Scuba diving is an extreme sport, and there are many types of diving you can try, so it’s hard to imagine that a diver would ever get bored by this activity. Even if you live in a location where you can scuba dive frequently, there’s so much to learn that it’d take years for you to master everything. However, maybe you’re only interested in one type of diving and for some reason it’s not providing you any excitement anymore.
Does scuba diving get boring? It’s tough to answer because personally I don’t think I could ever get bored of it. As long as I can continue to learn something new each dive or improve my skills, then the sense of progression keeps me interested. With that said, perhaps I’m an outlier and there might be very legitimate reasons why one would start to get bored of diving. If you feel like your passion for diving is waning then this article will attempt to help you find out the reason(s) why so you can rekindle your love for this activity.
Is scuba diving a fun activity?
If you’re asking whether scuba diving gets boring, you’re also implicitly asking if it is a fun enough activity to commit to or if it’s something you lose interest in after a few dives. Of course I’m very biased, but I think scuba diving is worth doing.
Just imagining escaping to the underwater world, traveling to pristine tropical reefs, exploring wrecks, or just casually sightseeing the underwater world makes me feel giddy and excited. Maybe you felt that way before, but now that feeling is gone. We also understand if scuba diving doesn’t interest you in the slightest. If everyone loved diving as much as I do, then the sea levels would rise when nearly 8 billion people would jump into the sea every weekend.
Those of you who are unsure of the appeal of scuba diving might want to know what others are saying about it, which includes:
- Feeling the calm and tranquility of the underwater world which can decrease stress.
- Observing and taking pictures of beautiful fish and vibrant coral reefs.
- Continually improving their diving skills.
- Exercising and burning calories while having fun.
- Meeting interesting people.
- Traveling to new places to vacation and dive at.
Some barriers of entry for some people include the cost (equipment and certifications), inability to swim, their age, or just a general dislike for water sports. Others may have tried out diving but found it boring almost immediately or shortly afterwards. Below are some common reasons why someone might get fed up with scuba diving and what can be done about it.
Impediments to scuba diving and how to address them
If you’re starting to feel that scuba diving is boring, perhaps you just need to go on a break or start another hobby. There’s no rule that you can’t have other hobbies; scuba diving will always be around when you want to go back to it again. It’s better to temporarily stop diving when you’re bored than to force yourself and completely burn out.
However, before you decide to hang up your scuba kit for an indefinite amount of time, consider if there is a specific underlying reason for why scuba diving has become boring. There’s a possibility that you’re not so much feeling bored as frustrated by something unrelated to the actual sport itself. In this section, we will go over some possible factors that could cause one to get bored of scuba diving which, if overcome, may help you enjoy diving again.
Poor training experience
While getting certified for scuba diving is not necessarily difficult (even young children and the disabled can get certified), there’s a possibility that you weren’t given a proper scuba education if your scuba instructor was lackadaisical or inadequate in his teaching.
First impressions make a big difference in how you view a person or thing, so if your initial experience was sour, then your outlook on the sport may be negative and any setback might make you wonder “why did I even bother in the first place.”
To these divers, we say: don’t give up! If you want to try again, you can take the ReActivate course to refresh (or properly learn for the first time) the scuba diving concepts that you are struggling with. Since you’re already certified, you can try calling a dive center and asking if an instructor is willing to informally spend one day with you to address any questions or issues you have with diving. This request may be rejected, however it’s worth a shot.
Sometimes you just need to start off on the right foot, and if your first attempt was soured through no fault of your own, then we hope you have the strength to try again.
Taking too long of a break
While we did recommend you take a break from diving if you feel burnt out, taking too long of a break might also make you lose interest in the sport completely. When you don’t practice a hobby, your skills and confidence will fade over time as you begin to lose your grasp on the basics.
If it has been years since you last went diving, a dive center will rightfully enforce a refresher dive which eats into your vacation time. The best way to prevent this from happening is to just go for a dive every once in a while. If that’s not possible, then consider taking a refresher course before the next vacation so you don’t waste your precious holiday time learning what you should already know.
Diving for the wrong reasons
As much as we would like to recommend scuba diving to everyone, we also understand that some people just want to dive just one time to say that they did it, and perhaps never do it again. For instance, it could be someone’s bucket list item, or they started doing it because all of their friends are doing it, or they are diving because it makes them look adventurous and exciting but they don’t really care for the sport at all.
