why are there very few young divers?

[TMHeimer]

What age are we considering to be "young people"? Teens? 20s, older? As I mentioned early on, I would say probably 60%+ of the OW students I've seen have been maybe 25 or younger. Very few have been in my age range (59). The class I'm DMing now is no exception. Maybe a lot of them just quit? I've often read on SB that a lot of divers in general today get certified and for one reason or another lose interest.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

What age are we considering to be "young people"? Teens? 20s, older? As I mentioned early on, I would say probably 60%+ of the OW students I've seen have been maybe 25 or younger. Very few have been in my age range (59). The class I'm DMing now is no exception. Maybe a lot of them just quit? I've often read on SB that a lot of divers in general today get certified and for one reason or another lose interest.

I'm taking it as 18 to 30. Below 18 I'm guessing they have parents who get them into it and pay for everything.
Maybe in Nova Scotia things are different. In California I hardly ever see late teens or early 20 somethings diving on their own.
The only exception is the Sonoma State diving program but most of those kids are getting into Marine biology. Out of 40 students only about 12 finish on average each semester. I think when they take them on a field trip to the dive shop they get sticker shock and bail.

 

[and9744]

I am 16. just got certified this April. I really like it and hope to get more dives next year then i got this year.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I am 16. just got certified this April. I really like it and hope to get more dives next year then i got this year.

Excellent!
Good for you.
Get more of your friends to join you.

 

[teecup]

I guess at your early twenties, there are plenty of other things to do than dive. The work culture is prohibitive too, from where I come from. Young people would rather spend their limited free time watching a movie over the weekend or surfing the net.

 

[Doomnova]

I think also beyond that people who grow up near the ocean really don't appreciate it much like people who live in the mountains or the plains ect. They can't see beyond what they have seen their entire life. People go to where i grew up in Alberta and say how nice the central part is and I'm going I would do anything but be in that part there is nothing that great there in the summer you roast and canget some pretty nasty storms and in the winter you freeze and get blizzards and have to deal with up to 7 months of the year with snow on the ground. Other who have not lived there for their entire life say its wonderful. I move out here loving the ocean and dump the coin into getting my gear and cert and see a large group of people in the age range of 18-30(which I am a part of) saying the same things I said living in Alberta. Its a matter of its always there always has been and you don't appreciate it. I get up in the mornings I can look out my room window and see the Olympics take a 20 min bus ride and be down on the ocean and or talk to a buddy of mine and in 20 min of driving be to pretty much every site in the area for me I couldn't ask for more beyond some warm water diving (which is one the bucket list of things to do.)

So if you add that to the fact that at least in canada youth unemployment is at about 12.5% and the rest are likely in low paying jobs or in high paying oil field jobs which is no where near the coast well that only adds to the issue north of the boarder. with the way things are right now I'm in no rush to get out of university either.

 

[george_austin]

20-30 year old divers are working dive boats in Mexico. Also I agree with Jim Lapenta's comment above - they're diving, not talking about it online

 

[Jeroenz]

I'm 23, as CMAS Divemaster. Got my license in 2009 and diving every week if posible ... UWphotography is addicted

 

[george_austin]

The sad thing is, 9/10 friends I've had over the years will drop $100-$200 over a weekend on a liver killing "college experience". Well maybe not the hot ones, they spend it on clothes and get the drinks for free. Most of it comes out of credit cards and student loans, but every once in a while they have rich parents. And to those who claim the coastal influence - I know more die-hard young divers who live inland than on the coast. Most of the coasties take up surfing or, again, drinking themselves into oblivion. I always had a buddy when I lived in AZ, and nobody would bat an eyelash to a 2 hour drive. Here in N. FL - my first non-solo dive will be tomorrow, as part of a class I'm paying for.

Perhaps the problem is that we think of diving as this grand, luxurious escape to some far away tropical destination - surrounded by beautiful fish underwater and topside we'll be greeted by lavish, barely clothed island dwellers bringing us endless margaritas in a golden chalice.

OF COURSE YOUNG PEOPLE WON'T BUY INTO THIS!

Diving to me used to be waking up at 5AM - load the truck, pick up the buddy, drive 2 hours, sweat our asses off gearing up, freeze our asses off in 5' viz, rinse and repeat 2-3 times, chat about the dives over a burger & fries, and stay awake long enough to rinse our gear after the 2 hour drive home. And you know what, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world because it was a labor of love - and all I looked forward to after a week of work and school. The cost? Hell, so long as I could still afford ramen noodles, it was alright with me. I still averaged about $20 a dive, including the burger.

Good post - lotta good points.
I grew up in southern California with Sea Hunt and James Bond movies (Thunderball) Jacques Cousteau. I never looked at diving as a luxury travel hobby, and I think that is cost prohibitive to 20 and 30 year olds. 20 and 30 year olds don't take liveaboard vacations to the Galapagos.

I was certified at 14 years old in 1972 and already had all my own gear except for a reg. We didn't use B.C's - just a pack and harness, Mae West and a CO2 cylinder, mask fins and weight belt - away you went with someones borrowed tank. It was easy, didn't cost anything

I remember at that time that scuba diving meant working not playing underwater. Divers salvaged stuff from harbor muck or did scientific reasearch.
The first time I heard of exoctic destination diving was when I went to work moving some furniture in the office of the editor of Skin Diving magazine. He had just returned from Truk lagoon and one of the first great photographic recordings of some of the deeper wrecks there.

40 years later - I am a travel diving hobbyist but I travel alone and mit's mostly just Mexico and the Carribbean.

 

[xyrandomyx]

I started diving when I was 28. Realistically, I would probably not have been able to afford it (or at least to dive semi-regularly) before I was 23 or 24. I would've started earlier, but it actually just didn't occur to me. It took my brother saying 'hey, I'm thinking of doing a scuba course, want to join?' to put the idea in my head. Funnily, I'm still diving regularly, but he's not.