I got an amazing 96% on that test...
And you all know how I feel about DIR...
I know which one I got wrong... The squatting dude picture. I had no idea who that was.
Interestingly, while I'm not an advocate of the DIR religion, I found the right answers very simply in that Q&A session. The lights and slate were a no-brainer... Those lights looked pretty worthless and cumbersome. A slate like that is pretty worthless too... When you write something down, you can't pass it to your buddy if it's on your arm. I prefer a small, stowable slate or wet notes in a pocket (like the Halcyon webbing pocket or better yet, a thigh pocket). Even better yet is no slate at all, but instead a large vocabulary of hand and light signals so you and your buddy can communicate visually, easily. The stage bottle was a no-brainer, too... Where are the markings? I mean, that's just A LITTLE important to have that stuff labeled...
I've studied GI's stuff enough to recognize him, even with the long hair.
I thought it was funny when the question came up, "What have you dived" and then it immediately asked you, "What were you trained for?"
Funny stuff.
I still don't know who the squatting dude was.
...So does that put me in danger of becoming a convert to DIR if I make the point that, "That Q&A wasn't so much about DIR as much as it was about the 'right' way of doing it..." Oh jeez... I'm scaring myself.
Get this... I've just completed the Rescue Course, and I'm getting nitrox certified in December... So much of my diving now's going to be done with doubles... And so I'm reconsidering a backplate and wings. Again.
...And if that's not bad enough, here's the REAL clincher... The other day I found myself with a pair of scissors, cutting all of the excess rubber parts off of my gear. I cut the extra part of the mask strap that I've never used, and I removed the stupid little plastic "holders" that were designed to keep the unused portion of the mask strap down. I cut off the excess strappage from my fins, too. I even cut off the extra strappage from my big friggin' leg knife, which I still use... I even keep it on the outside of my right leg. I prefer it there.
Maybe I'm holding on to it to convince myself that I am not going DIR.
I used an AIR II the other day and didn't like it... Unlike my previous experience. I found that it was quite restrictive in use, something that I didn't feel before.
...And I've found that I don't particularly care much any more whether I'm using a pull dump or not... To me now, it's a much bigger deal to be trimmed properly.
I even bought a hood, admittedly so that when I'm feeding fish at the Aquarium (I'm a volunteer now at the SC Aquarium) the smaller fish don't mistake my ears and hair for food.
...But I'm feeling some propensity toward DIR suddenly. I'm scared.
I DO have some preferences, though, that I'm still leaning toward... I haven't yet tried a long hose on a primary yet... And I still want a Vytec computer, even though I do plan my dive and dive my plan. I like to think of it as a safety margin against narcosis, and something that aids in those dives that aren't perfect.
I tried a set of split fins the other day... Apollos... And my first question was, "Hmmmm... Interesting... But can you frog kick in them?"
I tell ya, I'm beginning to scare myself.
Hey, another interesting thing that's really scary... I was reading the AOW book, and I think in the "deep" section or "wreck" section there's a picture of a diver, still with a jacket style BC, but with a 7 foot hose, necklaced secondary, and a canister light, with the caption saying, "Gear configuration can change as your diving expertise increases."
Interesting.
...So when do I learn the secret handshake?