Notice how all of these reasons for diving have nothing to do with one’s own personal enjoyment of diving, but rather on social acceptance in the form of compliments or respect? In other words, you’re diving to fit in or so that you can brag about it, but not because you are actually enjoying the sport. You might enjoy some short term satisfaction when people compliment you on your adventurousness, however you’re also really testing your patience by doing a hobby you find boring.
If you know that you won’t be scuba diving much, if ever again in your life, but you still want to do it once just to say you did it, then there are many one-day diving courses that let you try out diving to see if it’s a sport for you.
Check out PADI’s Discover Scuba, SSI’s Basic Diver, or NAUI’s Try Scuba courses. Alternatively, you can also try out SNUBA diving, which is basically diving with a scuba tank on a boat by the surface of the water instead of strapped to your back.
Fear and anxiety
Open water diving can be scary, however if your fear of the water is an underlying issue, then scuba diving is not going to be a fun experience for you. Maybe your source of fear is because you are not a good swimmer or trauma in the past. In the case of the former, swimming lessons can help. In the case of the latter, you may have to seek professional mental health care.
If scuba diving is not fun for you due to mental health issues, then it should be addressed because panicking while diving can easily result in a fatality by wasting precious energy and oxygen.
Lack of confidence
Similar to the above, maybe some kind of mental block is holding you back. Whether it’s being embarrassed about your lack of diving experience, being afraid to ask for help due to a fear of getting ridiculed, or any other reason, lack of self-confidence can ruin the scuba diving experience.
Our recommendation is similar to what we said above. If your lack of confidence is due to something that is within your control to fix, such as improving your swimming ability, stamina, or scuba knowledge, then take extra lessons, train harder, hire an instructor, and step out of your comfort zone in manageable steps. Often all it takes is for you to address your weaknesses to an acceptable level and your confidence will go through the roof.
Getting stuck in a routine or not trying out other types of diving
They say variety is the spice of life, and scuba diving can get pretty darn boring if you keep doing the same things over and over again. How often do you dive at new dive sites, or do you dive at the same location every time? Perhaps the solution is to dive at new dive sites.
You’ll be surprised at how many dive sites are close by if you’re willing to do some freshwater diving or altitude diving. Don’t let living in a landlocked state be an excuse for why your dive sites are limited.
Another change you can make is to try some shore diving if you typically dive from a boat. If you live in or near Florida, there are plenty of shore diving sites you can visit. You might also want to try out wall diving, night diving, or even UV night diving. There are so many new things you could try out that could be a nice change of pace from your usual routine.
Keep in mind, you should probably get the appropriate certifications for each of these types of diving so you can continue to safely dive.
Not challenging yourself
Perhaps the reason why you’re currently stuck in a rut with scuba diving is because you’ve done everything a recreational diver can do. Perhaps now it’s time for you to step up your game and get new certifications or dive at more advanced dive sites?
Forcing yourself to do harder things might sound like a bad time, however in our experience, striving to be a better diver and seeing improvements or getting new certifications is an intoxicating feeling. When you are facing new challenges that are harder than what you are accustomed to but still within your ability, overcoming them is one of the most fun and satisfying things to do.
If all currently just have the Open Water Diver certification, we recommend you take the Advanced Open Water Diver course which is available here.
Lack of a diving buddy
It’s generally not a good idea to dive alone. If you didn’t come with a buddy, one will be assigned to you so you won’t be alone. However, maybe you are yearning for one of your close buddies to be your dive buddy instead of a stranger all the time. Especially if you don’t know your dive buddy’s skills, you might spend the whole time worrying about their safety.
Diving is a lot more fun when both you and your dive buddy are in sync with each other. You will be able to cover for each other’s weaknesses, efficiently cover more ground, share diving stories with, and have a much better time overall just because you can count on your dive buddy.
Maybe you have a partner or a friend who could be convinced to try out scuba diving with you so you can learn and grow together.
Parting words
In this article, we’ve provided various solutions for common reasons why someone might get bored with diving. Despite our solutions and our urging to keep at it, we know that some people simply dislike scuba diving and no amount of convincing will work. And that’s perfectly okay. If you’re just not interested in diving, don’t let others pressure or guilt you into doing something you find tedious.
What we will encourage, however, is that you at least give diving an earnest shot and to try out some of the tips we provided in this guide. However, if nothing seems to work and scuba diving is still as boring as you thought, then don’t sweat it. We hope you find another hobby that can get you excited.
