Intro ducing myself:

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Chris K.

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Location
British Columbia, Canada
# of dives
I'm a Fish!
Hello, all.
I’m new to this forum, albeit not to diving. I’ve been getting wet regularly since the mid-nineties, starting as a working diver for a salmon farm on the Northwest Pacific Coast. Some years later the government made us all become certified professional divers, and with that ticket under my belt I was able to take on work with other companies. I have worked for the DFO, insurance adjusters, salvagers, remote camp operators, and land developers in all sorts of environments from sewer outfalls to mud filled lakes strewn with sunken logs and the visibility of a cup of coffee. I have dived in drinking water reservoirs, under docks, boats, and expansive fish farms, retrieved salvaged wood and various goods from ships’ propellers to peoples’ sun glasses. Later I became an OWSI, and ran a dive charter business for some years. Although I spent a short time diving and teaching in the tropics, I prefer the clear, cold waters of the Pacific Northwest. These days, I dive only for fun, and I like to take my old Ikelite housing and SLR camera along.
Over the years I’ve seen my share of good and bad divers, and I have stared death in the eyes – and seen the fear of death in the eyes of others – more than once. For this reason I am a convinced solo diver. When I dive with others, it is under the strict understanding that you don’t count on me, and I don’t count on you. Sorry, I for one plan to come home after a dive. When I do dive with a “buddy” (which I have not done in years – I dive with like-minded friends), it is like a work assignment, not a fun dive. My full and undivided attention goes to my buddy, because that’s the only way a buddy could be of any use to you underwater. Experience has taught me that unless you hold hands, or are tethered to each other it is unlikely for a buddy to be much help to you in a sudden emergency. By the time your buddy notices that something is wrong with you – or vice versa – you’d be most likely dead. Sure, a buddy could assist you with a minor mishap, say entanglement, but if you run out of air and your buddy is even 25 feet away and facing the other way, chances are you’d be doing the “funky chicken” before he has time to come to your aid. Beside (trust me on this one) the last thing you want under water is a panicking “buddy” scrambling over to you and ripping the reg from your mouth! I had to punch a “dive master” in the face at sixty feet once to keep him from drowning us both. He lived, although we had to rush him to hospital. I don’t mean to be callous, and I appreciate the many excellent and deserving recreational divers out there, but there is also a lot of BS – mostly driven by the almighty buck – and an effort to sell, sell, sell. Gadgets and hokey “training” courses don’t make up for genuine experience and common sense. I stopped counting my dives near 1000, and that was ten years ago. I’m as good at it as I will ever be, but I don’t call myself a “master”. I will always learn, and I will never lose respect for the underwater environment. I am a firm believer in self-sufficiency and that includes fitness of mind and body, unclouded judgment, and the ability to make rational decisions under the most stressful conditions. No dive course is going to teach you that. If you haven’t lived it, you can’t know. Theory won’t do. If you smoke, if you’re obese, if you “drink and dive”, if your gear is shabby and held together with duct tape, (or if you have the latest and best, but don’t know how to use it), or if your mind is preoccupied with something else, you’re just playing Russian roulette. I maintain my gear religiously – all going on fifteen years, and in pristine condition – and I know each square inch of it intimately, because in the end you count on this stuff to keep you alive down there. Unlike what organizations like PADI tell you, diving is not a casual, fun activity you can just take up on a whim and do once every few years like rollerblading or snowboarding. It takes preparation, commitment and mental and physical ability to do safely. Anything less is a disaster waiting to happen.
I’m looking forward to some lively discussions on this forum.
Cheers,
Chris
 
Welcome, Chris! Always good to see another cold water fan here on the board. I hope to see some more of your "cold, clear water" this fall.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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