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

[Belzelbub]

What I never really understood was how in the " old days" with sailing ships how few sailors knew how to swim...

Even today, there are a lot of people in and around water that don't know how to swim.

I grew up, and still live, in Florida. Where I live, it's tough to throw a rock without it landing in someone's pool. Swimming instruction is available at very young ages, and has been for a while. My parents took us to the local recreation center for water acclimation and then swimming lessons starting when we were just a couple of years old. Today, it's even more accessible. My own children started swimming/water survival instruction when they were around 6 months old.

Yet, despite how accessible pool training is, there are too many that should get training that don't. Every summer there are numerous tragic stories about kids drowning in backyard pools. These are in all sorts of neighborhoods, but generally only middle class and up have backyard pools. So, there is a reasonable assumption that the families could afford swim training, yet it's not done.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I think you people raising the possibility of lack of swimming skills being an obstacle to getting into scuba diving are onto something. As a kid, I never learned to swim. We lived far from the ocean and lakes. Even if my parents could have afforded swimming lessons, which I am not sure about, I don't recall any of my friends ever mentioning swimming lessons. I had a couple of friends with backyard pools, but we didn't really swim. I went to day camp, but they put me in the roped-off shallow end of the pool. I was in Boy Scouts, where we had various opportunities to swim, but I never ventured far from shore. I was never encouraged to formally learn to swim.

Perhaps as a result, it never even occurred to me that I could learn scuba diving. Scuba was something exotic that I saw people like Cousteau doing on TV. The idea that I too could do that seemed almost as crazy to me as the idea I could walk on the moon. When I was in my early 30s I almost reluctantly got scuba-certified so I could see the famous Great Barrier Reef while touring Australia. I somehow managed to swim the few laps required for OW certification, but it was difficult. I did not enjoy swimming. It wasn't until I got into more advanced scuba training that I signed up for swim lessons. I love all things about the ocean, but I still don't enjoy swimming.

 

[drrich2]

A buddy and coworker of mine explained it to me when we went to USCGA boating classes, he said his family hadn't been on a boat since they were brought here and thought him crazy for having a boat or being near the water.

That familiarity via network may be a big deal. It's easy to fall into thinking of scuba diving as its own special little jewel, but how would many people react if their young adult 'child' announced a desire to take up piloting a personal plane, sky diving, going on African safaris, more demanding skiing, etc...? Look at how some of our families react upon learning some of us like diving with sharks!

If the family reacts with a sense of 1.) That sounds dangerous, 2.) None of 'us' do that, and 3.) We've never heard of anyone we know personally doing that, then it follows it must be hazardous, impractical and a bad idea. Many families are not interested in seeing their offspring be pioneers in 'dangerous' activities (often that take them far from home).

Sometimes just knowing someone like yourself is into something serves as proof it's practically doable (with the corollaries affordable and survivable).

 

[Belzelbub]

I think you people raising the possibility of lack of swimming skills being an obstacle to getting into scuba diving are onto something.

It certainly doesn't hurt. But isn't the only thing. I grew up with a brother and two sisters. We all had the same swimming upbringing. My parent's had a boat when we were younger, and we had a pool in the backyard since I was in elementary school. Yet, I'm the only one that pursued getting certified. I guess with them, the desire wasn't there.

It really only took one snorkeling trip down in the Keys one summer before I was hooked and wanted to extend my time underwater.

The background in the water definitely removed a hurdle that many face. I had respect for the water, but no fear of it. Undoubtedly, that helped. My first OW course was a bit of an anomaly, so no real swim requirements, so that one doesn't count. Second OW course was a lot more thorough. I had no trouble with the swim test, or any of the scuba skills. I'm certain that my background helped.

Learning anything new by choice requires the desire to be greater than the obstacles. In the case of Scuba the primary obstacles are cost and fear/apprehension. I never had the fear/apprehension, so the desire easily won out.

 

[boulderjohn]

I spent a week diving with an operator in the Bahamas. Most of the diving staff was native to the islands. One of the staff members told us that was very rare, because despite living in an island nation surrounded by water, most of the people of the Bahamas are non-swimmers and even afraid of the water.

 

[Doc Harry]

I was going diving in a lake, and I carried my gear down to the water's edge. There were people laying in the sun on the beach. I heard one of the women say,

"Oh look, a scuba diver. Scuba diving is for rich people who don't have anything better to do."

So I guess people who don't scuba are poor, and they have better things to do.

Seriously, most of the people I know who won't try scuba, or who have tried it and quit, say that it's too expensive, wearing a mask is claustrophobic, or they have sinus/equalization problems.

 

[boulderjohn]

or they have sinus/equalization problems

Other than the fear of sharks, this is the most common thing I hear when I talk with non-scuba divers. "I could never scuba dive because I can't even get to the bottom of the deep end of a swimming pool before my ears start hurting."

 

[Belzelbub]

Other than the fear of sharks, this is the most common thing I hear when I talk with non-scuba divers. "I could never scuba dive because I can't even get to the bottom of the deep end of a swimming pool before my ears start hurting."

Another one I've heard is a bit of claustrophobia. That would make sense for cave diving, but seems counter-intuitive for open water. Yet, the perception that it is a problem is there. Maybe it's somewhat valid because it's a hostile environment, despite being open.

 

[EFX]

Claustrophobia is what I've heard too. Their reasoning is that the equipment is too confining and should an emergency occur they will not be able to get out of the equipment to swim to the surface. It kind of reminds me of days long past when wearing seat belts while riding in a car was not required. People would say "I'm never wearing a seat belt because if I get into an accident and the car catches fire, I may not be able to get out should the seat belt get stuck." Ironically, we know now that seat belts save far more lives than causing deaths.

I think the fundamental reason scuba diving isn't popular is that it only appeals to those people who like high adventure and high risk (relatively to other benign sports). Scuba is in the league with sky diving, mountain climbing, mountain biking, etc. Add the high cost, the training and time involved and most people think it's not worth it.

 

[boulderjohn]

The phenomenon manifested in the last posts exists in almost all walks of life. People who do not have experience with some kind of activity make untrue assumptions about that activity, assumptions that prevent them from even trying it. I bet everyone reading this will be able to give examples from a wide variety of activities.

In scuba, it continues with instructors. Despite the fact that so many people have written about how far superior it is to teach OW students while they are neutrally buoyant rather than kneeling on the bottom, the majority of instructors use their powerful imaginations to conjure up images of what that must be like and use those imagined horrors as reasons not to even give it a try.