Cold water divers vs warm water divers

[Phish-phood]

I have yet to dive in warm water so I can't say for sure whether there is any difference in skills levels. I can't imagine there is - if your instructor did their job right then your skills should be at a certain level regardless of water temp.
I would imagine the physiological effects of switching from warm to cold would be more evident than if you went to other way. I know people who have learned to dive in warm waters and have then tried to dive in Britain and just hated it for various reasons not least being the cold.

The only advantage of warm water over cold water that I can see is the lack of extra kit. Packing to go for a weekends cold water diving requires more clothes and kit than going for a weeks warm water diving.

 

[cornfed]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...

No. Asking questions is fine. Polls, however I think are silly (or agrivating) for the reasons I gave. Maybe your the only one who has a right to an opinion because you have a question.

This is an aspect ot scubaboard (and other forums) that's really starting to bother me. If you're going to ask a question, create poll, etc, in a open forum you have to accept the possiblity that you will hear things you didn't expect or don't want to hear. By maintaining and defend your right to freely ask questions you must also defend other peoples right to answers with things you don't agree with.


Cornfed

 

[annie]

I started in cold water, did 25 dives, never noticed any problem. Then I went away for a year and did lots of warm water diving. I've come back now and even though the actual cold doesn't bother me, I am definitely feeling the weight. In fact I feel completely fatigued after diving here, check out my other thread about this if you want.
I am finding it harder here, but as for there being a difference in skill levels I really don't think so. Totally apart from my problems adapting again, I can honestly say that I learnt everything worthwhile I know about diving during my time abroad.
Before I went away, I never even felt the cold, or the weight for that matter . . . but I knew nothing about diving!

 

[ScubaScott]

If your good at them in warm or cold water, you'll be good at them. If you suck in either place, well you'll suck at the other as well. As far as adapting, I think cold water divers will have an easier time adapting to the warm waters than vice versa. Getting used to dry gloves, or 7mm gloves, suits, more weight...... just more task loading that will come in time

I guess you don't like people who ask questions...probably because what you say is so narrow minded that folks don't take you seriously! Jut a thought...

Dude, Mike is one of the few people left on this board that will give you an honest answer, FROM EXPERIENCE. He gave you an answer, my guess was that it wasn't what you wanted to hear. Whose got the narrow mind?

SS

 

[PaulB]

The question here wasn't if cold water diving is more difficult than warm water diving. The question was if cold water diving makes you a better diver.

In my opinion, it doesn't. Skills are skills. Diving in cold water isn't going to make you any better at skills. Practice and experiance makes you a better diver.

If a warm water diver has practiced OOA situations 70 times and a cold water diver has practiced it 10 times...guess who's more likely to be better prepared to handle an OOA situation?

And, it's not always that easy as you may think to transfer from cold water to warm water. If a cold water diver is used to diving in querries, it wont be so easy to jump into the ocean when you have to take into account you being more bouyant and the currents.

Now I'm not saying that warm water divers are better than cold, because it isn't true. Just the same that cold water divers aren't better than warm waters. You can't make a blanket statement like that. All depends on the diver and their experiance level.

 

[Fishbait99]

I agree that you can't say cold water divers are more skilled than warm water divers. Obviously, not all divers of one group are better than all divers of another...but I don't think that's what the question meant. It sounded more like an "in general" thing.

Personally, most of my diving has been in colder water, and with the exception of the type of suit and amount of weight, I don't find temperature makes a lot of difference. What I find more challenging is things like visibility and current, or even surface conditions such as choppy water.

I would say that a person with more experience diving in difficult conditions, with low visibility or heavy current, or yes, even in cold water, would probably be more comfortable and better able to handle themselves IF FACED WITH THOSE PARTICULAR CONDITIONS than someone without such experience. Does it make them a better diver in general, though? I don't think that's necessarily true.

