Diving like this is fun?

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My guess is diving like that is not fun... especially since he is not wearing fins. Otherwise I could see all that stuff being pretty fun to mess around with.

On a related note, my GUE instructor is a woman. So there ;p

-V
 
the nice thing about diving is that you can take it in any direction you want and to any level. It is something that can be enjoyed by young and old, men and women. What is fun for one is not so fun for another. I beleive that to enjoy diving to the fullest you need to be willing to experience the different types and locations around the world.
 
Different divers are drawn to different attractions and activities. That's one of the great things about the sport.

It might be the deep, caves, wrecks or under the ice. it may mean reaching a remote entry point. yes it's all hard work but you get to visit something seen by few.

Combined with that it might be conditions like low visibilty, cold or the challenges public safety divers face. Do we choose to have the bad conditions? Not likely but they are there and we can't make them go away. So we deal with them, for the oportunity to dive.

Was I happy be diving today in 39F degree ocean water? In a way yes, in a normal year it would be 34. Then again our summertime water in the 60s sounds downright balmy right now. I won't even get into a warm water trip! Point is I want to dive so I get equipped, put up with heavier gear than many divers would begin to consider and enjoy my favorite sport 12 months of the year. Heck I haven't even worked on my snowblower collection this winter.

The alternative of diving just a few months under ideal conditions or diving only when we can afford to travel is not even on the radar screen as an option. Is it a male bonding thing? It's a friendship thing with both male and female divers. There are many accomplished female divers here on the board and it's not uncommon to read of adventures they enjoy with their S.Os. in caves, deep water and so on.

It would be foolish to believe that there are not thrill seekers drawn to the sport more for for the thrill than the dive. Or others trying diving just to get the Tee shirt. You'll find those types in any sport.

As for the likes of DIR. It's a discipline and that has evolved to make technical divers safer and there are reasons for all that these divers do. There is no magic there and some of us will adopt bits and pieces of the methodology. Sure, some fun gets poked at black gear, sugical tubing and D rings but any diver having the need will draw upon these concepts.

Personally trying to be a diver on a few vacation weeks per year would be a dream squandered and IMO an accident waing to happen.

As mentioned it's the price of admission to whatever makes diving special to a diver and that is unique to each of us.

Pete
 
Too much work?

We in the PNW strap on somewhere around 75 pounds of gear and weights, after we have struggled into multiple layers of undergarment and pushed and pulled ourselves into dry suits and seals. We then hike to the water, enjoy it for 45 minutes to an hour, and drag ourselves back up hill to go through the tedious process of taking it all off again, taking it home, taking it out of the car, and washing it all and putting it away.

I never in my life ran into an activity that involved so much work for so little actual time spent DOING it.

Diving doubles, stages, sidemount etc. is just ratcheting up the workload and nuisance factor a little bit.

And yes, it seems technical diving is predominantly male -- but DIVING is still predominantly male, as one finds out when one tries to buy dry suits in women's sizes. Technical divers seem to me to be the surgeons of the diving world . . . willing to do a long and stressful training to be able to do something that not very many other people can do. The fact that a lot of other people don't really WANT to do it doesn't matter. When you get there, you have the camaraderie of shared suffering and the enjoyment of being in a place few people go, doing something extraordinary. If you have the right temperament, it makes it all worthwhile.
 
I'll chime in here,
I do most all the different "kinds" of diving. With my wife, most of the time. I haven't gotten into sidemount- yet- but hey there's still time. When I teach a class I always point out that something diving has over most all other sports/hobbies/activities is the opportunity to "mold" or blend different interests into your diving-Photography,fishing, hunting, caving, climbing, camping, travelling etc,etc etc.
Catherine-I'm either a little surprised at your posts or misinterpreting them. Guys go tech diving to get away from women,you really think so??-- as far as I'm concerned the more women around anything I'm doing the better. I wish more women were cave diving, wreck diving, deep diving etc. I get tired of hairy faces rather quickly!
Now as far as safety goes-I'm going with andy in this one-I feel a whole lot safer or really better said I don't feel any less safe in a cave than on a reef. And going one step further I have seen more equipment problems, OOA's, and in general more problems on reef dives then i have ever experienced or have seen in the caves. And I think it goes without question that us macho, don't want the girls around, think were cool humping 110lbs+ of gear around are a little better at handling problems than many so called experienced divers in OW
 
I was not making a value judgement.Here is where I am coming from. I find the people that dive at least as interesting as the nudibranchs. Lynne,it is very much like a horse barn or a medical center,,,,certain personality attributes become apparent in a given medical specialty or a riding style. It is just very interesting to me.

