Keeping in mind that this is BASIC scuba...

[fnfalman]

I have a question for those who are fairly new but choose to dive in less than optimal conditions.

If you dive in the cold (anywhere you need a 5mm or more) and where vis is typically less than 10ft, why do you dive?

What do you get out of it? What are you doing there?


I really am curious as I know I will never ever dive cold or with low vis. Seems quite pointless to me. I do want to know what would make some that just took this sport up do it though..

I understand that some people are just going to dive where ever they can due to their financial and geographical restraints.. but what is down there that pulls you in?

I love the act of diving. It's much closer to flying than sky diving or hang gliding. In water, you can defy gravity. You can go up, you can go down.

Scenery is "nice" but not "necessary" for me.

 

[rstofer]

I started diving in Singapore with 13 trips to Malaysia, one to Thailand and one to the Maldives. All within 16 months. I like diving in warm water, sleeping on a sandy beach and riding around in a boat of dubious seaworthiness.

Then I came home and started diving at Monterey and Catalina. I could tolerate it but quickly lost interest. I put it on hold for a very long time.

But now my grandson wants to dive and he doesn't know any better. He loves Monterey. After diving in the tide pool at the Aquarium for 3 years, he couldn't wait to see how it really works. He got his certification and here we are, getting cold at Lover's Point.

Richard

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Why dive in cold water? Well, this past Sunday it was to get in outta the wind and warm up a bit ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[imasinker]

What was the temp there Grateful? Looks like a nice day there. Was out last Saturday here. Water temp 1 C at about 35 feet and outside air temp was -1 C.

Nice scooter to by the way!

 

[ssidiv3r]

I, like many others dive in cold, dark, low-vis waters because that is what is available. It gives me many chances to practice navigation and multi-tasking (like navigating, keeping an eye on my air and keeping an eye on my buddy) thus hopefully making me a better buddy. It is also interesting because you don't know what lies just outside of visible range (when vis is poor). I also know that nobody else in my family (save my Dad/buddy) will see the things I get to see unless I take a camera, but even then it's still nothing close to being there first hand. The cold part is because I want to dive year round and because one place is about 130ft deep so the temp almost never changes.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

What was the temp there Grateful? Looks like a nice day there. Was out last Saturday here. Water temp 1 C at about 35 feet and outside air temp was -1 C.

Nice scooter to by the way!

Water temp is 49F (about 9.5 C), air temp that day was 26F (about -3 C). The wind was blowing about 20 MPH (32 KPH) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[goodive]

because I live in Seattle, and NOT in Tahiti and have wanted to dive my whole life.

Thanks to NWGrateful Diver and to Peter Guy for sharing the PNW dive photos. I dive here because I live here, and I got tired of family from other parts of the country (namely an uncle in L.A. with a home in Maui as well) telling me the diving was far better here than either of those places. So I got my card.

Agree, but I would still make sure ,the uncle with the house in Maui is on my Christmas list.resent2:

 

[BigFame]

Agree, but I would still make sure ,the uncle with the house in Maui is on my Christmas list.resent2:

Oh he certainly is, and he has a set of doubles for me too.