Why did you go Tech, or not?

[Jax]

This is a question that comes to mind now and again. I thought about going the tech route, the dark side, more than once. In the long run I made the right choice staying recreational. There are only a few places where I have any desire to go past 130'. I really like diving, but diving doubles is IMO a big PITA, and yes I have done so a number of times. I have done a lot of diving and generally find plenty to see in the first 130'. I guess I've reached the point where I can draw a line in the sand, and not feel the need to cross it. Rebreathers could sway me but not living in CO as there is not enough diving here.

So have you gone Tech - deco, caves, wreck, and deep? Or is there plenty keeping you occupied in the first 130' of water?

Define "Tech".


I had no desire to go "tech", but still read a lot because I wanted to be a safer diver. Then, I had recreational dives that whetted my appetite for hanging around wrecks, because of the awesome mix of life . . . they were deeper, and NDLs were limiting.

So, I looked into Deco Procedures, and was immediately convinced Advanced Nitrox / Deco Procedures was the way to go.

However, AN/DP showed me that gas volume was extremely limited, and so I had to consider doubles. However, there is no way I will wear doubles on my back.

Then KC introduced me to sidemount . . . . .

To get sidemount training, I had to go see Dive-aholic (Crack Dealer) in Marianna . . . That got me interested in Cracks . . .

:shocked2: Wait a minute! ALL Y'ALL are crack / tech dealers . . . . :cussing:


Thanks! :cool3:

 

[redacted]

I have dove with a number of folks who suggested I pursue tech training. But I just was not attracted to the opportunities that might open up. I have no desire to dive wrecks or caves. I am perfectly happy enjoying the marine life of open water. I have no desire to go deep for depth sake. I would be perfectly content with life about 60 feet. I do routinely dive deeper than that but it is to seek out and observe different things that just happen to be at greater depths (like Maricibo Wall and FGB).

 

[cloudflint]

Ive never seen anything deeper than 30m that really interests me. Also don't like having anything over my head, be it a hard or soft ceiling.

Also there is the cost to consider, currently my air costs £10 a year for as many fills as i want. I own enough kit to make up a few kits of recreational gear so i always have enough kit. I service my own equipment so I don't have to worry about paying for that. Overall I only really spend money on fuel driving to the site, £10 a year for air and under a hundred for club membership. If I were to go tech the cost of the gas for a single weekend could easily be more than i spend in a year of doing recreational dives once a week!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/175745-no-technical-training-me.html




My feelings haven't changed much since I made this post, Some of the technical divers (and instructors) just scare the hell out of me.

Years earlier, I was involved in a near fatality of a tech diver trainee, while I was doing the same wreck dive, but was solo.


For those people who are considering going deeper, but don't want the weight of doubles, the newer steel tanks are rated at about 3500 psi and hold 149 cu-ft at their rated pressure.. I have one and a few of the seemingly identical OMS LP 125 cu-ft steels.

 

[Dave1981]

For me I've wanted to go tech since I started diving, and never thought I would due to the cost, equipment and training. To get to that 100-150 dives or whatever was needed as a new diver, paying $120 a trip just seemed like I'd never get there, I figured I'd do a few dives a year and $6-8000 on charters to get to the level I wanted was nuts. Also perhaps I was influenced by the constant barrage of don't go deep unless you have to, there's nothing to see down there. I was never interested in fish, but loved the wrecks and just diving.

So one day while a DM in Honduras (I figured I could dive cheaply if I spend a holiday every now and again as a DM, it worked!) I went snorkelling in a cave with a couple of buddies and saw some line laid which we couldn't get down snorkling. Thankfully we were smart enough not to return with tanks. So a year or so later I'd collected all the gear and went off to mexico for a couple of months to learn to cave dive. I actually ended up taking tech 1+2 later from UTD as at the time that, amongst others was pre-requisit to Cave2 which I had decided to train for.

For me there's nothing to see on the reefs, I'll still go just for the sake of diving, but I now can spend as long as I want on shallow wrecks and visit the deeper ones. It really introduced me to a whole bunch of divers that had the same ideas as me.

Interestingly enough once I'd decided to start tech diving I was still told by almost everyone I met in the dive community don't do it, there's nothing to see and it's expensive. When I started asking about the most frugal way to do it I was told, if you have to ask about the money it's not for you. Glad I was thick skinned enough to ignore all that well meaning advice! Granted I did get a bit of a shock when I had to buy my first can light of course...

Dave

 

[vjanelle]

A slowly progressing(that's not a bad thing) desire to be able to wreck dive - decompression obligations are a fact with it. Task management experience under a supervised situation has helped me quite a bit overall too.

 

[Mike Boswell]

I'll admit I have a great fascination with tech diving. I think it is natural, in any human endeavor, to want to advance to the next level, just "because it's there". But I don't have much opportunity or desire to dive wrecks or caves.

I DO think there is still an awful lot for me to learn, and much of that seems to be covered in various tech-type classes. One of these days I would like to take the GUE Fundies class, just for the pure pleasure of learning new stuff.

 

[RonFrank]

I read about people who have no desire to dive reefs, and are often none to thrilled with marine life. What they like are wrecks. They like the human history, the mystery, the who, what, when and how.

I enjoy wrecks but honestly what attracts me to wrecks is the abundance of marine life they attract. I love a good reef, and enjoy a 25' 2 hour reef dive. What's not to love about a shallow sun dripped reef! If diving did not involve coral, marine plants, and marine life I likely would not be doing it. And it does not have to be Coral, CA reefs and kelp are awesome. Wrecks are cool and deep can be interesting but cool marine life IMO is what makes diving the best!

 

[Jax]

I read about people who have no desire to dive reefs, and are often none to thrilled with marine life. What they like are wrecks.

I enjoy wrecks but honestly what attracts me to wrecks is the abundance of marine life they attract. I love a good reef, and enjoy a 25' 2 hour dive. What's not to love about a shallow sun dripped reef! If diving did not involve coral, marine plants, and marine life I likely would not be doing it. Wrecks are cool and deep can be interesting but cool marine life IMO is what makes diving the best!

Here, here!!!

 

[Peter Guy]

Ron -- I'm not sure when my "technical training" started so part of this is hard to answer. After scaring myself on what should have been a simple dive, I took Fundies. While working on finishing my Tech Pass I took some "scuba lessons" from AG and at the end of the lessons (spread over 3 months) he said, "Go get 25-25 fills and let's do a deep dive." Hmmm -- did it start then?

or

When Lynne set up a Cenote Tour during a dive trip to Coz, I went along --- a very expensive experience. It took about 20 minutes into my first Tour to convince me I NEEDED TO LEARN TO DO THIS. So, perhaps that's why/how I got into Technical Training/Diving since diving in Caves is, I suppose, technical diving.

The last bit was, like Lynne, wanting to get the tools to allow me to see a few things that required mandatory decompression -- Cloud Sponges, some pinnacles in Monterrey, etc.

The one thing that was NOT a part of the equation was the desire to look at old, rusty, sharp, icky metal!