Any reason to think that diving might be PHYSICALLY addictive? or is it just me?

[huskychemist]

Diving is my drug also! (Although I don't agree that a coke habit would be cheaper.)

I try to explain to people that diving is "zen like" in that breathing and taking in your surroundings are the only thing that matter when you're under water. The closest thing I've experienced is rock climbing. The only thing you're worried about is the next move.

I think the addiction is mental in my case, not physical...but addiction is addiction in my book. I can think of a lot worse things to be addicted to.

 

[okamiotoko2004]

I admit it I am addicted to diving without a doubt. For me it is pure mental addiction. I can't get enough of it. I also try to explain diving like being in a zen like state. Only way I can describe it to anyone. Good friend of mine used to have water phobia and then after his first dive is now completely and utterly always in the water getting wet.
I wish some doctor or scientist would come up with gill implants. I would get them in a heartbeat.

 

[amascuba]

But if you could bottle that stuff... man... you'd be rich.

You can! Hyperbarics Chamber. .. Of course .. that would mean that you would be the "worm in a bottle of tequila"

 

[SeaHorseWoman]

Chocolate, good red wine, and riding finely trained horses are all exquisite pleasures, but none has motivated me to exceed personal limits in quite the same way.

Me, too. Exactly.
Barbara

 

[WaterKtn]

Scuba and horses seem to go together!

 

[annlaur]

First time I dove was in Mahahual, Mexico, I just couldn’t believe what I saw, that incredible world surrounding me. Dreamt of fish and coral and sponges and the likes every night for three weeks, and every morning I hurried to the dive shop even after I had gotten my OW because diving was all I wanted to do (I was supposed to go visit the ruins of Palenque in the jungle of Chiapas but just couldn’t leave the ocean. So I just stayed in Mahahual until the last minute of my trip). I even woke up at 2 am one night, rode 4 km on a bike on a sandy road with a flashlilght in my mouth in order to do a nightdive ! And I hate waking up early or exercising.
So yes, I think diving is addictive, but to me it has a lot to do with the underworld. I mean, where else would you be able to witness up close wild animals living their lives as if you weren’t even there ? And where else would you see such vibrant colors, psychedelic patterns and weird shapes ? That’s what I find magical about diving. I don’t think I’d care much about diving just for the sake of being underwater if there were no fish to see.
But that’s just me.

Anne-Laure

BTW, TSand, I’ve come across several of your posts, always a pleasure to read you. I like your style of writing and attitude.

 

[grazie42]

I spent an hour sawing thru ice last weekend to get wet and am getting ready to do it again.

If that isn´t an indication of a addiction problem, I don´t know what is...

 

[H2Andy]

I spent an hour sawing thru ice last weekend to get wet and
am getting ready to do it again.

at least you save the ice for magaritas, right??

:14:

 

[n2addict]

I tend to agree with the meditation theory. When i am under is the only time I can take my mind off everything other than the task immediately at hand.

 

[dpbishop]

I've tried to disguise my addiction as economic practicality. I like lobster, it's to expensive to buy, so I go diving for lobster. Right now I have the limit in my freezer and my GF wants to have the family over for lobster dinner but she has a nasty cold so we have to wait. Which means I can't go lobster diving even though the viz is 20' + for the first time in months. Last night I made a dive at the La Jolla Cove game preserve just so I could look at all the lobster. I'm trying to justify another one today.

Actually, I looked at a lot over other things too; horned sharks, guitar fish, an octopus, etc. It's amazing what you can see when the vizibility is good and you're not focused on hunting. Plus I saw the biggest lobster I have seen outside of an aquarium; the sucker had to be pushing 8 lbs. I almost spit my regulator out when I saw him.

Did I mention I like lobster?