Dive and let dive... dealing with different styles of diving.

[CT-Rich]

Really, diving within the recreational limits has not changed hugely since 1980. you breath air and pay attention to your gauges and stay within the NDL. Some of the toys have changed but the underlying principles I learned are still the same. My daughter was bummed out when I told her the dive shop was declining to service my 35 year old regulator that she used. She liked it better than the modern ones she was learning on, and to be honest, I went with a Scuba Pro rig because I found it for next to nothing when I was buying a BCD off of Craig's List.

Really, the gear available today is all pretty safe and reliable. The number of divers that die because of equipment failure issues is probably really small within recreational limits. If you talk with any golfer, hunter or bicyclist, there is a gadget out there that will make you a better marksman, putter or shave minutes of your ride. They will obsess about the virtues of this or that. The key concept at the end of the day is they get to fiddle, debate and screw around with their toys. Divers of yesteryear did plenty of diving without a lot of the trapping of modernity. And the latest and greatest is not going to change it for the majority of divers in one direction or the other. Technology is more likely to get you into trouble because of its abundance much more so than its scarcity. If you feel the desire to tech out and DIR to your heart's content.... shop your LDS into the black and spend that disposable income...

LIVE FREE OR DIVE TRYING!!!

Oh, but splits will kill you.... (just saying)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Beware though that if you go to Fiji and The Beqa Lagoon Shark dive, they won't let you wear anything but black that day.

I was at Beqa Lagoon in May 2015, did the shark dive in a red and black wetsuit, and nobody said a word. I did have a close encounter with a shark that day, but it was a bull shark ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

Yard sale may have been a fall actually

In skiing, a yard sale occurs when a skier falls while traveling at sufficient velocity to leave gear (skies, poles, hat, goggles, etc.) scattered about the slope.

 

[george_austin]

I was at Beqa Lagoon in May 2015, did the shark dive in a red and black wetsuit, and nobody said a word. I did have a close encounter with a shark that day, but it was a bull shark ...

View attachment 449461

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

The dive is 70 ft
What color is Red at 70 ft? Kind of a dark purple? . . . . .

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The dive is 70 ft
What color is Red at 70 ft? Kind of a dark purple? . . . . .

I know that ... but I'm questioning your comment that they won't let you wear anything but black ... everyone in our group (there were nearly 30 of us) was wearing whatever color wetsuit they'd been diving the entire week. Nobody on the BL staff said we should do otherwise. If they have a "nothing but black" policy then it's only been implemented within the past couple years ... and where are they going to come up with black suits for everybody?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[kelemvor]

Love the thread topic.

I dove an air2 reg in SM configuration along side a conshelf xiv with jetfins and a msr bladder homemade rig with a weight belt two days ago.

We love being underwater, it's occasionally fun finding the best tool for the job. Sometimes it's enjoyable using the "wrong" equipment for the dive too. It's even pleasant when someone shares a better method to accomplish what we love.

At the end of the day, as recreational divers("professional" or not), we are enjoying a hobby. I'm happy to talk about it, and rather be doing it. Seek me out.


Cheers,
Cameron

I think I can one-up you. My air2 is connected directly to a BP&W, and I don't use a directly connected SPG. Sometimes I even dive with articulating fins. I'm pretty sure I died 5 or 10 dives ago and nobody told me.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

... of course the other side of all of this was my trip to the Maldives, where I spent 10 days on a liveaboard enduring constant criticism from a south Florida dive shop owner for using a BPW, long hose and blade fins. He went through a thorough critique of my gear, telling me I should NEVER trust my life to anything other than ScubaPro. Of course he would say that ... he's a ScubaPro dealer ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[abnfrog]

reconfiguring gear when not asked that's a NO NO I my book if someone tried changing (read touching ) my gear or someone I know they would be told very loudly hands off ...... if they continued its going to get real very fast ....talking about a set up is bad enough but touching and or changing could be very dangerous .....to the offender and the user

 

[Bob DBF]

He went through a thorough critique of my gear, telling me I should NEVER trust my life to anything other than ScubaPro. Of course he would say that ... he's a ScubaPro dealer ...

I've met folk like that, and if I get annoyed enough to respond at all, I just let them know that as soon as they start buying my gear for me I'd start using it.

Over the years I've seen some really good divers, at no time did I notice that it was dependant on the gear they were diving. A good diver will make any piece of gear look good.

I've been living "Live and let dive" as long as I can remember, I have my preferences and occasionally I get vocal, but in the end I don't care what any other diver uses.



Bob

 

[Akimbo]

He went through a thorough critique of my gear, telling me I should NEVER trust my life to anything other than ScubaPro. Of course he would say that ... he's a ScubaPro dealer ...

I've met folk like that, and if I get annoyed enough to respond at all, I just let them know that as soon as they start buying my gear for me I'd start using it.

Or advise them that you are living proof they have no idea what they are talking about.