Watching the Pretty Fishies...

[devolution365]

I have a feeling that the negative perception of "reef divers" is due to the fact that 99% of the people enrolled in a basic scuba course are on their way to a reef somewhere. Experienced divers encounter the newbies fresh out of class diving the reefs and roll their eyes -another "reef diver". That's my opinion anyway. (BTW: I'm heading out to the caribbean to dive the reefs with my newly certified fiance in January -wish me luck! )

 

[Chavodel8en]

The ONLY reason i dive is to look at underwater life. If you told me beforehand that a dive would feature zero living things to look at, then I'd probably just skip it.

I doubt I'll EVER dive a quarry (Im not trying to degrade anyone else's diving, just not my interest), and honestly, freshwater diving doesn't really call my attention much either (I just prefer oceans & seas - the creatures just seem more "cosmopolitan" - even if they haven't traveled more than a few hundred feet from where they were born). Good thing i live 2 hours from prime ocean diving or else i dont know how i'd keep in practice.

For me diving is a means to an end - its lets me see the pretty fishies (& the pretty invertabrates too). If that makes me "less of a diver", so be it. I myself feel I'm a very safe and competent diver, and I feel confident in being able to handle whatever is thrown at me down there while i'm looking at the fishies.

 

[novicediver]

It's funny because I like diving just for the sake of being free underwater. While I am at it, I want to look at fish and look at unusual stuff. The term "warm water wuss" doesn't apply since my diving is in California, and the water isn't exactly tropical.

 

[wedivebc]

I must say after years of diving cold dark waters my first tropical reef dive left me feeling somewhat out of my element. I think it is just an eliteist thing. We all want to feel superior, but reef diving has it's own set of challenges. A good reef diver should have excellent buoyancy control to avoid damaging the coral. Just as a wreck diver must be careful of silt.
So I don't buy the reef divers are worse agument (at least not anymore)

 

[El Orans]

I'm a Wannabe Warm Water Wimp. I'd love to be able to do only reef dives.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

I guess I'm a warm water wimp, too. I can handle being cold, but I don't really like it. The reefs are just amazing... The colors, the interaction, symbiotic relationships and diversity of species... There's always something new. I've done five wreck dives, and really, unless I was diving the Truk Lagoon, I don't care if I ever dive another wreck. Cave diving is something that I'm interested in, but nowhere near experienced enough to try, just yet.

-Frank

 

[TSandM]

I think the phrase, "Some people just dive to look at the fishies", is generally used to describe the person who does the minimum amount of training to get certified and stops there. The implication is that such a person does not have a concern for polishing diving skills, and from what I've seen in my limited (two) resort diving experiences, there are people out there like that. I try not to look down at anybody, but I can see where it would be easy to get some attitude about people who bash coral and destroy visibility for others.

On the other hand, I got to watch an fascinating exchange between two divers a couple of weeks ago. One was a technical diver who does some fascinating and challenging project dives, and the other was a PADI instructor who loves sea life and taking pictures. It was very clear that one considered the other somewhat lesser, and it was sad to me, because the world of diving ought to have enough room for people with varying ambitions, especially if they are all competent and careful. I have dived with both of the people involved in that exchange, and they are both good divers -- both well above the average I've seen. One chooses to take bigger risks than the other. Does that make him a better person, or even a better diver?

 

[novicediver]

This will probably be diverted to whine and cheese. The truth is that the realm of scuba diving, cliques form with one side looking down on the other. Just the title of one type of diving insinuates an air of superiority. Diving is diving, whether it is cold water, warm water, on a wreck, in a cave, over a reef, or in a quarry. Some require more training than others but it is still diving.

 

[drbill]

The great thing about human beings and living things in general is diversity. I certainly don't "look down" on wreck, cave or other technical divers (unless they are at a deeper depth than I am). I think it is great that we can have diversified interests. Of course it is undoubtedly true that a higher percentage of cave, wreck and tech divers are trained to advanced levels than reef divers. Does that make them "better?" In some senses (skills), probably; but not as human beings.

 

[Charlie99]

This might belong in whine and cheese, but why do some divers refer to those to prefer reef diving as less of a diver than those who dive wrecks or even quarries? There is even an assumption of incompetence about reef divers or that reef divers can never be deco divers. Haven't they heard of deep reefs.

I don't see it as a "reef diver" vs "wreck diver" thing, but rather as the difference between people for whom scuba is merely something they do to get underwater to see things, vs. those for whom the attraction is the sport and skill of diving itself.

Kind of like the difference between people whose focus is climbing a mountain, vs. someone out for a stroll in the park (or even out for a multi-day hike where the goal is something other than the hiking itself).