Do you dive locally?

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yes, the problem is that the word "local" is being contrasted in the poll with the word "vacation", when they're not exclusive opposites. One is about space, the other is about time. I would have been more interested in finding out how many people dive or snorkel within their own state or country and how many leave the country to dive or snorkel. I only snorkel these days in the North Sea, 8 miles away from where I live, and because I'm retired, I wonder how the word "vacation" applies in my case.

Many do both ... even within the context of both "vacation" and "local".

I live in Washington State (US). But I can (and do) go to Canada for a day or week-end of diving. Since I can dive in Canada at places just a couple hours drive from my home, I would consider that local diving. However, I also go to Canada for vacation diving ... and in fact, am doing so tomorrow. That location, however, will require me to drive halfway there, get a motel room for the night, and continue the trip the following morning. Once there, I'll be there for a week.

I understand the purpose of this poll ... it was in response to a comment someone made that most divers who get certified will only ever dive while on vacation. In that context, the content of the poll questions was appropriate.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DCBC]

As I have been require to travel for work, I've done most of my diving internationally. I still teach and dive locally.

 

[drbill]

I live in one of the great dive sites of the world... the kelp forests of Catalina Island. Definitely do most of my diving here... but am interested in nice warm, clear tropical coral reefs (and bikinis) during the winter!

 

[VOL_Diver]

I would say 80% local 20% on vacation. If I win the lottery, those numbers will change dramatically.

If I won the lottery my definition of local would change, not my diving. House in the Caymans, house on the Med.....

- Rob

 

[Mike Boswell]

My wife and I each do maybe 100 dives per year, about half locally off San Diego and half somewhere else.

The diving offshore at the Channel Islands is just awesome, as good or better than anywhere I have ever been, but it is a bit chilly - 7-mil wetsuit or drysuit diving.

 

[Walter]

You're in the 10,000 dive club?

Nope - I just worked it out. The sig figs are correct if he has as few as 9081 dives, 8198 local and 883 on holiday.

You guys aren't great in math are you?

 

[Sas]

You guys aren't great in math are you?

I wonder what they willl make of my local percentage?

88.65% of my dives are done locally.

 

[Crush]

You guys aren't great in math are you?

Actually, I am pretty good at math.

Walter - my response was too terse, but I think that Blackwood got it. His reference to you having over 10,000 dives was predicated on your stating that your local diver percentage was 90.28% - that answer has four significant figures, so as a rule of thumb it would have to have come from a division in which both numerator and denominator had four significant figures (i.e., in the thousands). Since the numerator is the number of local dives and the denominator is the number of combined local and holiday dives, Blackwood's guessing that you would have to have in the range of 10,000 dives to make the significant figures correct was reasonable. What I did instead of approximating was to work out the Taylor series expansion for the propagation of errors in the calculation of your % local dives and determined what the minimum values for local and holiday dives would have to be to make the usage of four significant figures correct. The assumption in error sources included that you may have been off by +/- one dive in each of the local and vacation dive totals. Hence the values of 8198 and 883.

I wonder what they willl make of my local percentage?

88.65% of my dives are done locally.

Saspotato, you would have to have done 7923 local dives and 1014 vacation dives to make the usage of four sig figs correct, making the same assumptions I indicated previously.

 

[Sas]

Saspotato, you would have to have done 7923 local dives and 1014 vacation dives to make the usage of four sig figs correct, making the same assumptions I indicated previously.

Try 326 dives total. 37 non local dives.

 

[Crush]

Try 326 dives total. 37 non local dives.

Then might I suggest that your local dive percentage is 89%, not 88.65%? Just because your calculator says it is so doesn't mean the calculator is correct. :cool2: