How much fun do technical divers have?

[Diver0001]

I just dive. I don't experience a "click" on the whole tek/rec scale that makes me suddenly get intense or dive any differently. I think people who draw a big distinction between the two either

a) don't have the training and don't know what it's like
b) are insecure about it at some level
c) are ego pilots trying to impress the girls

Some dives are more involved than others but once I'm in the water I just feel like the same diver I always was. I'm equally at ease and equally happy in 10ft of water looking at nudibranches as I am rooting around in a deep wreck (possibly quite a bit over the NDLs) looking for something that would identify it.

R..

 

[muddiver]

It boils down to a misunderstanding of the concept of "fun" for one person vs. that for another.

Example: Do you think a young lady that ownes or manages a dog grooming salon in an upscale area would enjoy the working conditions and skill set needed to do the work of a Civil Engineer on a dam construction project 1000 miles from the nearest Starbucks?

For some the act of planning out the dive, setting up the equipment needed to do the dive successfully and performing the maintainence on the equipment can be just as fun to someone that is mechnically and/or scientifically oriented, as enjoying the viriety of colors of a warm coral reef is to someone that is artistically inclined. Potato - potato, it's all about how you pronounce it.

 

[Cave Diver]

For some the act of planning out the dive, setting up the equipment needed to do the dive successfully and performing the maintainence on the equipment can be just as fun to someone that is mechnically and/or scientifically oriented, as enjoying the viriety of colors of a warm coral reef is to someone that is artistically inclined. Potato - potato, it's all about how you pronounce it.

 

[Kingpatzer]

For some the act of planning out the dive, setting up the equipment needed to do the dive successfully and performing the maintainence on the equipment can be just as fun to someone that is mechnically and/or scientifically oriented, as enjoying the viriety of colors of a warm coral reef is to someone that is artistically inclined. Potato - potato, it's all about how you pronounce it.

That's absolutely true and a very good point.

Yet it still seems strange that someone would take great pleasure in the planning aspects and take no pleasure in the activity that is being planned.

The perception of tech divers as folks who don't have fun comes, I suspect, not from their enjoyment of planning, but the focus of discussion on planning and practicing skills over the actual activity of diving by at least some vocal members.

I might liken it to a musician who diligently practices their scales all day long, but never learns how to play a song (and yes, there are people out there who do that!) Folks who are more well-rounded musicians look at such folks and scratch their heads trying to figure out why they bother. Sure they may be having fun, but the point of a musical instrument is music.

It can seem to someone who occasionally reads technical diving forums and publications that the only thing enjoyed is planning and practice precisely because it seems so disproportionately the topic of discussion.

 

[LiteHedded]

for me, life sucks directly before and after getting in the water.
but when I'm in the water it's more fun

 

[brockbr]

A few dives come to mind for different aspects:

1 - Silver Sides Blue Hole - Cay Sal Bank - Extremely Deep - CCR - Did this dive with support divers and my teammate was a very gracious, very experienced, well known diver. The decompression alone was nearly 3 hours.

2 - Oriskany - Pensacola FL - Aircraft Carrier Diving - CCR - This dive was special because my daughter (also a technical diver) was with me. We got to witness the Oriskany from the sand in all her glory. Then we went in at the hanger deck, and dropped down the mineshafts to lower decks. What a fantastic dive.

3 - Windjammer Mari Bahn - Bonaire NA - Old Glorious Shipwreck Diving - OC - Got to dive the windjammer with Walt at RecTec Scuba in Bonaire. We penetrated the wreck at the fracture in the middle - Awesome dive.

Here's some pics from #1 - All photos were taken by Curt Bowen of RebreatherWorld.com

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The perception of tech divers as folks who don't have fun comes, I suspect, not from their enjoyment of planning, but the focus of discussion on planning and practicing skills over the actual activity of diving by at least some vocal members.

I might liken it to a musician who diligently practices their scales all day long, but never learns how to play a song (and yes, there are people out there who do that!) Folks who are more well-rounded musicians look at such folks and scratch their heads trying to figure out why they bother. Sure they may be having fun, but the point of a musical instrument is music.

It can seem to someone who occasionally reads technical diving forums and publications that the only thing enjoyed is planning and practice precisely because it seems so disproportionately the topic of discussion.

I've never met anyone like that. I suspect it's just an Internet legend.

