Good day to all. I'm looking for feedback from people who dive with their significant others and children.
When I got certified a while back I remember it was expensive to get into scuba with classes, gear and such but once you were 'in', the actual diving part wasn't too bad. We weren't anywhere near wealthy and yet after we got certified we did 100+ dives our first year alone, went to a bunch of classes, got my AOWI certification and a job at a dive shop. Fast forward a number of years, I changed the spouse and added two kids, got them certified, watched them fall in love with diving and now we're looking for places to go diving..
Holy bajeezus, how do families afford to go diving together these days? For a charter here in the Gulf, a family of four is looking at $400-$600 a trip. For the springs I used to love, it's nearly $200 for a day of diving for four. None of this includes the costs of tank rentals so add another $120. We all have our own gear so thankfully we don't have to worry about the costs of renting that too. I understand inflation and I understand it costs more for 4 people to dive than it did when it was just 2 people, but wow.
In the past I never even considered buying my own tanks because rentals seemed like a barely noticeable expense. Now that I'm looking at the costs of renting tanks for a family of four, it seems like it's the wiser choice. Assuming we dove 20 times a year, at the lowest possible rental prices in our area, they'd pay for themselves in under 2 years (that's taking into account purchase, fills, vip and hydro). For that matter, it also almost seems a better choice to buy our own boat. At the better part of a thousand bucks a trip, how many trips until we could have bought our own boat and gas?
So for any of you that dive with your family, what have you found and/or how do you do it? Did you buy your own tanks? Did you buy your own boat? If so, what kind for being able to go 5-10 miles out in the Gulf with 4 people and gear safely? Are we stuck doing shore dives in Bradenton and Venice if we can't afford $300+ for diving every weekend?
When I got certified a while back I remember it was expensive to get into scuba with classes, gear and such but once you were 'in', the actual diving part wasn't too bad. We weren't anywhere near wealthy and yet after we got certified we did 100+ dives our first year alone, went to a bunch of classes, got my AOWI certification and a job at a dive shop. Fast forward a number of years, I changed the spouse and added two kids, got them certified, watched them fall in love with diving and now we're looking for places to go diving..
Holy bajeezus, how do families afford to go diving together these days? For a charter here in the Gulf, a family of four is looking at $400-$600 a trip. For the springs I used to love, it's nearly $200 for a day of diving for four. None of this includes the costs of tank rentals so add another $120. We all have our own gear so thankfully we don't have to worry about the costs of renting that too. I understand inflation and I understand it costs more for 4 people to dive than it did when it was just 2 people, but wow.
In the past I never even considered buying my own tanks because rentals seemed like a barely noticeable expense. Now that I'm looking at the costs of renting tanks for a family of four, it seems like it's the wiser choice. Assuming we dove 20 times a year, at the lowest possible rental prices in our area, they'd pay for themselves in under 2 years (that's taking into account purchase, fills, vip and hydro). For that matter, it also almost seems a better choice to buy our own boat. At the better part of a thousand bucks a trip, how many trips until we could have bought our own boat and gas?
So for any of you that dive with your family, what have you found and/or how do you do it? Did you buy your own tanks? Did you buy your own boat? If so, what kind for being able to go 5-10 miles out in the Gulf with 4 people and gear safely? Are we stuck doing shore dives in Bradenton and Venice if we can't afford $300+ for diving every weekend?