What is the fundamental reason that prevents scuba diving from becoming popular?

[Wibble]

A quick DuckDuckGo for "dive shops in south carolina" turned up a few results, mostly by the sea, with a couple in Columbia and up north.

The vast majority of scuba divers around the world have to travel a couple or more hours to a dive location, i.e. put a bit of effort in. It's perfectly normal to have to stay overnight in a location if doing a few day course.

PADI Dive Shops in South Carolina | PADI

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[Wibble]

… Those swimming pools became very popular, and suddenly we became a nation of swimmers.

Except for people of color.

For decades, people of color were not allowed in the public pools in most communities. Even in northern communities, public swimming pools were for white people only. In some cases, courts ordered integration, and this took the form of allowing people of color into the pool one day a week, after which the pool would be drained, scrubbed, and refilled for the white customers coming back the next day.

Eventually this went away, but the legacy continued in another form. The white generations who grew up as swimmers passed on that activity to their children and grandchildren. The people of color had no such history to pass on, and their children and grandchildren sought out different activities.

Was that during the American apartheid years?

Now racism is an offence enshrined in law. Certainly it is in the UK where you cannot decline services or jobs based upon colour and a bunch of other "isms".

This doesn’t explain the decline in scuba participation and in many other sports activities in recent years. The rise in the internet does closely coincide — correlation or causation one wonders…

 

[Mr. Ed]

First want to say, I finalize my OWC training 05/21-22 at Alexandria Bay NY plus Dry Suit and Nitrox Computer certification.
To answer the question “What fundamental reason prevented or delayed my participation in scuba diving?
I had no interest in scuba diving until I saw a YMCA member using a snorkel in the pool. This inspired me to get my OWC through an accredited scuba diving association. I enrolled at 2 different PADI training facilities, not a good fit. Then I enrolled at a SSI TDSI facility who referred me to another SSI TDSI where after a little than 3 years I have finally reached the place where my instructor is comfortable with me in open water.
Other delays include cold temperatures, expenses, proper gear, age, availability, including non-diver in travel plans.

 

[drakcheslav]

For most of the people, it's an vacation hobby.

 

[boulderjohn]

Was that during the American apartheid years?

Of course. Since the years of American apartheid constitute the overwhelming majority of its history, that is nearly a given.

 

[rx7diver]

As I pointed out in my first post, as a person of color scuba diving has been pointed out to me as unattractive and unattainable. Introducing the sport to those who be interested in it would help or one of the dive organizations (PADI) can do a community outreach to attract minorities and others to the sport. As I'm writing this I'm still working on finding a dive shop in my area (South Carolina) to embark on this endeavor.

I sent some of the following info in a PM to @RBwannaScubaBad, but then I began thinking that others here might benefit. NABS (the National Association of Black Scuba Divers) has a web site (National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS) - NABS) and a FaceBook page (National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS) | Facebook). One can read in detail there its raison d'etre, but, briefly, one of its missions is to promote scuba to people who might otherwise either not know about scuba or believe that scuba is not for them--similar to what the National Brotherhood of Skiers does for skiing, I think.

NABS has several affiliated "chapters" throughout the U.S. (e.g., MASK, the Michigan African-American Scuba Klub, still based in Detroit, I believe).

An interested person can simply engage on the FaceBook page, engage with one of the affiliated chapters, and/or engage with the national organization.

rx7diver

 

[Marie13]

There’s a group in Chicago that is working on getting disadvantaged youth of color certified. I ran into someone I know at the local quarry who was working with the group. They do OW and drysuit certs as that’s appropriate for the local conditions. I was told that it’s not uncommon for swimming lessons to be needed before OW cert can be started.

 

[agilis]

A scuba shop owner I dived with many times in Jamaica could not swim in the ordinary sense of the word. This was true of the vast majority of Jamaicans I encountered when I lived there. Typically, those few who went to the beach would wade out to their waist, sometimes sit, but very seldom would anyone swim. This is largely the case here in NJ, where a disproportionate number of minority kids drown at the beach and, most especially, in the Delaware River. Unfamiliar with currents and waves, having most prior experience in pools, these kids are sadly vulnerable. My GF is mixed race, and neither she nor her parents and siblings can really swim worth a damn. I've taught her to dog paddle, but the apprehension is evident in her eyes. Swimming is completely absent from her life experience.

 

[Vicko]

The results are not just cultural but physical, I noticed that every black person I worked with needed less weights, I'm guessing due to having less body fat. So it's normal that people who sink more as a whole prefere not swimming.

 

[USdiver1]

Fear of H2O and the things that live in it.