Why Don't You Dive?

[sciguyman]

My biggest obstacle to over come, as many other people have stated as well, is distance to a dive site. I live in a reasonably isolated city, and finding a buddy to dive the local lakes with is next to impossible. I finally bought my own gear, so at least now I can dive when I find a buddy, but its been a real challenge finding "cold-water" divers here.

 

[DPJ]

Some people like diving just for the sake of diving. I see it differently: I don't dive for the same reason I do dive and that is the opportunity to see LOTS of critters and take photos. For that reason my local quarry and local pea-green lake hold no interest for me. Sure the lake has bass, bream, perch, but not in huge quantities.

So the ocean it must be. I'm five to six hours by car from either the Georgia coast or the Florida panhandle, and about 1.5 hours away from Miami by plane. The expense and time can be prohibitive, so I do two to three dive-intensive week-long trips a year and a few long weekends to the coast.

Good question.

I have tried the local lake and don't enjoy it. I get to the springs or coast when I have time and money.

The good news is that I got two weeks in Hawaii in May, Going to Grand Cayman this weekend and doing the Cuan Law in December. I can not complain too much.

 

[mattroz]

On the bright side for me.. in 10months i'll be moving out of Montreal to go live in the 1000 islands seconds away from great dives and countless dive buddies... I wonder if i'll ever go to class?

 

[Mo2vation]

It was one of the better ideas I've seen coming out of an LDS ... unlimited nitrox for a year for a fixed fee. Brought some of the area's most active divers into this one shop ... and those are the folks who aren't afraid to spend $$$ to support their habit. Another shop has since adopted the same program.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

In my area, nobody offers PP Nitrox, which is silly. There's one shop that pumps it, but requires me to either leave the tank overnight, or for the better part of the day. Plus, its wacky expensive to fill a 130. Like $10 or $12. Pluh-eeese.

Almost all of my dives are one-a-day affairs. If I was on a live-aboard hitting it hard for 3 or 4 days, doing 5 or 6 a day, I'd probably dive more nitrox. But at $10 a bottle, no whay, Ray.

If I could pre-pay, and get that cost in line with an AirCard fill, I'd be so there.

---
Ken

 

[Cacia]

Sorry to highjack.

Ken, others. Think about approaching your operator and offering a check to capitate your own EAN. Tell them what you want and "make a deal". Ken, I am sure you know how to make deals.

Suggest that this is popular trend at some progressive shops and offer to be their trial client.

On topic: With JB returning to combat in March, I need to find a boat buddy to keep diving. So far, Rockjock is looking pretty good. Boat skills, engages brain, self sufficient, has GPS skills, flipped us some fuel money. Oh..and has Ed as a friend, who is also squared away. oh..and they did not puke, that is a plus.

Maybe I need to start a club....

 

[mattroz]

In my area, nobody offers PP Nitrox, which is silly. There's one shop that pumps it, but requires me to either leave the tank overnight, or for the better part of the day. Plus, its wacky expensive to fill a 130. Like $10 or $12. Pluh-eeese.

Here it's more along the lines of 16-20$ for a nitrox fill in my 119s. 14$ with a card. If i feel like driving 1:30 I can get nitrox for 10$

keep in mind this is Canadian dollars

 

[eckybay]

Much the same as other people.
Time - hour or more drive to a quarry. Have work, projects around the house, social life, etc., all competing for the time.

Money - gas, admissions, fills - it all adds up.

Weather - this is coming into play as fall approaches in this area since I dive wet and don't like being cold.

 

[chepar]

With JB returning to combat in March, I need to find a boat buddy to keep diving.

Oh no - so soon? He just got back!

Anyway, proximity to dive sites is not a problem, nor is having a buddy, since I (very luckily) have one that is almost always free and willing to go.

My main obstacle is work and parenting/child care issues. Single parenthood means finding some accommodating family members to make sure my kid doesn't burn the house down or buy a car on ebay while I'm gone.

Most of the time I can squeeze in a couple of days each month to dive, but when work gets crazy, diving has to take a back seat.

The last time I went diving was in August - jeez. Doesn't look like I'll be able to get any dives in until late October or November, either.

 

[TxHockeyGuy]

Number 1 reason is money. Being in the Dallas area the closest place to dive is $20 to get in, costs me about $20 in gas to get there, it is $8 a fill for air, and I usually have other minor expenses that brings it up to $80 a day to dive, easy. I get out at most once a month because of this. Not to mention I don't even have that many dives but the quarry is already beginning to get old.

Also, I don't like cold water so it is getting towards the end of my diving season.

 

[FreeFloat]

For me, it's a combination of time, location, and to some extent finances.

I used to live in Kingston, Ontario. I could drive for an hour and do wreck dives from shore, or if I felt like falling off a boat I could be aboard one in half that time. I worked 8-4 daily and had my weekends to myself.

It was great. I did 100 dives in my first 8 months of certification.

Then I moved to Toronto.

In Toronto, there's only one really accessible shore site and it's freakin' COLD. You have to either book a charter to one of their two only wrecks, or drive an hour for one of two simple shore dives, which after you've seen them, get rather uninteresting in a hurry.

Then I took on a new position (same company) that required me to work 8-4 daily AS WELL AS 7-10pm on two of the days a week, plus commit to at least one weekend a month. Suddenly, I also had a legal situation crop up that made off with much of my disposable income. Coincidentally, I developed other passions (such as dry caving) and various boyfriends who all demanded a regular chunk of my ever-shrinking "free" time.

I made only 17 dives in 2005.

This year I'm doing better - I think I'm around 40 dives in 2006.

It's still a far cry from my former pace. In some ways I sure do miss it.