Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[Lemuzzon]

Divers Direct is about1/2 clothing and water sports stuff IIRC.

The fact that you have 3 big sporting goods chains in trouble at the same time is probably not a coincidence. Dick's missed earnings, SC shuting down and Sports Authority just deciding to go into liquidation is not a sign of health for outdoor sports in general.

I've done some research into this for school. The major reasons are that people prefer specialized stores or the ever-increasing online market. It's odd that Sportcheck (comparable to Dick's) in Canada has managed to even expand. But, I for one would rather go to Nike for running shoes, Golf Town for clubs, etc.

I don't think that putting a dive store in a mall would work. People go to malls to shop, usually leisurely; not to sign up for an [extreme] activity. I couldn't foresee many people going to a mall to buy shoes, then thinking "hey, maybe I'll sign up for scuba lessons" on the way to the food court. If people are already divers, they are probably more than willing to drive to a specialized store, in an obscure area, to purchase products.

There may be some indirect run-off of people subliminally becoming interested because they walk by a dive shop a hundred times, but that would be marginal. I would bet that the store would be pushed towards selling snorkels, masks, flippers and even bathing suits, rather than very specialized gear. There was a dive shop near my house, which is not in a mall, but is in a very urban area. They now almost solely sell wakeboards, tubes, water skis and things of that nature. I haven't been there in a while, but I don't think there's any signs of scuba gear.

 

[TMHeimer]

Can't say why, but think I agree with that.

 

[daniel1948]

The fact that you have 3 big sporting goods chains in trouble at the same time is probably not a coincidence. Dick's missed earnings, SC shuting down and Sports Authority just deciding to go into liquidation is not a sign of health for outdoor sports in general.

Or maybe it's just a shift from big-box stores, that once upon a time were cheaper than smaller, more personalized stores, to on-line stores, that are cheaper yet because they don't have the overhead of a big building. I always prefer to shop at a locally-owned store with knowledgeable staff, but many people will go to the cheapest place.

 

[kaptken1392]

I'm hesitant to comment here, but what the hell? I have been out of the instructor game since 1985. I realize that some things have changed for the better, others have changed for the worse (my perception). I have read through 39 of the 79 pages of this thread. I am amazed at the number of divers who express that they did not feel comfortable without an instructor after their basic class was completed. I did my basic in 1973 in Oklahoma. Average vis 6'-10'. Sure, it was a new experience, but that is how you learn! With each successive dive, skills improve and confidence increases.
Does having an additional c-card or certification itself make you a better diver? Will simply buying a $5K bicycle allow you to compete alongside Lance Armstrong?
I read the post about a diver buying a dry suit which included a dry suit certification class. He never said if he was comfortable using the dry suit. He seemed much more concerned that he had not received his dry suit certification. Really?
I see lots of folks post "Solo Diver" by their avatars. Do you truly dive by yourself? If so ( some of my best dives have been by myself), is it because you are confidant in your skills and equipment or is it because you logged X number of dives or took a "Solo Diver Training Class"? I am what I called in my younger days a "mossback diver". That means I am perfectly satisfied using my old gear and old techniques to happily pursue my diving interests. How am I better off with a computer? How many back up computers will truly ensure my safety. As a sport/ recreational diver, how will nitrox enhance my diving. Is it because I will now need a new tank, different gauges, different computer(s)? How envious will my peers be when they see my new nitrox c-card and certification diploma? Cai I get it laminated and wear it underwater to show all the fishes that I'm even closer to being one of them?
All of these gripes are why people are not getting into diving. Diving has went the way of boating. You don't dare leave the dock without 2 gps units, a video chart plotter, radar and a satellite telephone. Too many damn unnecessary gadgets. I agree with the Christmas tree analogy.
My rant is now over. My apologies to anyone I have offended, angered, piss off or pissed on.
I'm 60 years old and far enough down the road of life that I don't worry about offending anyone over anything.
Thank you for reading!

