prices are a bit up.

A fill of 21/35 on 2x12l tanks is about £100 so 125 USD, so I am not sure it is worth it for me to get trained in OC trimix