Isn't scuba supposed to be fun too?

[Griffo]

My friends are all vacation divers. They rent jacket BC's, all their dive gear, and use snorkels on their masks, and even fin and scull with their hands during the dive. They are smart enough to know they are not 'expert' divers and usually hire DM's and in a real sense are on 'trust me dives' since they couldn't dive without a more experienced diver. But, they are smart enough to know their limitations and book only easy DM led dives.

I know the prevailing wisdom regarding 'those' type of divers here on SB. Yes, our skills are not even close to the GUE/DIR group. But, we have just as much fun diving. We like to see all the beauty and wonder of the ocean, the exhilaration of breathing underwater and swimming with the fishes. My daughter still talks about our last dive together and keeps asking when we are going next. She can't wait for August and diving in Maui and Kona. I have promised her a manta ray night dive as well.

I know scuba can be potentially dangerous, and accidents do happen. I have been pursuing my own education as well to become a safer diver. I did the AOW training to improve my skills and plan on completing Rescue Diver certification hopefully by the end of this year.

But, I feel a little like those 7 year olds playing baseball. This isn't the World Series. We are having fun, keeping it simple, and as for scuba as safe as our training allows.

You make a lot of well reasoned, rational arguments. And I probably would have agreed with most of what you wrote. I totally agree with the fact that scuba should always be fun.

I even remember proclaiming that I would never buy gear - why would I? I mean, then you have to maintain it, lug it around etc, just rent it and let the shops - who know what they are doing - keep it in safe working order. What's wrong with rocking up to a warm location once a year and jumping in?

Then during a trust-me dive in a warm, beautiful tropical location, my Fiance almost died.

She almost drowned in the dark, alone, 40m under water. She readily admits that if she could have, she would have bolted to the surface. That probably would have been even worse.

Inexperience, trust in a guide, rental gear, poor buddy skills all added up to create a deadly situation.

Due to our inexperience, we have been given the most senior guide. A diver with over 5000 dives on this site alone! 5000! This man took people, twice a day, six days a week to this same site. He knew every inch of it. How could we possibly get into trouble?

The thing is, diving can be dangerous. It can be immensely fun, but it's also dangerous. I don't want to ever have to explain to my Fiance's parents how she died in some remote island dive site, and I certainly don't want to die myself. So we decided together to add in a layer of additional margin. I read in a thread here once about the incident pit, and how wide or narrow that pit is depending on your experience, the depth and the problem. That made a lot of sense to me.

I've just come out of a GUE Fundies class. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you must go off and switch to a long hose or anything like that. (althought I did just write a massive thread about the experience if you are interested)

What I am going to say though, is that I came out of the class with a new level of buoyancy and trim control, and it made diving MORE FUN. My very last dive was in the cold, with nothing to see, getting my ass kicked by my instructor. But I learnt a new way to control myself in the water. It felt like going from crawling, to running in one step.

I've never done a PADI PPB course, but I hope that it teaches similar skills. I'm not going to sit here and say that DIR or GUE is the only way to dive. I'm not that stupid. But I can say that learning a whole bunch of "advanced" skills, actually makes the whole dive more enjoyable.

On a recent diving trip, I got to dive with an insta-buddy who had such great trim and buoyancy, that he was by far the most relaxed diver I have ever seen underwater. I think he was about 1/3 of the way through his tank when I thumbed the dive. I aspire to be that in-control and relaxed underwater, but I'm not going to get there without some instruction and guidance.

 

[TMHeimer]

The more (baseball) skills they learn, and the more proficient they become, the funner(er) the game will become.

Yes. Fun and work usually go hand in hand but it's not the same for everything. Reminds me of something that's always puzzled me. Having played sports as a youth and young man (basketball mostly), I recall that practising the sport was just about as much fun as playing a game--whether you're just practising shooting by yourself or playing HORSE with freinds, etc.
On the other hand, as a Band teacher I would tell my young students that practising can be fun at times, but to be honest, it's more along the lines of concentration and hard work. But like with basketball, he/she who puts in the work eventually becomes a fine player and has more fun. As a professional musician I have maintained that opinion about my own practising vs. playing a concert. So, why is that? Why is sports ALWAYS fun? Now--SCUBA-- Not a sport IMO, which is another topic. Where does practising scuba skills like buoyancy, hovering, or the machanical skills taught in OW like weight belt removal come in? Is this stuff fun? In the eye of the beholder, I guess. But, I do agree with Jim and SC_Hoaty in that not improving your game with SCUBA can kill you, so the fun/work debate is less important here. You just have to do it.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

Yes scuba can kill you, but it's still should be fun. But since I don't worry about how and when I'm going to die. I dive for the fun of it, I do strive to become a better diver so I can stay down longer, stay of the reef, overall enjoy the dive. Just like little league baseball how can the kids have fun if they are worried about making a mistake and getting yelled at by their parents. It's alright to have someone give you a few pointers, but to point out everything I did wrong is taking it a little to far!! When things stop being fun there is no point in doing them.


"Even though I know the inevitability of my faith, I'm in no hurry to embrace it"

 

[gcbryan]

My comment to the OP is that Scuba is fun and maybe you could post a link to threads where someone is implying that it isn't fun. I haven't seen any of those threads.

There are threads where someone asks a technical (or technique) question and of course it's answered and there are topics that don't apply to everyone's type of diving but I doubt if anyone considers diving not to be fun.

 

[rhwestfall]

learning can be fun too.......

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Not too long ago, a North Texas high school pitcher was practicing in one area and boys were practicing hitting in another. Nothing had ever gone wrong before so no one thought twice about the set up. This teen age boy took a line drive to the back of the head and it killed him.

