Backing off from technical diving

[MXGratefulDiver]

Miaow!

I guess I just don't see getting a cramp on one dive as a reason to quit technical diving

Me neither.

That's a pretty awesome leap ... you should try out for the Olympics ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added August 16th, 2013 at 04:38 AM ----------

If you did not have the cramp then that dive would be beautiful. It is just like having a good meal and then suffer(not food poisoning) afterwards. You can't blame the food, can you?
BTW, it can't be that negative cause you can still vividly remember every minute of it.

I wasn't blaming ... I was pointing out that every dive is situational, and whether you have a great time or not is going to be based on what happens during that specific dive.

It was still a beautiful dive. The site itself remains one of my all-time favorites, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The point of bringing up that particular dive was to demonstrate the downside of not being able to exit the water in a timely manner. People who "can't imagine" a downside (or upside) to a given circumstance either have limited experience or limited imagination.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Rhone Man]

I think with all things in life we try new things, we like them, but sometimes the novelty wears off.

We see it all the time with people who try diving and then stop. It stands to reason that even people who still love diving could have the novelty wear off with respect to a type of diving that is more expensive, time consuming, and frankly just more hassle for a shorter dive. I used to love night diving, but now I just think of it as a PITA.

I am a bit of a gadget geek so I still enjoy the "hassle" of technical diving, but I could easily see how it gets old. Equally, I don't get to do it that much, so it stays fresh for me.

 

[rhwestfall]

seeing that I can't/won't move to someplace else, and I want to dive, unless you want to see a smashed up pile of timbers, its mostly stuff in the transition zone (120 - 150) between recreational limits and technical requirements. So, its developing a technical diving skill to do it..... We don't have pretty shallow walls in Lake Erie....

Recently, the charters have been heading to deeper water, due in fact to what appears to be many more technicl divers making the push for "better" sites.

It seem that I don't have many choices....

 

[Tortuga68]

Me neither.

That's a pretty awesome leap ... you should try out for the Olympics ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added August 16th, 2013 at 04:38 AM ----------



I wasn't blaming ... I was pointing out that every dive is situational, and whether you have a great time or not is going to be based on what happens during that specific dive.

It was still a beautiful dive. The site itself remains one of my all-time favorites, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The point of bringing up that particular dive was to demonstrate the downside of not being able to exit the water in a timely manner. People who "can't imagine" a downside (or upside) to a given circumstance either have limited experience or limited imagination.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Dude, relax... what I actually said was:

Doing your deco coming up a reef, I fail to see any mandatory negatives

I didn't say I "can't imagine" anything, let alone a cramp ruining a dive - so why the quotes? Is cramp 'mandatory'? Is decoing up a reef a bad thing? Seems we both agree cramp isn't a reason to quit/back off technical diving - isn't that the topic of the thread? Chill out

 

[MalibuJerry]

I find that having done the big dives I went into tech diving for, I am now doing less and less technical diving relative to recreational diving; so much so that I ended up selling my rebreather. in 2012 I only did 4 long deco dives. My regular tech diving buddies gave it up a few years ago, so that also influenced my decision. So, my tech diving today is relatively tame OC with short deco obligations.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Dude, relax... what I actually said was:



I didn't say I "can't imagine" anything, let alone a cramp ruining a dive - so why the quotes? Is cramp 'mandatory'? Is decoing up a reef a bad thing? Seems we both agree cramp isn't a reason to quit/back off technical diving - isn't that the topic of the thread? Chill out

The mandatory negative in this case is the necessity to remain in the water despite being in pain and really wanting to get out. Makes your deco stop ... which is mandatory ... a pretty unpleasant experience.

Coming up a reef isn't a panacea for all of the potential drawbacks to a deco obligation. It only gives you something to look at while you're waiting ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mathauck0814]

I think with all things in life we try new things, we like them, but sometimes the novelty wears off.
...
I am a bit of a gadget geek so I still enjoy the "hassle" of technical diving,

I agree with you. Most people "date" tech diving but few "marry". I'm pickier about how I do it than I was a couple of years ago for sure - I'm less interested in groups piling into big liveaboard boats and prefer private charters with more unshared space, for instance. But I'm not less interested in it. The "hassle" that most seem to cite like more of an ennui than an actual barrier. I mean, come on folks - how long does it REALLY take to carry a few tanks and a duffel bag from your car to the boat?

The truth is that if you dive in common, heavily trafficked areas you're getting a diving experience akin to visiting Epcot for a global cultural experience. Being farther away, deeper, or just generally out of the way lands you a different opportunity. You can get that experience by travelling far, but the world is getting smaller. Ultimately, if you want the more unique experience with the untouched wildlife and sites, I just don't see an alternative to deeper. It gets me off to know that more people have been to the moon than have done some of the dives available out there.

But maybe the difference is just that: in the metric by which you measure your diving career. If it's cost/dive, tech isn't for you. If it's convenience or ease of dive, tech isn't for you. In fact, tech probably isn't for just about anyone who isn't looking to do something very different than most... you have to want what you're seeing badly enough that the 20 minutes you get on the site make the deco worth it so the next couple of hours fly by.

Otherwise you get bored and break up with technical diving and go back to single tank; albeit much better for the experience.

 

[waterpirate]

Coming up a reef isn't a panacea for all of the potential drawbacks to a deco obligation. It only gives you something to look at while you're waiting ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I agree. If your drysuit floods where I dive, it does not make a hill of differance if you see the only whale shark ever sighted in these waters. You are still cold and still have to hang.
Eric

 

[boulderjohn]

What, can't be?!? Do you know how many rec divers, non-cave instructor and untrained cavers enter caves! It so easy to enter caves.

I'm not sure that I see the logic. The fact that non-trained divers can attempt a technical dive does not mean it is not a technical dive.

Yes, non-trained people enter caves, and many of them live to tell about it.

Two years ago in Cozumel, a dive shop owner, a DM, and another man decided to do a dive to 300 feet, and they had no training for that whatsoever. The owner died and the DM will never walk again. Does the fact that they did the dive mean diving to 300 feet is not a technical dive?

If you check out the various definitions of technical diving, you will see some variations, but there is a pretty decent consensus of what it means. It is the characteristics of the dive that make it technical, not the characteristics of the diver who attempts it.

 

[corvettejoe]

I can't afford the trimix prices, so I just stick to adv nitrox/air/deco within rec depths.
I just don't care to see that one thing that's at 180ft, when there's a bajillion things to see at 130ft for me still.
There's also miles and miles of cave for me to see within rec depths before I ever run out of it and need to go deeper.