diving just for the fun of it

[cloudflint]

Oddly enough I find that warm water dives don't really interest me much. I seem to enjoy myself more diving in freezing cold nil vis than i do in warm clear water. It never feels like im really diving when im in warm water its almost like the "means" become so easy that all there is is the "ends". Whereas in freezing water with nil visibility the "means" take up pretty much all my time and the "means" of actually getting myself through the water safely essentially becomes the "ends".

I suppose its a bit like a pilot who dosent have any interest in flying along in a clear day seeing the view but prefers to fly through fog and storms to enjoy the challenge of flying purely by instruments, its not so much the view i enjoy its getting to the view! That isn't to say i dislike diving in clear, warm water. I love any diving but I always enjoy cold dark dives the most

 

[tkdgodess]

I dive for fun all the time, with no planned "skill drills". Max depth, turn pressure, compass heading. Go. I don't think I would actual dive if I didn't live near the ocean. I try my hardest to get a decent "tour" portion during OW training dives (pressure/comfort allowing). If I only had a quarry/lake to dive in, to go down to a platform to practice hovering or back kicking, to repeat the same dive next week? No. I apply all these skills on each and every dive because I'm I diving, not practicing to dive.

edit to add. cold water all the way!

 

[FuzzyNutz]

I think everyone has made a valid point so far, and they are collectively all the exact reasons why I love diving and wish to continue expanding my skill set. No matter what enjoyment or pleasure I get out of the dive, or the reason, motive, technicality, etc,... or if I'm even diving at all, I'll still enjoy my bubbly beer at the end of the day. I'll even add that I simply just enjoy the boat ride!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think everyone has made a valid point so far, and they are collectively all the exact reasons why I love diving and wish to continue expanding my skill set. No matter what enjoyment or pleasure I get out of the dive, or the reason, motive, technicality, etc,... or if I'm even diving at all, I'll still enjoy my bubbly beer at the end of the day. I'll even add that I simply just enjoy the boat ride!

Some boat rides aren't all that enjoyable ... I took a pass on this one ... just didn't seem like my idea of a good time ... (I'm such a wimp sometimes) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

At some level, I do all the diving I do for fun, but the fun is different. Working with students can be very challenging and sometimes quite stressful, but leaves me often with a great feeling of accomplishment. Diving local reefs is focused on finding critters and spotting for my photographer friends, and that's a different kind of fun. Doing staged decompression dives in Lake Washington is far from care-free, silly fun, but it's a challenge and I enjoy putting myself out to meet that challenge. Diving the caves is spectacular, peaceful, but also a continuous challenge . . . and at the end of one of our cave dives last week, my buddy and I sat in ten feet of water in Carwash and did back flips, snap rolls and Immelman's in our doubles, laughing ourselves silly the whole time.

In the winter, in Puget Sound, there is sometimes quite a bit less to see, so spending a few dives polishing skills can be great fun (and often involve a lot of laughter, too). And I try to keep my emergency skills sharp all the time, simply because I want to have my fun as safely as I can manage it.

Skills practice and fun are not only not mutually exclusive, but can be part and parcel of the same dive.

 

[Paladin]

Even after 45 years of diving, I still enjoy diving just for the enjoyment of being underwater. I still skin dive (excuse me, "freedive") often and sometimes I like to just sit on the bottom in 20-30 feet of water and watch the aquatic world go by. I am one of those lazy divers who like to keep things simple and slow. I have never tired of the simple pleasure of just being underwater.

That said, the myriad definitions of "fun" in SCUBA are as numerous and varied as the divers who populate the sport. Why concern oneself if one's idea of underwater fun isn't as exciting or as challenging as someone else's? I know that many divers would find my style boring and unexciting, while I feel no need to dive the Andrea Doria or the U-869. SCUBA os a sport where it is to each his own and there is room for all kinds. Just get wet and have whatever kind of fun floats your boat.

 

[Hank49]

there are two types of divers. Those of us who just want to be wet, blow some bubbles and see pretty underwater 'stuff' and those who are genuinely fascinated by all the technical gee-wiz gizmos and scientific analysis. :

Diving is just another thing to do in water. That's the main thing: BEING IN WATER.
If I lived in an area that had no water except cenotes, I might even have to give cave diving...brrrrrrr.....a shot.
Being in water whether diving, free diving, body surfing, surfing, or just floating around....makes me smile. All the time.

 

[TMHeimer]

As a shell collector, I dive to collect them. If there's nothing worth taking, it just becomes a fun dive. It's fun to see how good my navigation plan turns out.

 

[knowone]

Over what period did Skin Diving encompass spear fishing and compressed air diving before it became scuba diving, spearfishing and then freediving or freediving without the spear?

My claustrophobia impacts on the boat ride like public transport or is that another phobia.

 

[divad]

How many of you dive just for ch*ts and giggles? I haven't done a real dive in years but I will go to a shop with a pool from time to time just to breathe compressed air. So many threads place an emphasis on doing drills or practicing certain skill sets, but to me that takes some of the fun out of it. Diving is just a means to end and for me the end is simply being underwater.

Thank god for warm, shallow, pools and the means rationalizing the ends.