Cold water divers are better?

[ZenDiver.3D]

I like how all warm water divers get lumped into the "vacation diver" group.
I like warm water. I do not like cold. This is why I don't live in cold areas. I live in a desert. The water may be as high as the mid 90's in the summer, but our vis can go to zero in an instant and the currents are unpredictable and can be severe.

I think many people think warm water, and all they see are those Caribbean or Red Sea waters. Nice, clear, and easy. These are the spots that many once or twice a year divers flock to.
People like the OP don't see the deep wrecks of the Caroline Islands, the unbelievably tricky waters off South Africa, along with the Great Whites and other aggressive fish. They fail to think of those downcurrents that hit on the global current routes. Ironically, South Africa is cold on one side and warm on the other....

I am just as comfortable in a 7ml wet or my drysuit in a fresh water quarry as I am in Sharm El Sheikh. I have been in all conditions of the world and trained for all. I am good at all of it. I sure there are many many more who are even better in any and all conditions.
The beauty is that I can choose where I dive. I choose to be here in warm land.
Of course, our winter temps run at just 50 degrees from December to April. I guess that doesn't count as cold water diving?

I think every area has it's own challenges and special considerations. Why does one group have to feel so elite?

 

[Andyblue]

I think every area has it's own challenges and special considerations. Why does one group have to feel so elite?

I agree... Diving is a past time and a leisure activity. LEISURE!!! Everyone should drop the ego and just enjoy there diving safely. Persew the goals that you want to go for. Nothing more and nothing less. If you can't respect someone for their skills then respect them as a person and their ability to learn. You will be more respected for your ability to teach than because you deco dive.

 

[String]

Why would anyone attempt to fight a 4kt current anyway? That's what a boat is for!
Seriously, a 4kt current NOBODY is going to be able to fight regardless of what equipment they're wearing.

 

[Tanked]

Cold water divers have smaller willies....

That's why I wear wool under my drysuit.

 

[spectrum]

To use your term "cold water divers" certainly have skill sets beyond what a warm water diver ever gets to put into practice. The same can be said of many diver populations. Those below a certain latitude don't ice dive unless they travel to do so. People in this area don't cave dive unless they travel to do so and so forth. We are all hopefully acclimated to the environment we dive in.

Is an ice diver a better diver? Not necessarily so.

Is a cave diver a better diver? The training required does raise the bar but not necessarily above that of some proficient warm water OW divers.

It's certainly fair to say that some divers have broader or different skill sets and that no single dive environment makes a diver omnipotent. Diversity and superiority are 2 different concepts. I also think it is safe to say that it's easier for a cold water diver who is accustomed to limited visibility, cold and so forth will adapt more easily to warm water than the opposite. That's not superiority, it's common sense

Pete

 

[marinediva]

Pete I agree with what you have said.

Had some tropical diving in March after a year in the cold, and felt naked without a wetsuit and hood. Not to mention 3-kg lighter.

There is one word you have mentioned, acclimatized.
No matter where you are, please get use to the area before going hard.
I have met some great divers from very cold climates coming to tropical areas and suffering massive dehydration and fatigue, due to the fact that one, they don't dive regularly where they are, and two, they are not fit enough to be doing four dives a day for ten days on the arrival side of two days traveling. Add a couple of nights relaxing with the duty free bottle of gin & tonic and it spells trouble.

 

[knowone]

If you live and dive in a challenging location and visit an operation at a less challenging location and are seen to assemble your gear with the valve opening facing forward then you are less likely to be challenged

 

[hg frogman]

Why would anyone attempt to fight a 4kt current anyway? That's what a boat is for!
Seriously, a 4kt current NOBODY is going to be able to fight regardless of what equipment they're wearing.

I said the values I quoted didn't matter, they just give the general idea. Take 2 knots instead of 4 if you like. That's not the point of this thread.

There are places (eg Coiba, Pacific side of Panama) where the currents can be strong (up to more than 5 knots) and some dive sites are small, so you can't drift along. The boat doesn't help in that case. You have to use the boulders for protection, and sometimes you have to fin hard to gain a few meters to the next boulder because there is no rock to grab at the depth you are. If you let go you just screw up the dive. In some other occasions you have to fin hard just to stay stationary. That's often where the big fish are.

That happens also on wrecks, where you take advantage of the shelters provided by the wreck. Just as an example, currents on the Donator (Southern France) range from 0 to 5 knots when people dive it.

In the Red Sea offshore reefs (Brothers, Elphinstone ...) you often have to fight a current up to 2+ knots to go to the end of the North underwater plateau (where the sharks are) from the place where you have been dropped (usually close to the end of the table reef).

In all these cases the typical cold water setup (drysuit etc) doesn't help. Nor does the typical Tech setup (stages etc).

In water not too deep, I believe that a strong scuba diver with a thin wetsuit, no BCD or a sleek one, no or little lead, and adequate fins, can stand (and at least stay stationary) currents up to 3 or 4 knots for a short time ; and that can be useful. British Diver magazine fins' tests have had scuba divers measured swimming at more than 5 km/h underwater for a while (though I couldn't find for how long). But as I said, the exact value doesn't matter much, anyway.

Finally, and for the same setup reason, warm water divers, even when they are not fighting against the current but drifting with a fast, furious and turbulent flow, may have to cope with up- and down-currents that are more challenging than what cold water divers usually meet.

 

[DennisS]

Water temp is still in the 80's, enjoy that cold water super diver

 

[David_57]

This BS cracks me up current is not a problem if you are drifting with it, if you have to go against a 4 knot current hope you are on the bottom so you can pull your ass along, but what a waste of air and time. Up here in Canada we deal with current all the time in the St Lawrence river but try to work it in our favor also deal with low vis and temps we also have lake Ontario and quarries no current but cold. I dive in the Caribbean in the winter for me that's a walk in the park and very enjoyable but I am sure there are many challenging dives down there my point is to try and generalize based on warm water vs cold water in a given area/climate is wrong . But who give a sh.t if a cold water dive is better than a warm water divers just enjoy, its the same as comparing a Tech diver with a Sport diver just means one decided to take additional training IMHO.