How often do you dive? How often is "realistic"

[Stoo]

I'm in my 43rd year of diving, and I manage to log between 100 to 120 dives per year. It's down some from when I was teaching actively, although the quality of dives is much better. I bought a second house in Tobermory about 30 years ago, rented for three before that, and worked in the dive industry for a few years before that, working in or managing resort operations.

So I dive a fair bit.

Having a second dive house, I tend to not do 3 dives a day on weekends, but I do at least one or two both days, almost every weekend, more when friends are up. Toss in a trip or two or three each year, maybe a liveaboard...

My life pretty much revolves around diving. Kinda sad really... ;-)

 

[DaveJo127]

I'm a new diver as well and I've been diving every weekend for the past two months. I'm fortunate to have a local dive shop that runs cheap boat charters every weekend. Sometimes it's about being lucky enough to find connections like that. Granted, they've mostly been local lake dives. Not the nicest diving, but it's easy on the wallet and better than not diving. Plus, the way I see it, diving in less-than-ideal conditions is good practice.

As far as nice diving like offshore diving or Florida Springs (I live in central SC), I only get to make those trips a handful of times a year. I'm also a single man with a 9 to 5, so I can take off on the weekends whenever I please. I know it's harder to find time for hobbies when you have a family and/or a weird work schedule.

 

[2airishuman]

There's reasonably good shore diving within half an hour's drive of my front door. It's freshwater, cold, low viz compared to the ocean. I still like it, and go there and to a bunch of other little mud puddles and creeks, usually around once a week. I'll make 2-3 dives in a trip. If I'm traveling somewhere else I'll try to shore dive even if the lakes nearby aren't notable for diving.

 

[drrich2]

Latter 40's, married with a 3 year old fireball of a daughter, live way inland, kinda hard to get away from work and taking about 4 weeks/year vacation, I plan for 1 family week (typically a cruise), 1 week with my parents & grandmother out-of-state, 1 week solo dedicated dive vacation (20 to 28 dives) & a 1 week 'scuba trip discussed as a family vacation' (as my wife aptly calls it) aiming for 10 dives.

This year's a little atypical, but the above is the very rough model for how I look at a year. Plus a very few dives at the local quarry to try new gear, 'stay wet' once in awhile, etc...

So I'd say about 35 - 40 dives.

If you're childless or an empty nester married to a fellow dive-aholic and have a good income or live in a prime location (e.g.: near Florida Keys), your situation is very different. What's realistic is different. My planned annual dive count is modest, but I give up considerable potential time with my parents & grandmother (she's very old & medically compromised so they're not mobile, and they live a good way off) to go do, oh, say, a live-aboard. But my passions enrich my life & encourage me to keep plugging, give me something to pour my interest into, so I think that has value, too.

Richard.

 

[ScubaJill]

I am hoping to not become just a "vacation diver".

Another "vacation" diver here. I just started diving two years ago, didn't dive much the first year but managed about 100 dives the second year. This year, I'll add in a few skills diving at the local lake/quarry, but most of my dives will be done while I'm away from home on vacation. Current DY's (DY=Dive Year, as compared to Fiscal Year or Calendar Year) plans involve Belize, a few trips to the Keys and NC each, and likely Iceland (I'll need to get some time in a drysuit before that trip). Except for Belize, I'm kind of stuck with long weekends to find most of my dive opportunities. I might do a liveaboard. I'm expecting to make about 80-100 dives this DY.

 

[wildbill9]

When I started diving any bottom time was good bottom time. I dove lakes, pits, even bauxite pits (which sucked), basically anything for time under water. I was 19 and seriously addicted. I made a major mistake- I went on a dive trip to Cayman Brac. OMG!!! This is what diving is all about. I have never dove fresh water again. I got my then girl friend turned on to the sport, promised her if she got certified I would take her back to Brac. She loved it and for several years we took dive trips. Then life reared it's head, kids and diving really didn't mix (Disney became our go to place). As our kids grew he became a typical teenager (read a-hole). When he was 14 she looked at me and said let's dump the kid and go somewhere so off to Jamaica for us. Big draw was resort offered unlimited diving. Well needless to say we weren't blown away by the diving. But we did rediscover our love for the sport. Now we are empty nester's and love it, we take 3 dedicated dive trips a year and average 50 dives per year. We are not hard core gotta blow some bubbles type we are quality over quantity. Our favorite dive local so far is Bloody Bay off little cayman. We go there once a year and then bounce around the carribean other trips. So imho there are to many factors that come into play. Do what works for you at this time in your life and have fun!

 

[TMHeimer]

My 2 CAD cents-- I generally do a two tank shore dive weekly to total 75 or so dives a year. Some are home in Nova Scotia, some on the Gulf of Mexico in winter, some in the NYC area in summer. If winter in NS and diving from our house it's one dive a week. Then there are weeks missed travelling. You do what you can.

 

[NYCNaiad]

I am hoping to not become just a "vacation diver".

Another "vacation diver". Mostly. I do dive in the local area once in a blue moon, but I vastly prefer warm water in far-off exotic locales. Generally every year, I try to do at least 1 helluva big trip (3 weeks), 1 medium sized trip (1-2 weeks) and 2 small trips (4 day weekends). I do at least 3 dives a day when I'm there.

I do make a nice living, don't yet have kids & have purposely found companies to work at that have generous vacation/holiday policies. Even more importantly, I find lots of ways to save money so I can go diving, I generally refuse to do trips that don't allow me to dive & I've found ways to save 25-75% off of each trip.

I think it really depends upon your situation & your commitment to diving. Before I was a diver, I didn't go on vacations often because I didn't make it a priority to save money, find really good deals, etc. A coworker once told me he was jealous of all of my trips. He said he hadn't been able to afford a vacation in years. I pointed out that if he cut off his Starbucks habit & drank the office coffee like I did, that's one vacation right there. Add the "cheap" lunches he was buying compared to the lunches I made & brought in...& that's another vacation. I showed him the math. He was surprised, but yet the next week he was again buying lunch & Starbucks.

I also have buddies that make crap money, yet their commitment to diving is so strong that they dive locally & go on yearly dive trips.

 

[buddhasummer]

I usually get out at least once a week year round but during the summer wetsuit months I try for a couple of times a week if schedule/family commitments allow.

 

[buddhasummer]

Since having a child and buying a house my once yearly liveaboard vacations have sadly gone the way of the dinosaurs. My local site is pretty average at the best of times but at least it allows me to still get wet regularly. For me, sometimes it's just about getting in, what I see is secondary, has to be, no choice on that one...