By the same token, a person who has done a lot of diving in the tropics and is familiar with the habits and homes of the fish would find it easier to spot them, and know what to watch out for to avoid dangerous situations. In their familiar environment, they would be more comfortable and appear more skilled, but that wouldn't necessarily make them a better diver than someone new to the tropics.

 

[divemed06]

I guess I should have clarified a few things about the poll. Unfortunately, the space available for the poll question is limited so I wasn't able to fully develop the question. So here it goes....I dive mostly in northern/arctic Canada, that being said, we could consider this cold water diving! On my trips down south, I've found (IN GENERAL) that newly certified who got their training in a cold water environment/low vis/fast current/"poor" diving conditions for the average diver have better buoancy skills, finning techniques, buddy skills, emergency procedure skills, overall comfort vs the warm/tropical/100 foot vis diver. Obviousely, this is a generalization! Furthermore, I've seen warm water divers with lots of diving experience (including DMs and Instructors having problems with buoancy, keeping the silt down etc..while diving up North. This being said, let me rephrase the question...if we took a warm water diver and a cold (defined above) diver with no diving experience except open water training in their respectfull environments and put them through an obstacle course which would challenge skills such as buoancy etc....who would perform better? Hope this clarifies a bit and makes a little more sense.

 

[padiscubapro]

DeepSeaDan once bubbled...
...Everything done in cold water - skills/tasks - is more difficult to perform due to:

> Cumbersomeness of the rig

> Fatigue due to equip. wt., restrictiveness & the energy sapping aspects of cold water ( cold inspired air, immersion diuresis )

> Decreased manual dexterity

IMHO, cold water diving is much more demanding physically, mentally & emotionally. This reality requires of the cold water diver a higher degree of overall fitness & a continuous reassessment of one's personal capabilities & limitations.

Cold water can be very unforgiving.

I would venture the cold water diver could adapt to warm water diving much faster than his/her warm water counter-part could to the cold.

I recall working with G.O.M. divers & inviting them to spend a drilling season working in the Canadian high Arctic...

...Nary a taker!

D.S.D.

now we have to get into what your definition of cold is.. some people consider 70f cold water, others 60f, some of use NE wreckdivers will tell ya the water is toasty when it reaches the mid 50s , since we are used to bottom tempts around 40 or worse...

There is a big difference as the water gets colder.. in the winter its not uncommon for the ocean to get down to 35f, its either dry gloves, 3 fingered mits, or numb hands..

when the water is in the 50s I can get away with 5mm gloves and still have some pretty good dexterity, 7mm goves make things noticibly harder and some skills are nearly impossible in mitts..

cold in and of itself increases difficult of some skills but thats not usually the factor that makes warm water divers in general have difficulty.. cold water in many places is coupled with other enviromental conditions..

Of ny and nj, that is limited viz (navigation must be dead on since you cant see where you are going and could swim right past the anchor), and a ripping current is common (means you have to get back to the anchor to ascent to the surface safely)..
another factor for many is not being used to surface coinditions, I have been places where dives have been cancelled for only 3-4ft seas and told its too rough to dive, and that height I happy its that calm... diving in 5-6ft seas is not uncommon.. but thats another skill set you have to learn, getting on the boat with all your gear on and timing the swells.. many warm water divers cant climb a ladder with their fins on, up here you DONT remove them becausae if you get thrown off the ladder you wount be able to get back with all your gear on.

 

[diverjed]

perpet1 once bubbled...
[BYou could argue that in tropical climates people typically get a lot more water time to hone their skills....... my thaughts,
Pete [/B]

Pete makes a good short point. tough to compare, Cold water divers may have to focus in on more adaptable skills with additional levels of equip for example, but warm water divers may log more dives annually because basically wherever they're living, it is diveable year round. Possibly every day.

A typical cold water diver will see his diving activity tend to cease in the hard, cold, winter months due to lack of feasibility.

 

[Harvo]

No, but I need it warm.
I would like to try a cold dive.