 

[TMHeimer]

kaptken1392, You make a lot of sense. At 62 I still try not to offend anyone, but don't lose sleep over it if I get blasted.
I took my courses, got my certs. (collected a handful of cards so to speak), did 4 yrs. DMing. Have maybe a 60-40 chance of reaching 1,000 dives (health, age willing), and still hope to get to the tropics again (money willing). These were/are goals I set for myself. I only started in 2005 and may disagree with you that diving is presented to the public regarding the things you mention has much to do with fewer people getting into it. I don't know if fewer are taking up diving than a said number of years ago. I would guess the number is really quite the same. It's a specialized activity that only so many will do, regardless of how it's promoted. I could be wrong. Could be biased because of my own situation. Moved to right on the ocean and having grown up around it figured scuba was now an option (no interest in lakes the 25 years I was near them). I saw no advertising and didn't know what a PADI was. Was getting the RV in for repair 11 years ago and happened to walk right by basically the only shop in the city.

 

[redacted]

[QUOTE="kaptken1392, post: 7680199, member: 473809"/
I see lots of folks post "Solo Diver" by their avatars. Do you truly dive by yourself? If so ( some of my best dives have been by myself), is it because you are confidant in your skills and equipment or is it because you logged X number of dives or took a "Solo Diver Training Class"? I am what I called in my younger days a "mossback diver". That means I am perfectly satisfied using my old gear and old techniques to happily pursue my diving interests. How am I better off with a computer? How many back up computers will truly ensure my safety. As a sport/ recreational diver, how will nitrox enhance my diving. Is it because I will now need a new tank, different gauges, different computer(s)? How envious will my peers be when they see my new nitrox c-card and certification diploma? Cai I get it laminated and wear it underwater to show all the fishes that I'm even closer to being one of them.

It seems to me that attitude, skills, equipment, knowledge and experience are all important. A c-card may be required by some operators.

If you are satisfied conducting safe recreational dives on tables, then you have no need for computers or nitrox. If you would like to safely increase bottom time on your recreational dives, computers and nitrox are a good option.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I've done some research into this for school. The major reasons are that people prefer specialized stores or the ever-increasing online market. It's odd that Sportcheck (comparable to Dick's) in Canada has managed to even expand. But, I for one would rather go to Nike for running shoes, Golf Town for clubs, etc.

I don't think that putting a dive store in a mall would work. People go to malls to shop, usually leisurely; not to sign up for an [extreme] activity. I couldn't foresee many people going to a mall to buy shoes, then thinking "hey, maybe I'll sign up for scuba lessons" on the way to the food court. If people are already divers, they are probably more than willing to drive to a specialized store, in an obscure area, to purchase products.

There may be some indirect run-off of people subliminally becoming interested because they walk by a dive shop a hundred times, but that would be marginal. I would bet that the store would be pushed towards selling snorkels, masks, flippers and even bathing suits, rather than very specialized gear. There was a dive shop near my house, which is not in a mall, but is in a very urban area. They now almost solely sell wakeboards, tubes, water skis and things of that nature. I haven't been there in a while, but I don't think there's any signs of scuba gear.

I think you're probably right. I could see the mall dive shop getting nothing more than mostly younger kids buying swim suits and the latest trick flip flops, maybe a T-shirt and a wake board.
No matter how you slice it scuba is a specialized sport and only so many people will ever be interested. There might be a spike of people who want to try it and this will give the industry a false hope of renewal, but in reality how many of those will stick with it and keep diving as a life long passion? I'm afraid not too many. Better for us, more good barely used gear for pennies on the dollar, and less crowded dive sites.
However, I'll venture to say that there is probably a higher percentage of divers per capita of population today then back in the 60's, but it still doesn't seem to be good enough for an industry that claims it's starving to death. Maybe they should see the glass as half full, not half empty, and learn to be happy with what they have. Maybe the way it was in the 90's and early 2000's wasn't the real world.
You can't force feed someone something they don't want to do, or have no desire to try. Some people just aren't water people, society is changing.
Obsessed divers need to realize not every one sees things the way they do.
Maybe it's time we just let it go and learn to be happy with what we have.
Forget about them.

 

[Neilwood]

Some very good points but I have a slightly different take on some of them.

