Time & Money spent on your local dives

[Hoosier]

I have a question about the time & money spent on your local dive trip. Every time I went out to be wet, here is the time I spent:

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

So, it used to take 8 hrs (+/- 30 min). Is it a typical time spent and cost on your local dives? The money part is ok though. Sometimes, it is so much time consuming for me to do because it is almost one day off. Maybe, I can save some time for loading on and out gear, and cleaning if I have my own garage. Please share your case. Moreover, is there any tips to save time spending?

Thanks in advance,

Hoosier

 

[Damselfish]

Back when I still did local diving, that sounds pretty much like my schedule, except we'd usually hit someplace to eat on the way home too. (Any time I saved having a garage was wasted on "find parking spot.") Maybe you can find ways to streamline gear stuff a little, but it's basically an all day affair if you don't live right there, not much getting around it.

 

[CUunderH2O]

My local dives are all within 45 minutes to an hour's drive away, so it's not so bad. All I pay for is air fills & gas for those trips, unless we're car pooling, and we usually stop at some place to eat on the way back. Often we meet around noon, do a couple of dives & dinner on the way home. Great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon! I don't know how you could save money if you have to drive longer distances. You could save a little time by setting up your gear before you leave (put your tank, reg & bc together) so that when you get there, all you need to do is suit up & you're ready to go in a few minutes.

 

[MyDiveLog]

I do a lot of local shore diving here in So. Cal. For me:
1. About 5 minutes loading gear ... all of it is hung up on a pegboard on the wall of my garage. I just dump most of it into a large rubbermaid tub. The bed in the back of the SUV is covered with a bed liner, so no worry about salt & sand. The tanks are usually stored full in racks in the back of the car.
2. About 30 - 45 minute drive down to the beach.
3. Usually only one dive for about an hour or 1:15
4. About a half hour to walk to a dive shop, rinse the gear in their bucket (a BIG time saver) or pool and get cleaned up.
5. A 45 drive home
6. About 10 or 15 minutes to hang things up and re-rinse with fresh water.

That brings it to about 3.5 or 4 hours to squeeze in a dive before work or after putting the kids to bed. Usually it's more like 4 hours because of the inevitable bs-ing with friends at the dive shop. Cost is free, because I get free air at the shop.

 

[diverbob]

I always try and make a weekend of it. I go somewhere, its bare minimum 90 minutes, one way. I want to be there when the gates open. I can have everything set up, signed in and in the water within 25-30 minutes. I will dive all day, bring along a small snack for the day. Usually go someplace for a dinner, and then go back to the dive site for a night dive. Go to the hotel, crash for the night, and get back at it first thing in the AM, and dive until about 1 or so, and then head back. Gives me time to clean everything off, hang it up to dry, and put it away before dark. Plus still maybe get something done around the house. I try to get my dive buddies to ride with me, splitting the gas and hotel bill.

 

[2 Bar]

I have a problem waking up at 5am to get to south Jersey (I live north by NYC) to get on a boat by 7:30 (though I haven't done it yet). So this summer I plan on goin gthe night before and crashing at the cheapest hole I can find.

So my local diving will include a sleep over.

 

[lorien]

Sounds about right to me except I have to drive closer to 2 hours each way but I don't mind as long as I can dive! We usually stop to have a meal in there as well so that increases the cost and the length of time. Also, depending on who I will be diving with I either drive alone or car pool if I am going with club members. Personally I can't think of a better way to spend a day off

 

[rab]

2:15 one way to Gilboa; 2:15 back (about 280mi): ~$25
2 days diving, 1 night camping, 4 air fills: $60
Hanging out and diving with the Great Lakes Wrecking Crew: priceless

for 5 dives, that's about $17/dive (or about 46¢/dive-minute)

(I don't include food since I would have eaten anyway)

-Rob

P.S. Forgot to mention that these were wetsuit dives in 40°F. If it wasn't for the other divers, I'd be crazy to do this. (You drysuit divers can keep your opinions to yourself.)

 

[Charlie99]

My Maui routine takes $4 and 3 to 3-1/2 hours from when I decide to go diving:

Look from the condo lanai and see if the weather and water looks good.
Grab gear and go to LDS for tank. $4. 1/4 mile away, open 7AM-9PM 7 days a week
Drive about 2 miles to the dive site. About 20 minutes from deciding to dive
Check surf, gear up and splash in. About 1/2 hour from deciding.
60-90 minute dive.
20 minutes to exit, rinse off in showers, degear.
10 minutes to drive back and return tank.
1/2 hour of rinsing gear using the condo carwash hose and the tubs I use for carrying gear in the back of the car; hauling gear up to condo and hanging it up to dry, and taking a shower.

Most of my shore dives are spur-of-the-moment, and therefore are solo. We have only 1 car in Maui, and therefore have gotten to know the timing pretty well, so my wife can count of getting the car and/or me back on time.

 

[JeffG]

Lets see...

Local Lake Diving, takes about 1 hr to drive to.
We are just checking to see if the ice is off it.

For a slightly longer local season means I have to drive to Calgary. I drive over 1,000 kms in a weekend to do this diving. (Same lake for Ice diving.)

To get to the Coast, is an 11 hr drive. (My brother and I just did it a couple of weeks ago...non-stop driving to Naniamo from Edmonton and we left at around midnight. Not a very fun drive)