Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
As many posts, this one appropriately points out the value of variety, and diving in different and difficult conditions. I have limited COASTAL shore diving experience. Quarry 'shore' diving, and even Bonaire shore diving is just not the same (although 1000 Steps IS daunting on the exit). That may not make the SoCal folks 'better' divers than me, but they certainly have exposure to and experience with an environment that I don't, and I am completely sure that, in that environment, they are far better divers than I am. I might not make it through the surf! I do have lots of COASTAL boat diving experience (including the long tedious rides, the barf fests when the swell amplitude and frequency are just right, the fun of getting up the wildly swinging ladder wearing my double 120s.) Maybe, in that environment, I might be a 'better' diver than a SoCal person who has never experienced it. But, that does not have any relevance. I just want to be 'better' than myself - IOW to continue to develop and refine skills, broaden my experience base, and learn from others, both in and out of the water, and be able to say 'I am better now than I was a year ago, and I hope to be even better next year.' So, going way back to the OPs very appropriate question, where you certify (Utah or warm Carribean climes) is probably not as important as how you continue to develop. Get certified and join the fun!When I first started diving in Jan 2005 (here in SoCal), I recall a local, experienced diver telling me "if you can beach dive year round in SoCal, you can dive anywhere in the world". ... long walks in gear (sometimes accompanied by stairs, hills, rocks, and lots of sand).. Surf, cold water, currents, surge, low to no vis at times, and its very gear intensive.. we have to carry more weight on our backs or belts, which can suck on those long walks.. In La Jolla, our surface swims can vary between 15 and 30 minutes~ not always fun when the outside temp is in the 50s, theres surface chop, and a surface current..
I think the point is that diving is about adapting to an environment that we were never designed for. Comfort in the water is a symptom of this adaptation. Some conditions are more difficult to adapt to than others ... and some require skills that are transferrable to other conditions.Already mentioned several times, but I think diving in lots of different environments and diving a lot makes you a good diver, not the temp of the water.
Quick example was on one of my recent trips I dove with some people from the north who primarily dive cold water and they talked how much better it is to learn to dive in cold waters (they dove all in lakes and quarries), etc. Kinda annoying. Anyway, on one the dives they jumped in and freaked out because the current was "ripping." Well, I got in and to me it just felt like a normal dive with a little current..lol. It took a lot for me to not make a comment regarding their cold water training, but I bit my tongue.
I agree 100%.. I'm especially tired of the trend where if you don't dive in the harshest conditions with atleast 2000+ dives and a BP/W you are a Scuba Noob.I'm not a big fan of these "people who dive xxx are better divers than people who dive yyy" type threads ... there are great divers and lousy divers in just about any xxx and yyy you want to apply ... and to my concern, diving's just not a competitive sport anyway ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
When Walter came out here a few years back, he didn't seem to have any trouble adjusting.
I think the point is that diving is about adapting to an environment that we were never designed for. Comfort in the water is a symptom of this adaptation. Some conditions are more difficult to adapt to than others ... and some require skills that are transferrable to other conditions.
People who have been exposed to current will be more comfortable in current ... no matter what the water temp or vis may be.
I'm not a big fan of these "people who dive xxx are better divers than people who dive yyy" type threads ... there are great divers and lousy divers in just about any xxx and yyy you want to apply ... and to my concern, diving's just not a competitive sport anyway ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)