Time & Money spent on your local dives

[Don Burke]

That is about right for a trip to Lake Rawlings from here.

The drive time is tearing you up. Perhaps you could combine the dive trip with another trip.

I like to make a side trip to a historical site. There is one close enough to Rawlings to hit during a surface interval, although I have never done it that way.

 

[ScubaSarus]

Exactly Don consider every thing part of the trip and just enjoy being away from home and take in as much history and appreciation of the place as you can.

 

[Diver0001]

My stuff is always packed and ready to go. I can drop everything and be out the door to go diving in 15 minutes if I have to.

I have a few things I often do.

1) Night dives. Mostly a Friday night gig. 1 dive, round trip 2 hours for the local lake or 4 hours for the inlets. There are no costs involved in this. The LDS doesn't charge me for my air fills and my petrol is paid for by my employer. Dives are usually about an hour.

2) Shore diving in the inlets. 9am-3pm or 9am-6pm depending if we're doing one or two dives. If we go for one dive then it's often a long one, 90min or longer. Longest to date was about 2hours & 15 min. These are either rather shallow or technical nitrox dives. Costs run about 10-15 Euros. These dives need about an hour of preparation, checking weather, tides, doing my gas planning emailing back and forth to my buddy etc.

3) wreck diving on the North Sea. With the slow boat that's 11pm on Saturday to about 9pm on Sunday. With the fast boat we leave on Sunday morning and get back around 7. Costs run about 120 Euros.

4) Training. Leave the house at 8:30am, get back at 7pm. Usually 2 dives but has been up to 5. Costs are covered and I get a small compensation.

R..

 

[Corigan]

My gear is always centralized, so it takes less than 10-15 minutes to get it all packed up.

For diving at Lanier it usually costs me $2. I get my gas for payment to services I have rendered at my LDS. It takes me an hr each way to get too and from lake lanier.

Of course it costs me gas to get up there and back. Usually this takes a good half a day depending on if I'm doing 1 or 2 dives. Lately it's been only 1 till it warms back up. So It costs me roughly $8-10 to go diving local. This is of course shore diving and lake diving, so it's not as exciting as being in salt, but close and reasonable.

Matt

 

[Moogyboy]

1. preparing and loading on the gear at home: about 30 min
2. driving to the site: 1:30 hr
3. set up the gear at the site: 30 min
4. two dives and surface interval: 2:45 hr.
5. set off the gear and loading: 30 min
6. driving back to home: 1:30 hr
7. loading out the gear and cleaning: 45 min.

Cost: $20 plus gas

My most often taken dive is at the Circleville Twin Quarries, about 30-45 mins south of Columbus. I am notoriously lazy about gear and transportation, but it does shave some time off. My current ride is a crappy 1991 Nissan Sentra.

SO

1. preparing and loading on the gear at home: 0:05-0:10. I usually store my gear in my gear bag, in exactly the state it was in last time I loaded it in.
2. driving to the site: 0:30-0:45.
3. goofing around with fellow divers: 0:30-1:00
4. set up the gear at the site: 0:10-0:20
5. two dives and surface interval: 2:45 hr.
6. more goofing around, beer & hot dogs: 1:00-2:00
7. set off the gear and loading: 0:20-0:30 I'm usually slower by this time.
8. driving back to home: 0:30-0:45
9. loading out the gear and cleaning: 0:05-0:10

gas consumed: perhaps a quarter of a tank round trip.

cheers

Billy S.

 

[SwimJim]

I can gear up and do a shore dive from my house. From my shop, where I suit up its about a hundred foot hike to lake Michigan. Local wreck diving. I launch my boat with a farm tractor and can be on the closest wreck in five minutes if the mooring bouy is on it. If I have to locate it and use the wreck hook its a little longer of course. There are four diveable wrecks within a thirty minute boat ride from my house. Thats of course with my 18 footer which I can get about 25 mph out of on a good day. If I dive with the club and we do Sheboygan or Milwaukee its about a thirty minute drive. Door county, to the tip is around three hours and Racine for the wreck of the Wisconsin is a little over an hour. The club dives are usually an all day affair that usually entails stopping for breakfast with fellow members at a meeting point and then an ice cream stop on the way back. Cost? what cost. Diving helps keep me close to sane. Thats priceless. ha

Jim

 

[Sideband]

About the only time my gear is not in the car is when I'm using it. I'm either at the quarry or in the pool Thursday through Sunday. I really should get one of those rubbermaid containers or I'll rust through the bottom of the cargo area.
I'm about an hour and a half from the quarry, $20 to get in for fun and free if I'm helping with a class. "Fun air" is $2 and class air is free. About 3 dives on Friday, 6 each on Sat. and Sun.

Joe

 

[Hoosier]

Thanks for your inputs. As Charlie99 addressed, I also bought the 45 gallon Rubbermaid tube over weekend. I am sure it will help me to save the gear on/off and cleaning time. Now I am ready to go in 10 min......

My goal was to finish local dives within 6 hours (a half day) like a 18-hole rounding. But, in reality, it used to be one day schedule and was a big burden on me. Let's see how it goes next time. Thanks.