Rec Diving Then vs. Now

[rx7diver]

A post in a recent thread in this forum suggested that rec diving has changed in the last 15 years. This made me wonder, and I replied:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...-back-water-after-15-years-2.html#post5692307

I would like to pursue this in this thread. What I would like to know is whether and to what degree your approach to rec diving has changed over the last 20, say, years. Please describe. I'll reproduce my earlier post now:

"This is curious. My initial scuba training took place in 1986. I'm trying to think of the ways my rec diving has changed over these past ~25 years. I can't think of anything, really. When I do recreational scuba diving these days, I pretty much dive the same way I dove back then. For these types of dives, I've always dove the same way, I think. I prefer/use analog gauges, for example when I rec dive. And I conservatively follow standard air tables (rather than multi-level tables). I'm Nitrox certified, but I seldom use Nitrox for rec dives, and when I do, I follow standard air tables. I sometimes take a dive computer, but I use it only to record my rec dive for later playback. I've always kept my ascent rates very slow, but when I sometimes also take my digital bottom timer, I pay special attention to the 30 fpm ascent rate limit. I'm 55 now and have young children, so I limit my diving to at most two dives per day, and take a day off after two consecutive days of diving. And I carried a reel and DSMB during my last rec ocean and Great Lakes dives, which I didn't carry--never heard of in fact--in 1986. These last two things might be the only substantive difference between what I did then versus what I do now, I think. Maybe I'm missing something.

"I'm wondering now if others who have been diving a while are similar? How we answer this is important, especially if we sometimes dive with more-recently trained divers. Maybe this should be pursued in a new thread.

"P.S. Just thought of one more change: I now carry EMT shears, also."


Thanks,

Ronald

 

[MaxBottomtime]

When I began scuba diving, I used a back pack and steel 72. I dived tables for several years before I finally broke down and bought a computer. I switched to a BC for a few years, but once I began using heavier steel tanks about 15 years ago I went with a steel backplate and wing.
I am Nitrox certified but only use 50% for deco gas. I'm still diving many of the same sites that I began free diving in the 80s.
The only real difference between my diving now and that of twenty years ago is that I got rid of my snorkel.

 

[rx7diver]

The only real difference between my diving now and that of twenty years ago is that I got rid of my snorkel.

I'm a snorkel wearer, Max. In fact, my 25-year-old Scubapro Shotgun snorkel finally died this past summer; I replaced it with a Riffe J snorkel. Generally very pleased, though I wish I could purchase a new Shotgun again.

 

[knowone]

Breathing is breathing and buoyancy is buoyancy

There is far too much emphasis on, the gear a diver makes

And there is far far too much emphasis on courses for safety's sake

When the only really safe courses, to see what type of safety will be required

Is diving for diving's sake:goingdown:

And really if you don't go and do it, you will never know
And if you are unable to do it in any gear provided you
You never really learnt how to do it right in the first place
Is it?


So all that is really required, is an understanding of cooperation to achieve.

and then "All You Need Is Love" by 156 Countries - CollegeHumor video

 

[Insta-Gator]

Ronald, I began diving in 1989 and very little has changed. I still use my same old US Divers reg/octo and only recently replaced my BCD for a SS BP/W (the cummerbund on my BCD could not out grow my food intake, ) but then at 58 (next month) I couldn't expect to have the same waist line. I've replaced mask, snorkel, fins and booties over the past 20+ years, purchased a computer in 1996 (air only) became Nitrox certified but still dive air tables because I'm too cheap to buy another computer so the Nitrox is part of my safety margin. As an older diver I understand this is a good practice. We switched from boat dives to shore dives and still keep most of them to 75 fsw or less. I plan to take additional training this year, but it's solely for entertainment value and re-enforced skills, I've been using the AOW skills (SSI - Nirtox, Deep, Nav, Night/low viz) for many years so a card would only be useful on getting me on some boats if I choose. I'm not doing AOW to push the limits of my diving skills, as said before, only to re-enforce. So all in all, rec diving is still just a fun time to blow bubbles, play, and enjoy the 3D world of underwater.

 

[danvolker]

A post in a recent thread in this forum suggested that rec diving has changed in the last 15 years. This made me wonder, and I replied:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...-back-water-after-15-years-2.html#post5692307

I would like to pursue this in this thread. What I would like to know is whether and to what degree your approach to rec diving has changed over the last 20, say, years. Please describe. I'll reproduce my earlier post now:

"This is curious. My initial scuba training took place in 1986. I'm trying to think of the ways my rec diving has changed over these past ~25 years. I can't think of anything, really. When I do recreational scuba diving these days, I pretty much dive the same way I dove back then. For these types of dives, I've always dove the same way, I think. I prefer/use analog gauges, for example when I rec dive. And I conservatively follow standard air tables (rather than multi-level tables). I'm Nitrox certified, but I seldom use Nitrox for rec dives, and when I do, I follow standard air tables. I sometimes take a dive computer, but I use it only to record my rec dive for later playback. I've always kept my ascent rates very slow, but when I sometimes also take my digital bottom timer, I pay special attention to the 30 fpm ascent rate limit. I'm 55 now and have young children, so I limit my diving to at most two dives per day, and take a day off after two consecutive days of diving. And I carried a reel and DSMB during my last rec ocean and Great Lakes dives, which I didn't carry--never heard of in fact--in 1986. These last two things might be the only substantive difference between what I did then versus what I do now, I think. Maybe I'm missing something.

"I'm wondering now if others who have been diving a while are similar? How we answer this is important, especially if we sometimes dive with more-recently trained divers. Maybe this should be pursued in a new thread.

"P.S. Just thought of one more change: I now carry EMT shears, also."


