Are cold water divers better?

[OldNSalty]

And which one would be the cold water diver?

The better diver of course. If you are a better diver then you must be a cold water diver. Didn't you learn anything from this thread?

 

[LouieLouie]

The better diver of course. If you are a better diver then you must be a cold water diver. Didn't you learn anything from this thread?

Even if neither has ever seen cold water?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You would think that, and I would tend to agree...but I have seen on rare occassions cold water lake and quary divers get real uncomfortable in our warm water. Even had an insta-buddy or 2 freak out after hitting the water...maybe it was just me making them feel that way.

... or maybe being able to see more than 20 feet is scary ... ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Clammy]

Cold water: "monthly mean temperature of 59 degrees or less." Or, like most people, if you consider it relative, my two examples still clearly dictates which one is COLD. If you'd like I can say COLDER which still works for my point as does the part where I said rougher waters (relative).

And which one would be the cold water diver?

 

[AfterDark]

... or maybe being able to see more than 20 feet is scary ... ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

My insta-buddy at NC this year aborted the 1st dive because he felt uneasy and blamed it on the vis, 60+feet.

 

[aquaregia]

Monastery gets freaky-freaky-like-me with good vis. Not even turtles all the way down.

Actually, it's really weird on a good vis night dive when all you have is super focused lights.

 

[Clammy]

Maybe some people get queasy, like some sort of horizontal vertigo... like that positional vertigo? I wonder if they feel like they are looking through a very very very thick coke bottle.

My insta-buddy at NC this year aborted the 1st dive because he felt uneasy and blamed it on the vis, 60+feet.

 

[TMHeimer]

The best I've seen yet is about 40' in Panama (though once I did look up from 70' here in NS and see the boat). I can imagine that I will feel a little uneasy the first time I jump from a boat and see 100' to the bottom. When all you can see is the anchor line (and a buddy) going down it just doesn't seem that deep.

 

[oldflounder]

Any diver, no matter whether he/she is good, better or best, had better be uneasy and on edge when going into a new diving environment. We are on a life support system. Uneasy = the beginning stage of fear = a very important built-in self defense mechanism that is extremely important to our survival. It alerts us to potential danger.

Fear is healthy as has been discussed countless times here on this board [do a search.] What makes a diver "better" maybe is how they use that fear or respond to it to make them a safer diver and to keep them out of trouble. I don't have enough experience yet to be fearless, though I think the best divers may have a high level of fearlessness and are able to recognize it as it approaches, face it and deal with it before it spirals out of control. Look at the SEAL training - that seems to be a good example of how one can be trained to control the initial fear we have of being underwater. They force you to feel fear and deal with it.

Me -- I have a long way to go and a lot to learn yet to not be uneasy when I am doing a dive situation I have never experienced before. As I said before ---there are many factors that make one a better diver. Water temperature is one and control of fear is a 2nd. The list is huge.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Monastery gets freaky-freaky-like-me with good vis. Not even turtles all the way down.

Actually, it's really weird on a good vis night dive when all you have is super focused lights.

... my one day of diving at Monastery was in 75+ foot visibility. The locals were positively giddy ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)