Divers vs Underwater Tourists

[BDSC]

STOP! Hold the presses! By george I think I've got it! Now I know what this thread is really all about.

You are going to lobby for a new PADI speciality!

Underwater Tourist!

That's absolutely brilliant! They already have Underwater Naturalist, Navigator, Photographer, and Videographer. Now add Tourist to the list and you're a "Master Scuba Diver".

Damn. Why didn't I think of it first!

 

[Jax Teller]

Respond with laughter...

 

[gcbryan]

You're doing exactly what I would do under those circumstances. As you get more dives (tropics or otherwise) then you aren't a new diver anymore! My initial statement was if you are a new diver (and thereby have no experience) and only dive in the tropics on vacation. If you dive a lot and often on vacation then again you are gaining experience. Many vacation divers only get a few dives every few years and I would consider them underwater tourists (no negative connotation here...just descriptive) wouldn't you?

(responding to Foxe)

 

[gcbryan]

I don't even know how to respond to this thread.....

Then you must be an underwater tourist.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Y'all are welcome to come visit and dive in our pond or the Corps ditch alongside our property to keep your dive skills in shape. The four footed local that pops up in our pond from time to time is protected, but the legless locals aren't. The only one I've dispatched was the moccasin, it was revealed when my wife moved her car on a Saturday morning to change the oil - it was torpid and undoubtedly got under there the night before while the engine was warm - her feet were inches from it getting into her car that morning, unknowingly at the time. Low vis, fresh water, and things to take touristy pics of - that's way better than some quarry! Now that you mention it it's hard to reckon why we pay money to go other places to dive! Big paradigm buster!

Color me as an underwater tourist . . .

 

[Gombessa]

Personally, I think it's silly for people to think of themselves as divers and to have an industry tout them as such when they are actually just underwater tourists.

I don't see that the two are mutually exclusive. Whenever I dive, I'm both. I like to think of myself as a responsible tourist, but an underwater tourist nonetheless.

Now, whenever I'm underwater touristing, I do spend a lot of time swimming slowly in the left lane, telling the local fish how they're working their gills all wrong, declaring how the reefs aren't nearly as nice as my apartment above water and trying to pay for everything in dollars...so that may make me an Ugly American Underwater Tourist. But I figure that's neither here nor there.

 

[jswantek]

Let me see if I have those pictures straight. The gator is a 'diver', and the snakes are only 'above-water tourists'?

Which gives me another idea for a PADI specialty, Gator Rider, could be an underwater equestrian specialty!

Yup, it's official, I'm spending too much time on this website...

 

[gcbryan]

Nice pics. I'm seen them firsthand but not from underwater! Gator's that is!

If someone dives in warm water and only goes to 30 feet and they are comfortable and competent in that environment they are a diver.

If they need someone to put their gear together for them, to keep checking their air, and to keep them from falling down a wall then they are an underwater tourist.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Naw, y'all got that all wrong, the legless locals lurk under the water too, often for long spells. Why I figure someone using the Braille method of navigation in the local vis conditions can find a mess of 'em, and rightly piss them off by 'discovering' 'em, when they knew right where they was all along on theor own!


edit - the wife's the shutterbug, she does a right fine job above & below water

 

[DennisS]

It doesn't matter where you get the dives in. If you are getting 60 or more dives a year in then you are a diver who is experienced enough to be responsible for yourself. If you just got certified and only do 5 dives a year in the tropics you are probably an underwater tourist.

If you get on a boat with 30 other divers and go to the same place the boat goes every day with it's 30 divers, you're an underwater tourist, no matter how many dives you have.