Pete, great post. assuming everything you say is true, i just like to notice what motivates people. My photography, for example. probably won't go any further because I have hit a wall. I don't like to sit and photoshop. I hate it. All I want to do is dive and see things. Whales, sharks, mantas, little fish, big fish. Take the picture, come home and look at it once, and then move on to the next one.

The day I turned 18 was the day I went to the Carribbean. Had to be near the ocean and that color of blue. HAD to. Catalina, Cali, then Hawaii. Pete talks about people who can only dive on vacation. Many of the people in diving live in places far from their families, more lucrative jobs, cheaper property. For some of us, the ocean and the marine life is our "irreducible minimum". I ask questions of the ice divers, the cave divers, because they are driven by something else. And I just like to gain insight into that. Often on Scubaboard that is immediately taken as a value judgement, Right/wrong. Another interesting thing on this board is watching certain regional differences unfold from everything about diving style and affinity for the technical aspects.
 
TSandM:
Too much work?

We in the PNW strap on somewhere around 75 pounds of gear and weights, after we have struggled into multiple layers of undergarment and pushed and pulled ourselves into dry suits and seals. We then hike to the water, enjoy it for 45 minutes to an hour, and drag ourselves back up hill to go through the tedious process of taking it all off again, taking it home, taking it out of the car, and washing it all and putting it away.

I never in my life ran into an activity that involved so much work for so little actual time spent DOING it.

Diving doubles, stages, sidemount etc. is just ratcheting up the workload and nuisance factor a little bit.

And yes, it seems technical diving is predominantly male -- but DIVING is still predominantly male, as one finds out when one tries to buy dry suits in women's sizes. Technical divers seem to me to be the surgeons of the diving world . . . willing to do a long and stressful training to be able to do something that not very many other people can do. The fact that a lot of other people don't really WANT to do it doesn't matter. When you get there, you have the camaraderie of shared suffering and the enjoyment of being in a place few people go, doing something extraordinary. If you have the right temperament, it makes it all worthwhile.


Hey Lynn,

I know surgeons are a certain "personality type" but I also know they do it for the rewarding $$$ results. What do tech divers do it for? Are they like mountaineers just because they can?

Carl
 
Tech divers "do it" for many different reasons, but as far as doing it because they can?? Anybody that wants to-can, that's what makes diving so great! And as far as personality types, I'm seeing quite a few different personalities out there diving in every style of diving.
Catherine, i have always enjoyed your posts and respect and usually agree with your viewpoint. I'm still not sure where your headed on this one, but I never was very smart I've had to rely on my good looks(don't ask for a picture). I think your last post told me that you like Nudi's-they are at the top of my list for video. I have some shots that would knock your socks off. A friend and I were muck diving and hunting for a bobbit worm when I stumbled across a couple nudi's trying to create more nudi's. With a supermacro lens we watched an Emperor Shrimp crawl all over the two nudi's and the whole segment turned out fantastic-now all I have to do is figure out how to put it up for all to see-I'm a bit computer challenged-M
 
catherine96821:
Oh, okay then, you do dive with women...hey I was just curious. I don't see any with JJ and george. Don't misunderstand me, I think its great. I was just wondering if my impression was true.

I know nobody is forcing me, I never said they were. As far as you being safer....so far I have not had a near death experience in a puddle. (wink back)

"Brokeback" has already made it into the vernacular language of the Marine Corp, just so you know!...they say "hey that was really brokeback of you".

I just spent a week diving with JJ,... and his gorgeous girlfriend. Your impression is false. Any more you'd like to air out?

Oh, and just for the record, their wetsuits were not black, they were blue, yellow, and grey.
 

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