In defense of Casual Divers

[lamont]

They may not have said anything judgmental, but they probably thought it ... which is just how it should be on both counts.

Having done one of those dives, and being a kool aid drinker, all I thought remotely negative underwater was "damn, he's booking" with some suggestions to slow down a bit after we got out. I save my contempt for instructors that bicycle kick, because they should know better...

 

[Cacia]

Now, Lamont. You can go to Micronesia, for example and find people who dive everyday and are excellent divers who cannot calculate a sac rate and who don't frog kick and position them selves like DIR divers. Do you realize that? There are divers that can smell a downdraft, or they can tell when a predator hits the reef. They can fetch a camera at 180 ft with a tank stuck under their arm or they can blow air into a cupped hand and make a mask and swim through a series of caverns.....Open your idea of what a good diver is a bit. The definition of a good diver is not just somebody that avoids death, you know. I have great respect for DIR but I would like to see a little reflective awe for other exceptional divers a bit more often. For ever one out there than can do the arithmetic backwards and forwards in perfect trim, there are one or two that cannot put a thought together. Sac rates don't help that much in an ocean that is dynamic and not constant. Using the least amount of air or doing the statistically safest profile is not the ultimate goal of everyone.

 

[TheFoggyMask]

Now, Lamont. You can go to Micronesia, for example and find people who dive everyday and are excellent divers who cannot calculate a sac rate and who don't frog kick and position them selves like DIR divers. Do you realize that? There are divers that can smell a downdraft, or they can tell when a predator hits the reef. They can fetch a camera at 180 ft with a tank stuck under their arm or they can blow air into a cupped hand and make a mask and swim through a series of caverns.....Open your idea of what a good diver is a bit. The definition of a good diver is not just somebody that avoids death, you know.

The exact defination of a good diver is as follows: one who avoids death.

 

[Cacia]

okay, but that is your opinion....okay...reduces the chance of a bad outcome to the smallest number....better?

Start from that assumption, and you have lost a lot of great divers and you have eliminated some fantastic dives.

You either get the "pleasure/ effort ratio" .. or you don't. Taking chances is not immoral.

 

[TheFoggyMask]

okay, but that is your opinion....okay...reduces the chance of a bad outcome to the smallest number....better?

Not opinion, fact.

 

[Cacia]

lol

 

[Cacia]

The exact defination of a good diver is as follows: one who avoids death.

better stay away from sharks and currents and stay shallow.....don't go in any wrecks either, okay? In fact, maybe you should stay on the boat..in the shade.

 

[TheFoggyMask]

better stay away from sharks and currents and stay shallow.....don't go in any wrecks either, okay? In fact, maybe you should stay on the boat..in the shade.

Are you saying I'm a bad diver?

 

[Cacia]

no...

but maybe a little boring?

you might be a little trollish too. PF..is that you?

okay, you got me there for a second.

 

[BarryNL]

The exact defination of a good diver is as follows: one who avoids death.

What's that mneumonic again.... A Good Diver's Main Objective Is To Live.