Deep diving as a goal - the stigma.

[Akimbo]

At first deep dives themselves are exciting, but are quickly replaced by the dive’s objective. I suspect that after enduring a few long, bone-chilling, and terminally boring in-water decompression cycles you will ask yourself “what am I doing this for”… thus finding your answer.

It isn’t hard to find a reason to justify deep diving — it may be exploration, brass or china, big fish, photographing something interesting, training, or money. The point is you will soon discover that pure fun isn’t part of that mix.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

At first deep dives themselves are exciting, but are quickly replaced by the dive’s objective. I suspect that after enduring a few long, bone-chilling, and terminally boring in-water decompression cycles you will ask yourself “what am I doing this for”… thus finding your answer.

It isn’t hard to find a reason to justify deep diving — it may be exploration, brass or china, big fish, photographing something interesting, training, or money. The point is you will soon discover that pure fun isn’t part of that mix.

Got that right. I haven't done a deco dive since last May ... and haven't done a deep deco dive since Thanksgiving 2010. I used to do a lot of them ... for a while they were exciting. Then they got to be repetitive ... then boring. I'm at a point now where I'll go deep if there's a reason for me to go deep ... but those reasons are becoming more and more rare. Nowadays my interests lie in things that are within recreational limits ... although I still made sure that the housing I bought for my camera is rated to 200 feet. There's still those gorgonians at Mozino Point that I'm not done with yet ... and they don't start getting interesting till you hit about 170 ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[danvolker]

First: a couple of thoughts, second: a couple of caveats, third: my question.
First: Yes, I am pretty new to diving. As you can see, I have less than 25 logged dives. Also, I don't plan to move into tech or deep diving anytime soon, but it is in my future.
Second: I realize that deep diving requires many things: training, skills, equipment, planning, experience (in no particular order). I am not asking how to go deeper or whether i should.
Third: I know this might draw a heated discussion, but please be civil. I am not trying to do something crazy and I love scuba diving for all of the same reasons that many of us do.
Third: My Question - I have seen time and time again, on this forum and in the many scuba books that I have read, that deep diving (i.e. deeper than rec limits, 200, 300 fsw, etc.), should be a means to an end, not an end to a means. But, what is wrong with wanting to dive deeper to meet person best records? In every sport/activity there are goals. If you run, you usually want to lose weight, run longer, or run faster. If you hike, you either want to climb higher or hike farther. I'm not trying to set a new world deep diving record and I'm certainly not advocating unsafe diving. But if your passion is to dive deeper as a goal, within your skills, training, equipment, and planning experience; what is so wrong with diving deeper for the sake of setting personal records? Every recreational runner knows that they are probably not the next Prefontaine or Usain Bolt, but they keep trying.

Deep Diving should have NOTHING to do with the concept of "personal best".
Deep Diving should only be an incidental by-product of adventure....a long time search for more adventure, "can" take you to deeper depths.
The divers I have met in my life that talked about "personal best" deep dives, were mostly under-skilled, over-egoed, and typically part of a peer group with similar foolish ideas.

At 25 dives, you have many hundreds of dives ahead of you before you will even know what you don't know
I am not attacking you with this, I am trying to illustrate a more functional view of diving for you.

 

[elvisisalive]

The one thing I remember being taught from an instructor/friend that I won't forget is this: I dive to have fun and enjoy the dive that I am about to do, just did, and about to do. Would I dive to 200' to hit sand and then go up? No. Because that is not fun for ME. I would rather do the stern section of the Chester Poling, probably the most heavily dived wreck in Massachusettes in 100' of water, than the bow of the Chester Poling at 190'. On the stern section I'll do 50-60 minute bottom times in double Al 80's and a 40 of O2 with a run time of 65-70 minutes. On the bow I'd do 20-25 minutes in double 130's and two 40's with a run time of 65-70 minutes. For ME, being on/in the wreck is fun. Not the hang time. Sometimes I want to be on a wreck that not many people see in a year. There just isn't anything quite like dropping in to 160' and having 50' of vis up here!!! But that is me. YOU will come to a decision about what is fun for YOU. Once you do, go after it. Just spend some time learning what it is you want to do/see. There is so much out there.

