Philosophical question on tech diving.

[DepartureDiver]

. . . I agree - this guy probably never were there or is too scared to do so and he made up this philosophy to cover his own limitations.

This brings up another good point. When you start down the Tech path, your comfort zone and personal limits start expanding. Your dive is planned much better and you get more enjoyment out of it as well as being safer due to your new knowledge and training. You will be as comfortable with a 130' dive (or deeper) as you are now with a shallow dive.

 

[Mad Scuba]

hey guys. i was told today that technical diving is just a waste of time. after 30m depths, there is nothing to see down there. i was also told that 10 extra minutes of bottom time with nitrox isn't worth it. maybe i misunderstood the diver but i decided there and then to post this philosophical question:
" Why technical? "

i hope no one replies with the "why-not"

Jalal

Hi,

I totally agree with what has been written. There is a lot to see below 30m, wrecks, some artificial reefs, caves, even other type of animals living in deeper waters....

I see technical diving as a tool to explore, visit, see new places or environments. It comes with the diving experience you acquire either be diving, reading, taking courses, talking with more experienced divers...

There is a lot of controversy associated to "recreative diving" and "technical diving". It is a personnal choice to go either way and it is directly associated to your level of comfort with the sport.

OW classes

I was told the same when I started diving. When I look back to this comment, I think it might have been made because of the scope of an OW class. I'm not an instructor, but maybe there is a question of insurance/responsibility related to an OW class? It might be an argument to discourage a new diver to go beyond what he was trained for? Or maybe it was just his personnal preference?

The site

Several dive sites available to OW divers in my country are lakes and yes, most of them have not a lot to offer below 30m (100 feet). But sometimes, even a small lake offers some interesting features at greater depths, rock formation, small caverns... Not to mentionned, it can also be great training site for more demanding dives: Low visibility, drop of water temperature below the thermocline, getting used to a new gear...

Maybe where you are from 90% of what is offered to divers is in fact between 0m and 30m.

Nitrox for extra bottom time

I'm the type of diver who will stay in the water as long as I can. For example, I will not call a cave dive until I have reached my third, or unless something major comes up. To me 10 minutes does make a difference, but again, it is a personnal preference.

But here's a fact . I often dive in very cold water, in the 30F range. Basically, freezing water. I don't mind the deco, but saving 10 minutes at this temperature makes a difference. You hands are not as numb because of the cold. You are not shivering as much on the deco stop, reducing risk of hypothermia. You have 10 more minutes to spend on the dive site instead of where you are doing you deco stop.

And I'm not talking about the extra security of a Nitrox dive -vs- an air dive. This is a complete other topic...

Hope it helps!

 

[mavjax]

If we are talking tech in general, don't forget about the cave diving side of tech diving. I am working on Intro Cave right now and the knowledge expansion and skill refinement that you go through is incredible.... not to mention the caves are awesome and amazing when you realize just how much space has water flowing through it beneath your feet.

 

[miketsp]

I think this quote is being taken out of context.
There are some locations where there really is nothing to see below 30m, but OTOH there are many places where 30m is where things start getting interesting.
Life generally gets bigger and the wrecks are in better condition.