Accident analysis caused some changes.

Kids wear helmets because it makes the game safer. Catchers safety gear has improved to make it safer.

Don't lose the message due to the messenger. SCUBA is fun. But sometimes there are unintended consequences to people getting hurt. Some people have the foresight to recognize this and try to make changes to make things safer. This helps prevent those undesirable, unintended consequences of people getting hurt.

GUE/DIR stresses good buoyancy control: Good buoyancy control reduces air consumption which equates to longer dives and more fun. They stress good buddy skills. They actually TEACH buddy skills. Good buddy skills reduces the stress of "Oh **** where the **** is my buddy? Reduced stress = more fun. They teach gas management. Gas management reduces the stress of "Oh **** I'm almost out of air where the **** is my ** buddy?"

Like I said, don't lose the message because you don't like the messenger.

 

[lv2dive]

...<snip>...
Scuba diving and the threads here on SB have begun to look like the overzealous parents in the stands. I intentionally did not post or get involved in the "Somewhat sad conversation last night" thread because IMO the GUE/DIR core has a very defined set of ideals that they believe constitutes a good diver. They are also very vocal about sharing their opinions and how others should dive as well.
...
<snip>

Huh? Where is it coming from, that GUE/DIR divers are "very vocal" about sharing their opinions about how others should dive? I think most of the GUE/DIR divers go out of their way to say that it is a system that works for them, and that they are not suggesting that it works for everyone.

Which is not to say that there aren't some exceptions that prove the rule, but by and large no one is trying to push any agenda on the diving world as a whole (at least not that I can see). Further, recommendations to take Fundies are generally made only after someone has expressed an interest in the core skills that are taught in that course. I am glad that people are at least vocal to the extent they are on Scubaboard, else I would not have heard of GUE.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Of course you should have fun while scuba diving, regardless of whether your primary goal is to view marine wildlife/wrecks, experience the underwater feeling, or challenge your diving skills.

1. However, I always think that safety is first in an activity that carries such risk. I think that's what many of these "overzealous" divers want to emphasize, albeit sometimes very bluntly or rudely.

I don't think that comparing diving to baseball is a proper analogy; I believe that comparing it to an activity like recreational motorcycling is more legitimate (i.e., potentially risky activity). With recreational motorcycling, you want to be having fun, but you also have to follow certain safety guidelines for the safety of yourself and others (e.g., you dive buddy). If you post something extremely unsafe on an online forum, other motorcycling enthusiasts will yell at you.

These yelling divers are like overprotective parents in the baseball analogy, not like rabid parents who just want their kid to win.

2. Also, another diving concern is that you don't destroy the environment or silt up the site as a courtesy to other divers (so they can have a good dive experience too). Buoyancy and proper trim will help, and many people stress that here, although perhaps not in the most diplomatic way.

It's not too much to ask that divers be safe and courteous to others, though everyone has different skills levels. You could still try to have proper trim/buoyancy and be very safe while having tons of fun.

On the internet, it's almost mandatory to have an extremely thick skin and a good mental filter to learn new things. There are always going to be people who act extremely rude behind the barrier of the internet.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

GUE/DIR stresses good buoyancy control: Good buoyancy control reduces air consumption which equates to longer dives and more fun. They stress good buddy skills. They actually TEACH buddy skills. Good buddy skills reduces the stress of "Oh **** where the **** is my buddy? Reduced stress = more fun. They teach gas management. Gas management reduces the stress of "Oh **** I'm almost out of air where the **** is my ** buddy?"

Like I said, don't lose the message because you don't like the messenger.

I'm not a GUE/DIR diver, and I'm alsorelativelyy new to diving, but this is the kind of diver that I strive to be, after my first few dives I realized I needed a lot of practice, so I spend a lot of time in the pool between dives. And I have fun doing that because I love being in the water. Salt more than fresh, so luckily it's a salt water pool :happy:
:happy::happy:

 

[matts1w]

I am always interested in the position that "scuba is different because scuba can kill me so it is best I train to the highest levels." Please note I am not belittling this position...just thinking aloud. I am a pretty solid diver. I love the heck out it and have pretty much built my life around scuba. Consequently, I have trained to have some skills and knowledge that enables me to dive the way I want.

Still, there are a number of activities I also really enjoy that am very, very from expert. In fact, I enjoy doing this stuff and, for the most part, I am awful at it: canoeing/kayaking, skiing, bicycling, and surfing. For instance, I live in Indonesia by way of Florida, so I go snow skiing every four years or five years. I suck at it, but after three or four days I suck a little less. I would love to do it more, but it just does not work for me considering I live on the equator and am pretty much broke. I know skiing can hurt and/or kill me- even on blue runs. It happens. There have been a few times surfing that got crazy. Riding a bike is freaking dangerous. If you have ever been in Jakarta, you know that walking down the side of the road can be sorta terrifying. Every sort of activity that involves water, speed, machines, intensity, hard concrete, physical exertion, etc... can kill me.

Examples: Risk of dying and sporting activities

I know when I ski I am not doing it right (or well), that there is some risk, and that I am probably annoying to a number of the true skiers who have created lives in Denver much like I have created a life near the coral triangle. I know if I trained I could be a better skier. I did take some lessons from a ski instructor many, many years ago. I trust the gear I get at the ski rental shop works and know nothing about bindings. I trust the trails are well marked and color coded correctly (I have no idea what criteria is used to say this run is black and this is blue)...so really I am a trust me skier. I am in control enough to be respectful of other skiers...certainly not perfect. So....does this mean I should not be able to rent a set of skis every few years and enjoy myself because there is some risk I could hurt myself?