Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[ermaclob]

How many times I have heard that "I SCUBA dive to relax" and then I think of all the youtube videos filmed by young(er) people showing back flips on MTBs and flying off mountains on skis and then contrast old and often overweight and sedentary folks talking about SCUBA and relaxing. Yeah, that will get them in the sport, but, wait, most divers think of SCUBA as a hobby like model trains or knitting.

SCUBA gets older, grayer and less appealing to young people with each passing year. And the death of local diving does not help young people who are challenged by the "O" economy (or whoever one wishes to blame it on) and cannot pop five to ten thousand routinely to go SCUBA diving.

Safety, it is way over rated. And so is boredom. Less gear, more go!

N

i find you statement kinda interesting as i am 21 and started diving at a 18. it is no dough that its a big up hill battle to fight with price and i think the only way to over come it is to really be hooked and passionate about diving. When i first started diving going to the beach was a problem, u can actually look up t one of my first threads on how i complain about the cost of driving from Miami Fl to Hollywood or Fort Luadedale (a 30 - 45 min drive) was to a little costly for a fresh out of high school student with no job. ive done alot of saving and cutting back on stuff to where im at. me and my buddies of the same age are currently at entry level technical diving so its not impossible. Its funny some times me and my friends roll up to a dive boat to unload or cars for the dive, we drive old early 90's cars that are beat to hell and are rusting away at some points, we look like poor people....... yet we still have almost all new doubles rigs with dry suits etc. scooters..... sigh.... our priorities in life seem to be messed up. :/

another interesting point is that we pretty quickly transitioned from the recreational diving mindset to a technical one and seek to do very advance diving. Which until i read your post didnt make me think of me pursuing an extreme activity like motocross or mountain climbing. But i guess cave diving and technical diving are probably in the more extreme range of diving activities.

so perhaps me and my buddies indeed to follow a trend like the one you mentioned.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Well, all that being said, I look forward to the 'dabblers', as Eric called them, getting out of the sport. Not that I'm opposed or negative toward newbies, but there are only so many quality dive spots in the world. Watching goobers touching, standing, laying on a reef, trying to grab creatures, .... :cussing: .... makes me furious and pretty much ruins the dive for me. So, if these mindless, under-educated, discourteous asshats get out of the sport, good.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Why is it the biggest problem? PADi alone adds about one million new scuba divers to the ranks each year and has been doing so for the last 10 years.

In 2000 there were about 11,000,000 PADI divers, in 2012 there are 21,000,000. In 1969 it took almost 5 years to add 100,000 scuba divers to the ranks, today we are reaching the point pretty quickly of adding 100,000 new divers a month.

According to PADI the median age of a scuba diver is 29 years old and has been hanging steady at 29 for at least the last 6 years.

Scuba is just a jniche sport so the numbers are never going to approach other main stream sports, but I don't see the signs that the sport is dying.

Biggest problem I see in the industry is just a lot of really poor business people who own dive shops, still relying on a 1970s business model of selling scuba gear as a main income source.

Biggest problem I see in the industry is that about 3 out of every 4 of those people who get certified quit diving within a year of being certified. They either end up scaring the crap out of themselves or they realize that it's just too expensive for the amount of time they'll be able to do it. And if they're lucky they'll be able to sell all that gear they bought on Craig's List for about 20% what they paid for it.

We don't need to "grow" the industry ... we need to figure out how to keep the people already certified into the activity.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[RJP]

We don't need to "grow" the industry ... we need to figure out how to keep the people already certified into the activity.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

it's actually the same problem, when you think about. Since there is no specific messaging as to who should dive and why... the people who come into diving are fairly likely to be non-divers at heart. If your estimate is accurate, 3-out-4.

if the marketing and messaging of a product is not consistent with what that set service actually IS... customers will not stay with you. Imagine if you opened a restaurant called Bob's Northwest Cattledrive Steakhouse... but featured a French-Vietnamese vegan menu. You wouldn't get a lot of repeat customers.

Scuba diving has been built largely on a "Learn To Dive Today" value proposition that just isn't true, at least in the sense that you and I believe. Are we surprised that people who come in for THAT are disappointed when 6mo, two c-cards, several thousand dollars and 30 or more dives later... they still can't really dive?

Some - probably fairly large - percentage of divers will always drop out. With scuba diving having a certain "I want to try that before I die" allure for many people... that's unavoidable. Gun to my head, I'd say that 30% or so would be about as low as you could get that figure if we did everything right. However, I'd submit that there's value (and there is a way) to leverage this dynamic to the benefit of the industry while elevating the overall quality of diver that is produced.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Yes, please, elevate the quality of the diver produced.

This whole discussion revolves around the concern of scuba professionals/manufacturers being able to make a living. How often have you seen posts from people who are newly certified or not yet certified asking about going pro or stating that their intent is to go pro? Yeah, yeah, we all love scuba diving, but anyone who is considering going pro needs to understand the size and dynamics of the market. Most don't. That's why DM work for tips. If there were 50 DMs standing on the dock waiting for an opportunity on a boat that's half full, would you, as a boat captain/owner, pay the DM a salary? Of course not. The market doesn't support that. If there were 50 boats full of divers at the dock and only 10 DMs available, what do you think the captains would do?

Too many people want to look at the SCUBA industry as thought it were something different from other industries. From a high level, they are all the same. It's understanding the micro dynamics that create winners and losers. The over saturation of the market by people who want to 'live the dream' or be on 'eternal vacation' have ruined it for those who were true professionals and didn't look for shortcuts to suck in students or fill boats.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I just came in here for the popcorn, I didn't expect a sort of Spanish inquisition!

:inquisition:

This needs to be a sticky right below the A Deceptively Easy Way to Die video. Actually, I think we can all stop posting to SB now. Between warning OW divers to stay out of caves and RJ's post, what more is there to say?

Brilliant. Is there an award for best post ever?

 

[Insta-Gator]

At the least it should be required reading for the "Those Considering Diving" thread. Folks should be properly informed prior to making decisions. Diving is great. I will continue to dive, but maybe it's because I'm one of those old, gray-haired, non-sexy dudes mentioned above.

 

[drbill]

Today I added up my expenses to date to go from OW to deco pros w/ accompanying gear and it's $10K. And that's diving local.

I've been diving for 50+ years and I'm not sure my expenses add up to that amount (unless I include foreign travel!). A new wetsuit every few years is probably my major expense. I have tanks that are 35 years old, BCDs and regs that are over 20 and still work fine, same fins for 10+ years Of course for many of those years we had our own compressor where I worked so air was free.

 

[Skittl1321]

We don't need to "grow" the industry ... we need to figure out how to keep the people already certified into the activity.

If you can figure out a way to decrease the cost of air travel and get my company to grant more vacation time, that is probably likely to keep me into the activity.

 

[Insta-Gator]

This should be plenty of market to keep the industry going, if they don't shoot themselves in the foot. If you live in a coastal county, diving should not be a cost-prohibitive activity.

The U.S. Population Living in Coastal Counties | Communities | NOAA's State of the Coast