A couple of other self-confessed lurkers have recently registered on SB, which has motivated (shamed) me into doing the same - although my lurking time is easier measured in months than in years. I have gleaned a lot of interesting knowledge over the past few months following various discussions on SB. There are some strong opinions expressed here - but some of you have been breathing compressed gas from tanks (cylinders) longer than I have been alive, and I am no longer young. Perhaps when my current dive count has been multiplied by a hundred, as many of you are reporting, I will have formed some strong opinions of my own. In the meantime, I am mostly content to read and put into practice the wisdom expressed here in so many threads.
To borrow from the late @Doc I am purely a Warm Water Pretty Fish diver, PADI certified late in life and simply too much of a wimp to even dip a toe into water that is less than 28C (82F), much less submerge my entire body in it even wearing a wetsuit. While I don't quite qualify as what Doc described as an "Advanced" WWPF because I'm not attracted to all-inclusives, I am definitely of what I scientifically describe as the "Lazy" variety - preferring boutique dive shops where the dive op staff does the heavy grunt work of lugging cylinders and gear to the boat, setting setting up the equipment, and then taking it all back and rinsing it all down after the dive(s). Hard work that, of course, is reflected in my tips at the end of the trip...
I know - pathetic, right? Really not sure I should be a registered member of SB at all. However, I just wanted to express how much I appreciate the knowledge that is available here.
Case in point - today I learned to my absolute shock that not only am I a Lazy Warm Water Pretty Fish Wimp diver, I am also a Muck Diver. Like others I have always thought the term applied to someone like a fellow diver on a few of our dives during our last trip who spends most of the year diving in lakes that I would qualify as "freezing" (and sometimes it truthfully isn't much above freezing - he's in the fire service so he's diving in sometimes truly miserable conditions) with viz approximately equal to the length of his arms. But no, it appears that "Muck Diving" refers to something that I do a lot of - amazed at how many PFs and other critters you can see (and film) in the "muck" while hovering a few inches off the bottom of a sandy section at around 8 metres of depth without daring to move a muscle so to not scare them away. And then looking up just in time to get your ungainly self out of the way of the incoming turtle barrelling straight for you that does not have the slightest intention of changing course because, after all, it is her reef and you are the ugly alien interloper that doesn't belong there so why should she change course?
Scuba is truly a fascinating sport. My only regret is that I wish I had gotten into it 20 or 30 years ago...
Again, thanks to all of you for your contributions to the forum. As a rookie, I really appreciate them.
Cheers/Ciao/Saludos
To borrow from the late @Doc I am purely a Warm Water Pretty Fish diver, PADI certified late in life and simply too much of a wimp to even dip a toe into water that is less than 28C (82F), much less submerge my entire body in it even wearing a wetsuit. While I don't quite qualify as what Doc described as an "Advanced" WWPF because I'm not attracted to all-inclusives, I am definitely of what I scientifically describe as the "Lazy" variety - preferring boutique dive shops where the dive op staff does the heavy grunt work of lugging cylinders and gear to the boat, setting setting up the equipment, and then taking it all back and rinsing it all down after the dive(s). Hard work that, of course, is reflected in my tips at the end of the trip...
I know - pathetic, right? Really not sure I should be a registered member of SB at all. However, I just wanted to express how much I appreciate the knowledge that is available here.
Case in point - today I learned to my absolute shock that not only am I a Lazy Warm Water Pretty Fish Wimp diver, I am also a Muck Diver. Like others I have always thought the term applied to someone like a fellow diver on a few of our dives during our last trip who spends most of the year diving in lakes that I would qualify as "freezing" (and sometimes it truthfully isn't much above freezing - he's in the fire service so he's diving in sometimes truly miserable conditions) with viz approximately equal to the length of his arms. But no, it appears that "Muck Diving" refers to something that I do a lot of - amazed at how many PFs and other critters you can see (and film) in the "muck" while hovering a few inches off the bottom of a sandy section at around 8 metres of depth without daring to move a muscle so to not scare them away. And then looking up just in time to get your ungainly self out of the way of the incoming turtle barrelling straight for you that does not have the slightest intention of changing course because, after all, it is her reef and you are the ugly alien interloper that doesn't belong there so why should she change course?
Scuba is truly a fascinating sport. My only regret is that I wish I had gotten into it 20 or 30 years ago...
Again, thanks to all of you for your contributions to the forum. As a rookie, I really appreciate them.
Cheers/Ciao/Saludos
