Why Don't You Dive?

[Mo2vation]

A few times a year, the thread pops up asking the SB population "Why do you dive..."

And of course there is the usual sleu of answers - some honest, some profound, some set off the BS-o-meter, some lame, some good... in short, everything you expect to see on SB.

I saw this most recent version of that thread, and I got to thinking - what about the flip side. Why DON'T you dive?

I live in SoCal, moments from the water. I did 30-some dives in September. A very above average month for me. I usually do between 12 - 25 dives a month, often more, sometimes less. But in 2006 there's been (I think) one 7 day dry spell. The rest of the time I'm in the water a few times each week. I'm very fortunate. But I'm also very driven. I've learned to dive comfortably and confidently in cold, dark water. I've come to love it. Some of you do a lot more than 20 - 30 dives a month. But statistics say most dive less. A LOT less.

I remember having a tough time finding regular dive buddies who wanted to splash as often as I could. So I fixed that. Now I get to dive a lot with numero uno buddy. I do lots of night diving because my weekends are packed and I can't dive on Sundays. I live close to the water. I work from home most of the time. In short, a lot of things have conspired to make it easier for me to get into the water than a lot of people.

But most of all, I dive because I've committed to diving often. I'm not an instructor, I don't have classes or take classes that keep me in the water often. These are all dives for practice, training, photographing and fun. I don't have any more free time than the next person. In fact, likely the opposite. However, I make time to dive, not find time to dive.

So my question: Why don't you dive? Time? Distance? Commitment? Haven't caught the bug? Lazy? Broken Leg? Why don't you dive?

---
Ken

 

[mattroz]

Distance.. 2hour drives to dive... needless to say doesn't happen after work. not to mention the ice in the winter. not trained or ready for overhead so not an option yet,


P.S great idea for a thread

 

[Cacia]

My boy child---ear probs.
Already lost a bit of hearing. I say NO because he cannot afford to lose more.

When I don't dive it is because I don't like shore dives (pleasure/effort ratio) and the boats have schedule that interfers with carpool, etc. The boat is helping...

If the viz gets poor, I do something else till it improves.

JB's favorite saying "We don't have to dive EVERY day, you know"...OH...and if it rains, I have a rule about not getting out of bed.

 

[all4scuba05]

used to be I wasn't diving because others had schedule that didn't coincide with mine. Do you know how long it would take for me to get 20 dives in? Atleast a year. I love diving. Sometimes I jump into 0 viz water just because I feel the need to get wet. After much reading and upgrading my equipment , I started diving with or without the buddy. Averaged a dive a week. Best way to learn is to get in and practice.
Now the only thing that stops me is my schedule and weather.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Time--I live in Raleigh, NC. That's ~3ish hours from the coast, 40 minutes to the closest quarry, and about 1.25 hours to a slightly better quarry. I'm also told that it's 8 hours to North Florida but I'll find that out on my own soon enough. I'm also a college student so sometimes time can be tight.

Money--That closest quarry (Fantasy Lake) is $15 every time you go in and another $5 night dives. If I want to do night diving there I have to shell out $20 every time. The other quarry (Blanch or JMR depending on who you talk to) is "free" to members of the club but you have to pay a club membership fee every year. So far I've only been a few times as a guest and will need to pay that shortly. I believe it's in the $50/year range but over time that's much cheaper than the other quarry. Then again it's also further away so I get to pay more in gas. As a college student sometimes money can be tight...especially after buying new scuba gear. What a terrible irony--buy new gear but then no money to go dive it.

At some point I'm hoping to get into some river diving. I have some friends who love river diving so I'm eventually going to tag along with them. I haven't gone river diving yet because I know it can be somewhat hazardous to the untrained--all sorts of entanglement opportunities, plenty of current, very low vis, cold, etc. Once I get a little bit of experience with a few friends I'll hopefully go river diving much more often; especially since it's free. I am told that it is incredibly relaxing, which would be nice. I also see the large display cases my friends have of the huge shark teeth they find, so that's a big incentive.

 

[sharkattack]

Work and location. Have to go 2 hours each way. So we go at least once a month and we do trips through out the year as well. We did B.C. for a week in September, leave for Cayman Brac in about a month, the Oriskiny in March.

 

[Damselfish]

well, when I'm on a dive trip I dive as much as I can. Ok, not really as much as I can, sometimes I get lazy and just want to veg instead. I don't do as many night dives as I intend to, in the morning it sounds like a great idea, by the end of the day a nice dinner then crashing often sounds better.

Back when I still dove at home, it was at most a 2 tanker every other weekend and got less over time. 3 hours roundtrip, parking pains, hauling gear, cleaning gear. Pretty much took a whole day and got to be too much hassle relative to the reward, for me.

 

[Fish Wrangler]

Some people like diving just for the sake of diving. I see it differently: I don't dive for the same reason I do dive and that is the opportunity to see LOTS of critters and take photos. For that reason my local quarry and local pea-green lake hold no interest for me. Sure the lake has bass, bream, perch, but not in huge quantities.

So the ocean it must be. I'm five to six hours by car from either the Georgia coast or the Florida panhandle, and about 1.5 hours away from Miami by plane. The expense and time can be prohibitive, so I do two to three dive-intensive week-long trips a year and a few long weekends to the coast.

Good question.

 

[idratherbedivin]

Well for me the closest place to drive is at least an hour away and it is a cold dark quarry. Not that I refuse to dive in a quarry, I do enjoy it because it is diving, it is just less appealing then say an ocean that is 15 degrees warmer at depth. I don't have a drysuit so I really can not go in the quarries during the winter. My budget is pretty limited being only 17. And lets see, oh, I am not allowed to rent a hotel room because of my age which makes it hard to go down to NC. All that being said I am really trying to get some dives in, I promise! Once I go to college it will be much easier cause I will live very close to the water. I think since I just started in december 50 dives is pretty decent considering where I live. It is not as much as I would like it to be but I'll get out to the quarry more often soon.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

The nearest water is over an hour away, and it is a cold quarry. Not much to see, pain in the butt to get there, 7mm required and costs around $10-$15 plus air.

I'll stick to going three weeks a year to the Carib.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

13 days till Coz