 

[NOVADiveGuy21]

For the most part, I thank you all for your responses. They were informative and educational. Two weeks from now my local dive site (AKA: the local quarry, 80 feet max) opens up. I can't wait to get under the water again. I have already registered for some more classes and have a bunch of dives lined up. My PR for this summer will be 80 feet. One of the things that I love about diving, and that became very clear in this post, was that we all have our own motivations and interests in diving; some people love caves, deep, fish, new spots, etc. I must say, personal best should not be taken as a mark for me to brag to other divers. I mean it as a goal, that I as a diver/adult/man/human being can say that I have trained, prepared, scheduled, understood, practiced, equipped myself to be able to handle and strive for. People talk about diving deep and surviving it, I'm certainly not planning dives any time soon where I would have to worry that many of the divers that have gone to this depth have died (ie. beyond rec limits), but I allways understand my limits and would never go beyond the accepted limits. Again, bounce dives are not my goal, new world records are not my goal, and being stupid with my diving is not my goal. Going al littler deeper each dive is fun to me, and that is my goal.

 

[Bombay High]

..... enduring a few long, bone-chilling, and terminally boring in-water decompression cycles you will ask yourself “what am I doing this for”… thus finding your answer.
.

The only thing more boring than a DDC deco is in water deco. At least in a DDC the question is easily answered.

Good to see you back Akimbo !

 

[DevonDiver]

At first deep dives themselves are exciting, but are quickly replaced by the dive’s objective. I suspect that after enduring a few long, bone-chilling, and terminally boring in-water decompression cycles you will ask yourself “what am I doing this for”… thus finding your answer.

Ain't that the truth!

I guess it's easy for a recreational diver...poking their nose towards 130ft... to imagine the thrill of going deeper. The imposition of progressively long deco stops, at progressively deeper depths would soon kick that fantasy in the nuts. LMAO

 

[VooDooGasMan]

And this is where "YES" Bounce Diving comes in, you can even say it politely as short bottom time so your not requiring a whole lot of deco, Of course NOVA after 200 to 300' your deco is going to build up to longer bone chilling dives as akimbo described. So up to 200, practice a little longer bottom times as the goal can done be with a shorter deco, in order to reach comfort level.

I put this out there as I do not like to do long deco's either. I did however do a series of them a couple months ago and was just flowing in the shallows and seen some interesting stuff.

 

[AfterDark]

Long ago that was a "goal" of mine. I was talked out of it by my instructor, I was very new.
Looking back it was something I wanted to do because I hadn’tdone it. When I did have a reason to dive deep I came to find my instructor was 100% correct when he told me there was nothing to see below 60fsw in this part of the world unless it’s manmade. Deeper than 100fsw a light is required to see the mud or sand that is the bottom. Diving deep the only thing different about deep diving is the increased risk involved. I hope that’s not what you want. So while there is nothing “wrong”with deep diving as a goal, it’s just that diving deep and returning isn’t much of a feat if you know how to do it. You should set your sights higher. Like how many good quality diving hours can I log this year. Or how many new skills can I learn and make mechanical so I can perform them with my eyes closed without thinking about it. The more you dive the sooner you’ll have a reason to dive deep and the more dives you’ll have logged. Diving isn’t a competition sport, enjoy being there.

 

[Dsix36]

I think that diving deep as a goal is fine, but I admit to being a depth/penetration junkie anyway.

Do anything that you want to. Just work your way up to the "big" dives and keep safety as your number one priority.

My cave instructor had a little saying "You must be willing to turn the dive within one foot of your goal". I have hated that saying on more than one occassion, but I figured that my ass was worth more than what was around the next corner.