WtF: The Decline in Scuba Participation

[Lorenzoid]

Does anybody else recognize the amusement of a thread populated by Boomers attempting to dissect what is effectively a Gen X, Y, Z issue?

We have seen a few Gen-XYZers chime in on threads like this before.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I’m technically a boomer but if I was to identify with a group it would probably be the gen X era.
My older sisters are definitely boomers and act like it too. I was a little kid when they were doing all their crap that teenagers did in the late 1960’s.
I don’t pay attention to these titles. Your attitude is as young or as old as you choose to make it.

 

[Bump_Head]

I don’t pay attention to these titles. Your attitude is as young or as old as you choose to make it.

I’m a Boomer as well. But...It has nothing to do with what monicker you identify with. I’m saying that due to our lenses and biases (in this case ageism) that we can do nothing more than guess at the reasonings of the younger generations.

 

[TMHeimer]

I am 67 (today) and can be identified as about as young as a Boomer can really be. I do feel qualified to offer opinions on how younger generations view entering into scuba. That is because I really don't fit any category of era and am unique unto myself. Ask my wife.
I agree with Eric that your attitude is as young or old as you choose to make it.
I disagree with those saying that you are as young or old as you feel, that age is a state of mind. You are as old as you are old.

 

[drrich2]

At 52, I'm an older Gen. X'er. Ironically, if you do get youngsters to look up from their phones and around (heavily jaded perspective, not really mine, but the attitude I sometimes sense), scuba diving might still not have strong appeal.

American society has had a massive sea change away from long-term blue collar careers with pensions to shifting employment models where you or may not have access to a 401-K plan (which underperforms relative to a traditional pension), and many don't max. out their 401-K offering (or even put enough to get employer matching funds, if offered). There's been a lot written about the grossly inadequate state of retirement savings and personal finance illiteracy of Americans today.

Put another way, we have an 8-year old daughter. Because I'm a diver and love scuba and cruising, I hope she goes on to do those things. But if I weren't into them, and in her teens she proposed getting involved, I doubt I'd encourage that. At least until she got through college, graduate school and gained a strong, consistent income.

Perspective matters. If we go find an online personal finance forum with an emphasis on longterm financial solvency, and propose encouraging middle class young people to take up hobbies often costing a few to several grand/year...

Yes, youngsters near coastal California with shore diving access, or close enough to catch an occasional boat trip out of Key Largo, etc..., are an exception, and I know bass boats, off road SUVs and hunting gun collections cost money, too. But a lot more people have a Dad who's got some of the equipment, and introduced them to the sport of fishing or hunting growing up.

For a lot of people, the question 'Why don't you take up scuba diving' is like asking 'Why haven't you arranged and gone on an African safari?'

 

[Jcp2]

At 52, I'm an older Gen. X'er. Ironically, if you do get youngsters to look up from their phones and around (heavily jaded perspective, not really mine, but the attitude I sometimes sense), scuba diving might still not have strong appeal.

American society has had a massive sea change away from long-term blue collar careers with pensions to shifting employment models where you or may not have access to a 401-K plan (which underperforms relative to a traditional pension), and many don't max. out their 401-K offering (or even put enough to get employer matching funds, if offered). There's been a lot written about the grossly inadequate state of retirement savings and personal finance illiteracy of Americans today.

Put another way, we have an 8-year old daughter. Because I'm a diver and love scuba and cruising, I hope she goes on to do those things. But if I weren't into them, and in her teens she proposed getting involved, I doubt I'd encourage that. At least until she got through college, graduate school and gained a strong, consistent income.

Perspective matters. If we go find an online personal finance forum with an emphasis on longterm financial solvency, and propose encouraging middle class young people to take up hobbies often costing a few to several grand/year...

Yes, youngsters near coastal California with shore diving access, or close enough to catch an occasional boat trip out of Key Largo, etc..., are an exception, and I know bass boats, off road SUVs and hunting gun collections cost money, too. But a lot more people have a Dad who's got some of the equipment, and introduced them to the sport of fishing or hunting growing up.

For a lot of people, the question 'Why don't you take up scuba diving' is like asking 'Why haven't you arranged and gone on an African safari?'

I still feel an African safari is more expensive. I can fly to Florida at short notice if I have the time off at work for a long weekend, but getting a couple of weeks off to go to the Serengeti is a bit difficult. I haven’t had the chance to take more than one continuous week off of work since I was between jobs almost ten years ago.

 

[TMHeimer]

I don't know about the money aspect. Trips to tropical paradises cost a lot, but one may save up to do this maybe once a year for reasons other than scuba. Lately all my dives have been local or in NYC area (pre-covid). Not costly at all. Very little spent on equipment. I will be getting a new BC (well, used one) shortly, as a birthday/Father's day present, so they were gunna spend that money on me anyway. The old one is a pain in the neck, but if the new one wasn't a gift I'd still be using it.

 

[Esprise Me]

The pandemic has somewhat recalibrated my sense of work and fun when it comes to diving. I booked a tropical LOB not long after I got certified, thinking 25 dives in a week in warm, clear water would, essentially, be a much better WtF ratio than I was getting at home. But although it was a very efficient way to get lots of dives in, and the diving was good, there was a lot of pressure to have everything go just right. After all, I was spending something like a thousand bucks a day to be there and might never go back, what with all the amazing dive sites around the world and me not being immortal. I had a minor stomach bug halfway through and although it cleared up without much trouble (I only missed one dive), I nearly gave myself an ulcer with the what-ifs.

I had two trips canceled during the pandemic, and I'm only just starting to think about planning another one, maybe this winter. But the prospect of something going wrong now just looms so much larger. And the work involved just seems overwhelming--keeping up with the changing rules about getting into different countries and getting home, making sure the places I book with still exist, worrying about the state of the overburdened hospital if I need some other kind of medical care--all assuming, of course, that the vaccine I got protects me, or that I at least get lucky and don't catch the plague. I'm just not sure the coral would be worth it.

Meanwhile, I've been doing lots of local diving. I'm getting better at managing the challenges associated with it-- the cold, the surf entries, the low viz. The other night I went out and dived at Redondo Beach with a buddy and saw a 7-foot prickly shark! I already have a parking permit, so the cost was roughly $5 for gas to drive there and back plus $5 for my air fill. The drive was about an hour and a half round-trip. We dive this site often; one time as we were getting in the water, I called the dive because the surf was rougher than it looked from shore and I wasn't comfortable. So we went and hung out on the pier, and the host at the El Torito lowkey sold us a couple beers to drink out there (they were only doing takeout at the time). That was also a good night. Those were both weeknights; both times I left for the beach after a full day of work and was on time for work the next morning. It's starting to feel like a better payoff than dedicated dive trips to the other side of the world.

 

[Marie13]

@Esprise Me

Plus you can sleep in your own bed. I sleep badly away from home, so prefer my own bed.

 

[Texasguy]

Trips to tropical paradises cost a lot, but one may save up to do this maybe once a year for reasons other than scuba.

Oh, you can just live there in a tropical paradise. After covid there is so much remote work, it is amazing. Guess where I live? Just letting you know, I am not talking about some abstract idea.