Are cold water divers better?

[Quero]

To my mind, what makes a good diver is a combination of underwater skills and dive planning skills, so I can't reply in consideration of the caveat you suggest, i.e.,

I don’t mean better as far as trim/buoyancy/SAC.

I think it's less complicated in terms of equipment to dive in tropical locations, and it's certainly more comfortable/less stressful psychologically and physiologically, but I don't honestly believe that this translates into a blanket assertion that cold water divers are "better" divers in a general sense. I have seen lots and lots of pretty awful cold-water divers show up here, I can tell you that--divers who don't worry overly where their fins are because they're used to kicking rocks (and we have delicate coral instead); divers who are so used to gloves that they never hesitate to hold on instead of perfecting their hovering (we don't like any sort of touching here); divers who don't know how very deep they've gone (because they can see the bottom right there, even when it's 60 feet away), etc. In other words, any diver who is used to one sort of environment generally sucks at first when transplanted to a new one. Warm water divers need to learn to cope with the cold, the bulky gear, and the lack of viz when they dive in temperate climates, and cold water divers need to learn to perfect their in-water skills to avoid harming our environment and losing track of their own dive profiles when they come to the tropics.

What I think does happen is that only really dedicated and clued-in divers are happy diving in the conditions that cold water locales offer so that there is a self-selecting mechanism involved. The people who end up diving regularly in cold locations are very, very invested, and the "typical" cold water diver really does try hard to get good at it so that on average the skill level tends to be higher. Conversely, the majority of people who dive in warm-water destinations only do so sporadically, so that on average they don't develop their skills (neither facet of the skills I mentioned above) as thoroughly or with as much attention because they see diving as an activity rather than as a serious hobby.

Now if we were to compare tropical and temperate climate divers with the same sort of dive frequency and similar dedication to the pursuit, I believe they would be equally "good" divers.

 

[freewillie]

From a general perspective, if you are diving with someone else, what makes you say, "wow, that's a good diver?". Generally, they look comfortable and relaxed in the water. They move precisely and without extra movement. They usually keep their hand quiet and don't "fin" their hands in the water.

This is during either cold water dive or warm water dives. Either way the temp doesn't make a huge difference in how a diver behaves under water.

I would say that diving cold presents it's own unique challenges. It does take some getting used to wetsuit, gloves, hood. Weighting is different. But for the most part is simply an broader level of experience to deal with, but IMO does not substantially change underwater skills primarily buoyancy control.

It might be mote accurate to say we cold divers have more experience with broader range conditions and equipment, but I would hesitate to say that automatically translates to being a better diver.

 

[Diver0001]

SO does diving in these situations and training in these conditions make you more of a prepared diver for the event something happens.

Some of the best divers I've ever seen in terms of raw diving skill (buoyancy control, comfort) etc were guides working in Egypt.... but those guys make 750 dives a year and some of them had been doing it for quite a few years....

However, on the whole, I think that diving in cold and in particularly in conditions with low visibility forces divers to develop certain skills that tropical divers do not... skills that make them in some sense "better divers".

The big one in my mind is "buddy contact". If you dive in low-viz conditions then you *must* develop a better than average alertness for buddy contact. You will also develop habits of communicating to your buddy when you change tempo, direction or depth. You simply have to, or you will lose each other on every dive.

The other one that I think gets more of a work out in poor viz conditions is navigation skill. Although this is also important to you in the tropics, divers in poor viz conditions have to navigate with far fewer visual cues and become more alert to the cues they *do* have available to them.

As for cold water, I think on the whole if you feel comfortable in heavier gear that it's easy to dive in the light gear we use in the tropics. Going the other way might be more of a transition, but i'm not convinced that that's a "skills" issue per se.

R..

 

[AfterDark]

Better divers? No. The diving is often more difficult and we need to learn more before we can dive in our environment. Years ago when I stated diving it was said if you could dive the northeast you could dive anywhere. I believe that to be true.

 

[Quero]

The two places with the most challenging overall diving I've encountered were Galapagos (cold water) and Komodo (warm water). I think Komodo was a greater challenge, to be honest. I don't think it's the water temperature that does it.

 

[Interceptor121]

You can easily address the water temperature with the proper exposure suit, even if you can argue dry suit diving has got more challenges actually it is just a matter of practice
What makes you a better diver is the ability to deal with different environmental conditions such as visibility, currents, surge
I have personally witnessed people with cold water experience in quarries and wrecks struggling with currents in warm water (doing compass navigation in a quarry with still water and moving around a wreck without significant current is very different to current diving or drifting in 2+ knots current)
So I second the observation that what makes a good diver is the experience and ability to be comfortable in different conditions and the statement about water temperature only applies to similar conditions
(i.e. a cold water dive with low visibility in current is more difficult than low visibility and current in warm water simply because of the amount of gear and less agility you have)

 

[Byrd]

Being from FL and diving since 93, 100' vis days are not as common as everyone thinks. Just because you know how to use more equipment, imo doesnt necessarily make you better at your diving skills. Be the best and safe as you can be in the conditions you dive in!

 

[Pullmyfinger]

You have to define "better diver".

That's never going to happen on this forum.
Nobody seems to be able to agree on what "advanced" or anything else means.

-Mitch

 

[pjhansman]

I think cold water divers are typically better at cold water diving

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

A good diver is defined by their attitude and their willingness to work toward continuing improvement. Learning to dive in cold-water conditions can make the transition to warm-water diving easier in some respects ... but in other respect it may not have any bearing at all. A diver who learns to dive in cold water, but has no exposure to surf will still be a complete newbie in surf conditions, regardless of water temperature. A diver who's been diving in cold water but never had to contend with tides or currents will not be "better" when faced with those conditions in tropical waters.

"Better" will be defined by how well you can adapt what you know to the conditions you're diving in ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)