I'm hesitant to comment here, but what the hell? I have been out of the instructor game since 1985. I realize that some things have changed for the better, others have changed for the worse (my perception). I have read through 39 of the 79 pages of this thread. I am amazed at the number of divers who express that they did not feel comfortable without an instructor after their basic class was completed. I did my basic in 1973 in Oklahoma. Average vis 6'-10'. Sure, it was a new experience, but that is how you learn! With each successive dive, skills improve and confidence increases. Some folk just want safe, trouble free diving even if it means never improving. They might have issues with confidence in general or possibly just in diving.
Does having an additional c-card or certification itself make you a better diver? Will simply buying a $5K bicycle allow you to compete alongside Lance Armstrong? In this day and age, paperwork is tied to all pursuits be the leisure or work. Unfortunate but true. Having the card means some level of achievement even if you have never pursued it passed that. Without the paperwork you can struggle to prove the knowledge/skills for a certain dive.
I read the post about a diver buying a dry suit which included a dry suit certification class. He never said if he was comfortable using the dry suit. He seemed much more concerned that he had not received his dry suit certification. Really?
I see lots of folks post "Solo Diver" by their avatars. This might be a forum issue in that if you join the group to browse it for information (and dont't actually remove yourself from it), it will always show the title. Do you truly dive by yourself? If so ( some of my best dives have been by myself), is it because you are confidant in your skills and equipment or is it because you logged X number of dives or took a "Solo Diver Training Class"? I am what I called in my younger days a "mossback diver". That means I am perfectly satisfied using my old gear and old techniques to happily pursue my diving interests. How am I better off with a computer? How many back up computers will truly ensure my safety.I see the multiple pieces of equipment as a spin off from tech where redundancy is a core pillar. Should it apply to simple rec dives? Possibly to some extent but do you need redundant equipment for a 10m bimble? Probably not. As a sport/ recreational diver, how will nitrox enhance my diving. Is it because I will now need a new tank, different gauges, different computer(s)? How envious will my peers be when they see my new nitrox c-card and certification diploma? Cai I get it laminated and wear it underwater to show all the fishes that I'm even closer to being one of them? Nitrox can be good if used correctly but is not the answer to everything. Some folk will get it just to have another cert though.
All of these gripes are why people are not getting into diving. Diving has went the way of boating. You don't dare leave the dock without 2 gps units, a video chart plotter, radar and a satellite telephone. Too many damn unnecessary gadgets. I agree with the Christmas tree analogy. Unfortunately the "health and safety" lobby often ignore the best piece of health and safety equipment - the Mk1 brain. If you know what you are doing (ie doing it old school, you don't need GPS or any other pieces of equipment). Relying too much on tech is a bad thing imho.
My rant is now over. My apologies to anyone I have offended, angered, piss off or pissed on.
I'm 60 years old and far enough down the road of life that I don't worry about offending anyone over anything.
Thank you for reading!

 

[REVAN]

As divers, this is hard for us to see, but we should consider the very real possibility that scuba diving is just an ugly activity to the average person. The gear is heavy, uncomfortable and expensive. It is hard to travel with the gear to get to where the diving is good, and diving locally usually means cold water and bad visibility and a dive that just isn't fun unless you are part of the minority that likes the idea of diving so much that you overlook all these fairly significant issues. The old saying "Love is blind!" comes to mind.

All of these gripes are why people are not getting into diving. Diving has went the way of boating. You don't dare leave the dock without 2 gps units, a video chart plotter, radar and a satellite telephone. Too many damn unnecessary gadgets. I agree with the Christmas tree analogy.

The additional perception of these other "requirements" only piles on more height to the barrier that keeps potential customers at a distance.

If diving is going to become popular, it needs to become a better activity with attributes of an actual sport, not an industrial job masquerading as a sport. It needs to shed its hereditary ties to commercial diving equipment and become sleek, mobile, comfortable and practical to those who are not blind to all the shortcomings of the "sport" as it is presently executed.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Revan you're right.
Scuba has become an incredibly gear intensive, cumbersome, and expensive activity. It wasn't always this way, at one time the only difference between freediving and scuba was a simple tank strapped to your back with a double hose breathing loop attached to the tank valve. It was about as simple as it gets. Now there is more crap piled on a scuba diver in comparison to where they look like a christmas tree.
However, I still somehow don't think this is the problem with new people getting in. They don't even know about gear yet because they haven't gotten that far. I just think it's social changes at work and the focus on activities and entertainment are different. People are becoming more sedintary at a young age and are choosing to be land lubbers.