I mean ... the cost of a dive involving helium, deco gasses, and all the requisite equipment that's needed for such dives is so expensive, I cannot imagine someone doing it purely for the fun of planning. You can plan the dive without any of that expense. If there's no enjoyment in the activity, nobody's going to go to all the expense of doing it.

I think that's just, really, a perception that some get because they don't understand the difference in mindset between having to plan your dive down to the minute details vs just jumping in the water and swimming around till your gas requires you to end the dive.

Everybody dives for their own reasons, and within their own zones of comfort and prudence. Just because you wouldn't enjoy doing it the same way someone else does, you shouldn't assume that they're not having fun.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Kingpatzer]

I think that's just, really, a perception that some get because they don't understand the difference in mindset between having to plan your dive down to the minute details vs just jumping in the water and swimming around till your gas requires you to end the dive.

Which is precisely the point I was trying to make - that it is perception perpetuated by a particular penchant for planning. (sorry .. sometimes I can't stop myself).

Everybody dives for their own reasons, and within their own zones of comfort and prudence. Just because you wouldn't enjoy doing it the same way someone else does, you shouldn't assume that they're not having fun.

I'm not making that assumption.

 

[boulderjohn]

I am going to toss out some psychology that might throw a different light onto the subject.

I read a study quite some time ago that put people through various experiences and then asked them to rate the quality of the experiences. (This included the quality of products.) The catch was that there was some sort of prerequisite to the experience/product. The people had to either pay for it or go through some sort of initial experience to get to it. In general, the more people had to pay for something or the harder people had to work to get it, the higher they rated the experience. The same experience/product got very different ratings, depending upon what the raters had to do to get it.

So far, almost all of my technical diving has been done in an environment that would not appeal to most people. It is in a tiny (maybe 200 feet across) lake on a prairie in the middle of nowhere in the Rocky Mountain region. During the summer cows graze at the water's edge, so when you first get there you need to get out a shovel and clear out the area. When we arrived a few months ago, a cow had died and was decomposing at the water's edge. The only facilities are a concrete table divers made years ago, an old leanto made of corrugated steel, and the platform and steps made by divers at the water's edge. (If nature calls, you emulate the cows in the open pasture.) The top 30 feet has some kind of flimsy vegetation growing in the rotted decay of dead vegetation. After that the sheer rock walls are encrusted with geothite, with some layers of clay. Ledges are covered with fine, loose silt that has dropped from the vegetation above, and they sometimes contain random gypsum crystals. It gets very dark very quickly as you descend. I have never reached the bottom (about 330 feet), but I am told that the silt is seriously thick and yucky.

It is a real challenge to get all our gear there, along with enough gas to supply us for a weekend. Depending on the traffic in the Denver area, it can take us 6-7 ours just to get there, with a van seriously filled with tanks, gas, and gear.

I would never dream of going out of my way to dive a site like this for a normal recreational experience. It is all we have for technical diving for many hundreds of miles, though, and we are glad to have it.

I think all of that contributes to why I enjoy it so much and look forward to the trips. Once you have paid those dues, you tend to have a high regard for an experience that would not seem remotely inviting to anyone else.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Attacking the work that goes into technical diving is one way that it is sold as being less fun than what is currently marketed as recreational diving at many dive centers. Technical divers are often put down by others for the passion that they have for equipment, gases, training and the like, as if this passion was somehow meant to demean others who aren't diving or interested in diving at the technical level.

Such passion may be misunderstood.

Growing up, my brother and his friends were total motorheads. They loved riding dirt bikes, ATV's, jet skis, snowmobiles, and finally cars and crotch rockets when they turned 16. For them, the ride was only part of the fun. They always had some vehicle (if not all of them) in some sort of disassembled or assembled phase adding new parts. This was also fun for them. Twenty years later, they are still at it. My brother went from working in garages, to owning his own, to being a consultant to dealerships to troubleshoot mysterious mechanical issues. His avocation and vocation are intertwined as are mine.

Many tech divers view their gear in an almost holy way. The equipment isn't just stuff or a tool, but an extension of the individual. There is a certain ritualistic pleasure in gearing up, in modifying gear, and in cleaning and caring for it. Much like a Spartan may have felt when sharpening and sheathing his sword, donning his helmet, or carrying his shield. The nurturing and the care, the transport, and the way that equipment defines us, unifies us to something special, and allows us to touch the tangible link to the memories of wrecks, caves, and water is personally poetic.

Sometimes, those who think that dealing with equipment isn't part of the fun, also don't understand the process by which a mountain gets climbed.