Wow, what a question.
My path to DIR started in 1995. I had certified a year prior and was paying attention to all the local scuttlebutt surrounding diving. The big talk was about the "cave exploration team" down in Wakulla, and how they had shut off access to the previously open caves. Wakulla is about 30 minutes south of where I live. I got curious so I looked it up on the internet. The WWW was still pretty new back then and information was sketchy. But I found information about the WKPP, and what those guys were doing. I wasn't plugged into the cave community back then, so I didn't know where to go to find out more.
I had wanted to learn to dive to explore wrecks. That is my passion. But having such a cool project so close to me kept me curious. I started asking more about underwater caves. I had joined the NSS as a kid, and spent a lot of time in dry caves and old clay mines. How I didn't get lost in there and die is still a mystery!
As I read more about wreck diving, I became more and more dismayed. The attitudes I was reading about didn't sound like ANYTHING I wanted to be a part of. One day, I was in a local Bagel Shop in Tallahassee, and a white van rolled up and a guy got out with a WKPP shirt on. I asked if he was a part of that big cave thing down in Wakulla and he said yes. I asked a few questions and he was very cordial and answered all my questions. Made an impression on me.
Fast forward to 2005. I had decided to get back into diving for real. I had read about the WKPP for years, read about GUE. I had read more on wreckdiving, and had come across a site that was VERY critical of the new "DIR" diving. It was curious to me because I had seen what those guys had accomplished not only in Wakulla, but on the Britannic, and in other venues as well. Struck me as quite odd. I paid attention to what I was seeing the WKPP guys wear in terms of gear, and it looked NOTHING like the SCUBA magazines I was getting at the shop. I looked around the two shops in town and one had some stuff by Dive Rite, and Halcyon. I had bought a 5ft hose some time back, but wanted a 7ft hose. I asked for 3 months if they could get a 7ft hose and they never did get any. I started looking around for an instructor. But I wanted someone special. Someone who had DONE the diving I wanted to do. I was looking for someone who could take me to 300ft and who had been there numerous times. I was lucky, and found a guy, in Wakulla who was PERFECT. But he was very anti-DIR. We spent weeks talking about it, and I eventually started training with him. I told him my intent to take training with a number of people and agencies, including GUE, and he told me some interesting stories. Stuff I cannot share publically. Regardless, I was determined to pursue this GUE stuff.
Halcyon was holding a Demo day down at Ginnie Springs and I thought that might be the perfect time to learn more about their gear and meet some GUE people. As it turned out, I got to meet a lot of GUE folks, including the manager of EE, and JJ. I told JJ about some of the stories I'd heard, and asked if he would be interested in teaching a Fundies class. Surprisingly, he agreed, we set a date, and I took that course with him. Needless to say, it was a great experience getting to pick JJ's brain for 3 days. It was an experience that changed my life in terms of diving. Since that time, I have learned a lot more about GUE and DIR, and had a chance to see quite a lot of how it works. I went down to the WKPP this past summer to watch the first big dive of the year. Met Casey and a few others, and was in awe of how they run that operation. I took away a lot of lessons in dive prep and surface operations.
Coming to SB has allowed me to connect with likeminded DIR folks and that has really helped quite a bit.
I have heard some say that DIR is a journey, not a destination. For me, I have taken away DIR not so much being a journey, but being a mindset. It's an approach to diving and to life. I adopted DIR because it was a philosophy I was already living, and it really just fell in line with what I belived and how I wanted to dive. Do I like everyting about DIR? No. Do I have some conflits with DIR? Sure. Do I think it is currently the best approach to diving out there? Yes, when taken as a whole.
I happen to see sidemount as a viable method of exporation and this is not popular currently with DIR. I happen to see CCR as a viable means of extending dives, and this is currently not congruent with DIR philosophy. I understand WHY these things are not done and am comfortable with it.
So there is my long and sordid story of my "path to enlightenment"...
(jokes people, these are just jokes)