Thanks,

Ronald

I would say that the industry is much better at selling you a lot less instruction for the money....and in many cases for new divers what is taught is a bad joke.
As to gear, the best stuff now is more like what we dived in the 70's than what was being sold in the 80's and 90's---gear like bp/wings appeared in the 70's and resurfaced with Halcyon around 1998 or so, as much smarter than the ad driven nonsense being pushed by the industry in the 90's.

Also, a computer is no big deal, and many good divers prefer a bottom timer and depth guage to a computer. Learn ratio deco and you would never want a computer.

The worst gear to come out was in fins....the industry began selling fins created for the physically challenged ( great for someone with a real problem, but for lazy people in poor shape, it was an excuse to remain in poor shape . For the people who were always cramping and unable to push their fins easily, they were sold biofins and other splitfins---essentially a tiny gear ( compared to the bigger gear of a useful fin) , so that they would use a high kick turnover to propel themselves, albeit quite a bit slower than a diver should be able to swim. If they really wanted less work, they could have saved the money and just dived barefoot, this providing even less stress and only being a tiny bit slower than split fins.

 

[herman]

I got certified in 92. Looking back I see little differences other than computers, nitrox and there are more back inflate BCs around now. I don't really remember the class details but nothing sticks out as being any different in the training, other than computers and nitrox.
Having recently gotten an interest in vintage divinng- 50 and 60 style, I do see a good bit of difference between then and when I started in the early 90s. The emphasis appears to have been (I was not there so I am guessing based on the training materail from the era) more on skills and abilities than it is today. Running out a air and buddy breathing were just part of diving, not a major crisis like it is today. Buoyancy was something you had to master, not just dump on lead until you sink fast then pump air into a 50 lb wing until you float again like today.

I don't see much difference in today and 20 years ago, go back 50 years and there is a marked difference, one we would do well to learn from IMO.

 

[Mod63]

When I got first certified in '87, we were toght how to properly plan dives, how to do deco and the word "emergency ascent" did not exist. We learned about physics and medicine, and a certain fitness level was required. Nobody told us that we would "die" when diving deeper that 40m (130ft) and for the highest certification you actually had to do some dives between 40m and 50m (165ft). And of course, just 50 dives somewhere easy and nice didn't cut it for that level. The continuing drop in requiriments both mentaly and physicaly are the biggest negative changes I see.

 

[Skarn]

rx7: I got certified orginally in 1986 as well by NAUI. The biggest differences I notice are with gear. I used a horseshoe BC (they weren't called BCD's back then and a farmer john wetsuit. Now it seems that not many use farmer john anymore, the horseshoe BCs are a thing of the past, and heck even jacket-style seems to be phasing out in favor of back inflate and backplate/wings. Everyone seems to dive nitrox and computers are the norm. And I never heard of integrated weights back then...it was a belt only.

As far as training, that has changes somewhat as well. I was trained to do the emergency ascent by removing the reg and blowing small bubbles. When I re-certed as AOW back in October, I was told to keep it in and hum.

danvolker: you stated "I would say that the industry is much better at selling you a lot less instruction for the money....and in many cases for new divers what is taught is a bad joke." I was actually going to say the opposite! As I stated I orginally certified with NAUI in 1986, then I recertified with PADI this past October. I have to say the instruction/training I got with PADI this past October was WAY more detailed and better then what I received with NAUI in '86!
I just shows that it depends on the place, institution and instructor.

Skarn

 

[rx7diver]

I've thought some more about this. Here are a couple more changes, maybe:

My initial instruction in 1986 did not stress safety stops. I routinely do this now. But, I think I've always done this not only because of safety concerns (I was much older than my scuba classmates, primarily college freshmen and sophomores, when I did my initial training), but also because I always thought why not use up a bit of the remaining air in my tank at a shallow safety stop. But, maybe others who were certified 20-25 years ago did not initially, but are now, routinely doing safety stops?

I approach dive planning pretty much the same way: deepest dive first, shallower repetitive dive, both dives kept well away from NDL's; dives are planned using standard air tables as square dives, always incorporating a generous surface interval; dives are planned more conservatively if conditions are less optimal (e.g., colder air and/or water temps, strenuous surface swim, etc.) But maybe others who were certified 20-25 years ago and are now using computers, are letting their computers tell them when to end dives, etc.?

My initial training involved, eventually, using a Scubapro Stab Jacket BC (orally inflating it only, though), and NO octopus. In fact, we used power inflators for the first time during our "gear checkout" half-day skill which occurred a few days before we were to leave for our open water checkout. Thus our mindset involved correct weighting and limited use of the BC when establishing neutral buoyancy at depth, buddy skills, and buddy breathing in the case of an OOA situation. I think this is one area where my rec diving has changed: I now routinely carry an octopus (well, usually an AIR II but sometimes an octopus, depending on the BC I'm wearing) and am prepared at any time to donate my primary to an OOA diver and switch to my backup. I no longer expect to buddy breathe when I dive with anyone other than old friends I trained with or new divers who were trained similarly. And I no longer expect that if I need air from someone at depth, he/she could successfully buddy breathe with me; I rec dive with this always in mind, in fact, now.

Mod63, you wrote about the 130 fsw depth limit. I recall that the 130 fsw limit was stressed as a training limit. We were taught that if we chose to dive deeper after we were certified, to increase the depth of our dives slowly over time and cautiously. (Gas planning and dive physiology were an integral part of my course, so we could certainly plan these deeper dives safely. What's referred to now as "Rock Bottom", I think, was simply part of dive planning then and had no special name that I'm aware of.) My sense is that this differs from what many new divers are being taught, and what newer divers would be comfortable doing, and I now find myself reluctant to dive with newly certified divers near 130 fsw until we've done some shallower divers together fist, whereas I wasn't so reluctant in 1987. This is another change in my rec diving now vs. then.


Ronald