What is a dive snob?
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urbaneve71
Contributor
well i dive warm water just because i dont have access to cold water, i live here on the gulf coast near fl in MS -- i guess that would make me a dive snob in a sense. not saying that i wouldnt dive cold water though. i just dont have the funds to travel to cold water diving. that being said..... i have dove cold water in the past a few times. but i prefer warm water.
A dive snob isn't someone who refuses to dive in cold water.
A dive snob is someone who says, "You're not a REAL diver unless..."
Usually this seems to be followed with "you dive drysuit" or "you dive cold water" or "you dive tec" or "you dive nitrox"
The first three are just jerks, and the last one is just plain dumb. Diving in HI for three years or so I never saw anyone who absolutely needed to dive nitrox, but you get divers who talk about how they can taste the difference and feel better after a dive. I want to know what they're breathing that they can taste an odorless gas, and I'm pretty sure the "feeling better" crowd are mostly placebo. Like the drysuit folks who demand only the finest argon for their drysuit bottle, and swear by the stuff...when they've only ever been sold air fills.
A dive snob is someone who says, "You're not a REAL diver unless..."
Usually this seems to be followed with "you dive drysuit" or "you dive cold water" or "you dive tec" or "you dive nitrox"
The first three are just jerks, and the last one is just plain dumb. Diving in HI for three years or so I never saw anyone who absolutely needed to dive nitrox, but you get divers who talk about how they can taste the difference and feel better after a dive. I want to know what they're breathing that they can taste an odorless gas, and I'm pretty sure the "feeling better" crowd are mostly placebo. Like the drysuit folks who demand only the finest argon for their drysuit bottle, and swear by the stuff...when they've only ever been sold air fills.
urbaneve71
Contributor
ahhh - okay -- i thought i read that wrong
i have ran into those kinds of people -- they drive me nuts. im just an OW diver not a tech diver or anything so alot of that is over my head.
i have ran into those kinds of people -- they drive me nuts. im just an OW diver not a tech diver or anything so alot of that is over my head.
I think that you need to indicate the temperature units you are using, F in this case
When I dove in New England and NY/NJ during the winter, it isn't the water temperature that is biggest concern, it is the air temperature and the wind that are the bigger pain
"Warm diving can be just as bad. For 3 months in the Summer (June - Aug) I really do think we're barking mad (Yes Mad dogs and Englishmen applies)
By 8am loading the boat it's already 104F and with the humidity you're a sweaty mess. Then you motor off to the sites and the breeze lulls you into a false sense of security. By the time you're at the first site the air temp is at 110F - There's no breeze except enough to swing the boat around ensuring the canopy provides little shade. You kit up quickly. If you sit for too long you burn your butt. We all wear skins so that's just lovely. Remember to wipe off the sunscreen that's already stinging your eyes and role in. The 93F water doesn't cool you. Only at around 100' do you hit a thermocline that cools you a bit.
Enjoy the dive, come up hit the thermocline and mutter that you're warm, surface and de kit. You don't know whether you're wet from the water or sweat. Surface interval and do it all again. If your luck the air temp doesn't climb. If your not then it can get to 120F
When you get to the harbor, unload and wash the boat. You have of course forgotten to re apply sunscreen so by this time you look like a boiled ham. Thankfully the car A/C works.
Get home apply after sun and hopefully think back to 2 nice dives, if they were mediocre you wonder why you went, but that doesn't stop you from doing it again the next week.
The Sun really has boiled our brains
By 8am loading the boat it's already 104F and with the humidity you're a sweaty mess. Then you motor off to the sites and the breeze lulls you into a false sense of security. By the time you're at the first site the air temp is at 110F - There's no breeze except enough to swing the boat around ensuring the canopy provides little shade. You kit up quickly. If you sit for too long you burn your butt. We all wear skins so that's just lovely. Remember to wipe off the sunscreen that's already stinging your eyes and role in. The 93F water doesn't cool you. Only at around 100' do you hit a thermocline that cools you a bit.
Enjoy the dive, come up hit the thermocline and mutter that you're warm, surface and de kit. You don't know whether you're wet from the water or sweat. Surface interval and do it all again. If your luck the air temp doesn't climb. If your not then it can get to 120F
When you get to the harbor, unload and wash the boat. You have of course forgotten to re apply sunscreen so by this time you look like a boiled ham. Thankfully the car A/C works.
Get home apply after sun and hopefully think back to 2 nice dives, if they were mediocre you wonder why you went, but that doesn't stop you from doing it again the next week.
The Sun really has boiled our brains
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... some people just don't like being cold ... that doesn't make them snobs.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
urbaneve71
Contributor
very true NW
I've been certified since 1989, worked in a dive shop for eight years, worked as a DM on a couple of large dive boats and have been around a lot of divers in that time. I've been very fortunate to have only met a handful of dive snobs. Most of them are only snobbish on the internet but a few were over the edge in real life. They criticized the way others dive, the gear they use and prided themselves in the fact that they would not dive with anyone who was not a "like minded" diver. The funny thing is all of those people I've known who looked down on other divers have since stopped diving. The ones who they deemed unfit are still enjoying their dives and will likely do so for many years to come.
Maybe it's a negative attitude about diving local. Perhaps the snobbery is thinking one needs to travel to some exotic/tropical/unique destination to be real diving. That is too bad. My local has a lot going for it, and yes it is cold water diving.
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