Like most businesses trying to cope with the fallout of Covid-19, times are tough for the dive industry. Canceled trips, nonexistent air travel and a wholesale contraction of tourism across the world has meant that your local neighborhood dive shop’s bottom line has been dramatically reduced. But for the dive industry to continue chugging on and thriving post-pandemic, we need these valuable community resources—our local dive shops—to survive.
Whether doing something simple like getting a tank refill or something more planned and extravagant, like taking a chartered liveaboard cruise to the reef of your dreams, our local dive shops are the lifeblood that keep our passions alive and our dive counts growing.
Yet, as mentioned above, many of our favorite local dive shops, resorts, and mom-and-pop outfitters are struggling to make ends meet. The risk of losing some of these resources is very real, and if we don’t act intentionally as a community to support our local dive shops, some of them may have to shut their doors for good.
So, it’s worth asking: What can we all do to help? By no means exhaustive, the following list details some steps you can take to help keep your favorite local dive shop afloat.
1.) Engage on social media
Most of us are stuck at home staring at screens, so one of the best things you can do to support your local dive shop is to engage with them on social media. When you like, comment or share a social post from your favored shop/brand, the platform’s algorithm makes it visible to more people. The more engagement a post has, the more likely it is to be seen by even more like-minded divers.
2.) Make a purchase
Again, most of us have been doing a lot of shopping from home. While Amazon does have a huge variety of products, they also take a cut of the sale, which lessens the financial benefit on the shop or company you’re trying to patronize.
If your local dive shop has an e-commerce website, be sure to pick up your new dive gear from them directly. If not, consider reaching out to them and ordering via phone so they can still get your sale on the books. Clicking a mouse might be fast and easy, but supporting another human’s business—especially now—will feel much better.
3.) Take an eLearning course
It might seem counterintuitive, but you don’t always need time in the water to work on advancing your certifications. Many dive resorts and shops offer eLearning courses where you can further your diving knowledge and expertise. You don’t even need to get wet!
This way, when dive tourism opens up and you’re able to take the dive holiday of your dreams to the Red Sea or Curacao or Borneo, you’ll be armed with new expertise to apply to your diving.
4.) #Divelocal
Assuming you live within striking distance of the coast or an inland dive site, grab your best Covid-free dive buddy and go diving. Fish and other sea life won’t judge you for being out and about and you’ll still be wearing a (dive) mask. Be sure to contact your local dive shop for any tank refills or other services. Chances are, they’ll be thrilled to help and talk diving!
5.) Dial in your kit
Your kit doesn’t know about the pandemic and it’s likely just as rusty as when you set it aside. With all of this downtime, there’s a great opportunity to get your gear serviced and cleaned—and also to show your equipment some personal TLC. Contact your dive shop to schedule service and to determine next steps for potential purchases or maintenance.
6.) Book a trip (for later)
Many shops and outfitters have strong cancellation policies that will enable you to hold onto your cash if and when the future excursion needs to be cancelled. What the industry lacks right now is confidence, and if your booking can make the difference between a shop reopening—or closing for good—the potential benefit is huge to them, and minimal to you. Plus, you get to have an extravagant dive mission marked on the calendar to get you through lockdown.