How many divers have experienced is; or is it just ME (thanks)

[ScubaSteve]

I don't think I have ever been bored (truly bored) underwater. I dive some incredibly boring and benign sites out of necessity and even on those sites, I find myself just in awe of how exciting scuba diving is.

Typically though, I will move very slowly over the terrain, no matter how barren it appears, because many divers miss everything that is right in front of them because they do not slow down to look at it. Next time, try to slow down and find something. It is there waiting for you.

 

[Garrobo]

I sometimes get bored if we are diving a couple shallow reefs in succession with not a lot of wild life swimming around. When I experience this I usually start looking for lobsters. I try to dive as many wrecks as I can and do shallow penetrations on the first dive. This will take away some energy and then a shallow reef dive isn't all that out of the question. If I really get bored I thumb the dive and go to the boat and BS with the captain and crew.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I made a dive at a sea lion rookery once when the sea lions were all over us the entire dive. Everyone had so much fun that the Captain decided to stay there for another dive. I watched the sea lions for a few minutes, then decided to relax underwater. I laid on my back in the sand and slowly blew bubble rings for several minutes. Before long, two sea lions came over and laid in the sand on either side of me, mimicking me, blowing their own bubbles. A couple of other divers swam by and saw this going on. When I got back on the boat everyone began calling me Zen Diver. Sometimes you just have to make your own dive interesting.

Oh my ... you DO realize that male sea lions challenge each other for the harem by blowing bubbles ??? What you were telling those two was "I want your women" ... :shocked2:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DivemasterDennis]

To be perfectly honest, some dives are more exciting than others, and even for those of us who get to the salt water only 2 or 3 times a year, some dives can seem ordinary. May I suggest that when you are at a sight where you thing there is nothing new, single out an animal or tow, and watch their behavior for a time. I started doing this after hearing a talk by the DeLoach's on reef fish behavior, and it's like I found a whole new world. Now no dive is boring. Some are more exciting than others, but all are fascinating to me. Most of the photos or video I take now are of "ordinary" fish doing extraordinary (to me) things, from breeding to fighting to hunting or fleeing, or in interesting "poses." Move less, look more, and I am confident you will be less bored.
DivemasterDennis

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Some of the most exciting dives I've ever had were the ones where the first words uttered after the dive were "Oh man, that sucked" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

A couple of months ago, I made a trip up to the San Juan Islands to do some diving. It was a private charter, planned for technical diving. I had tanks full of helium and deco bottles and my scooter, and I was excited to go see some of the cool things that prefer deeper water.

The first dive, we got dropped in a site where the captain told us there was a wall that went down to about 175 feet. He gave us directions for finding it, but of the seven divers, only two ever did. Peter and I found ourselves scootering downslope over a monotonous, silty, grey sea floor, with no wall ever in sight. After about 15 minutes of no structure, I signaled we should turn (15 minutes on a scooter is a LONG way from the boat). We spent the next 45 minutes inspecting the silt . . . and found all KINDS of cool things! Turned out that, if you went very slowly and looked under and into everything, there was a lot of varied life in that apparently bleak environment.

It reminded me of a dive I did with the gentleman I referenced in my earlier post (airsix here on the board). I got us lost, and we swam for twenty minutes or more over a sea grass plain, dotted with sea pens. I was terribly embarrassed; he rarely gets to Puget Sound, and here I had wasted half of one of his precious salt water dives.

We surfaced and he looked at me and excitedly said, "Wow, did you see those huge SEA PENS?!!" And I realized we had had two entirely different dives . . . mine spent feeling stressed and morose over not being where I wanted to be, and his being amazed and delighted at being where he was.

Diving's a very Zen thing. Be delighted at being where you are.

 

[boulderjohn]

You've had some good advice so far. One thing I would like to suggest is to stop looking at the big picture (lots of fish) and start looking at the details of that picture.

To begin with, do not look not so much at the fish as at their behavior. If you watch them enough, you may see some patterns. You may see damsel fish defending their territory. You may see Sergeant Majors defending eggs. Perhaps you will spot some cleaner wrasse at work while other fish are waiting their turns. I like to watch the way they feed. Some fish (parrots, for example) blast into a coral formation, eating whatever they crunch into. Others will feed on essentially the same thing but gently approach a similar spot, blow a blast of water on it to clear away the silt, and pick out what they want to eat. (You have to get very close and very quiet to see things like that.)

I have found myself in some pretty barren areas, and when I do I try to find the little tiny things that are hiding in those areas. you can even find tiny critters hiding in sand if you look carefully enough. If you simply stare intently at a supposedly simple section of coral, you may suddenly see something that was right in front of you the entire time. You might really get involved with this kind of macro life. I was once on a liveaboard that had a DM who was really excited about those things. The skipper told us all that when he was pointing out something for you and after a while you finally saw a tiny creature, you weren't done--he was probably pointing at something on the forehead of that creature.

 

[TMHeimer]

In Nova Scotia? Some pretty good spots and some lousy ones. Boring at times, yes.

 

[300bar]

Dude, wait until your 400th dive at the same spot... you have no idea how boring this **** can get -- but at the same time it's still pretty cool to be underwater, although sometimes I get so bored I disassemble my regulators, remove gear, do handstands...

Michael

After 25+ year of diving, I've NEVER had that (besides in the pool)
Maybe you should try and look at the SMALLER things around.

btw, a GOOD naturalist specialty does work here.

By GOOD I mean, a specialty given by a marine biologyst(?) Not by an instructor with a book.

 

[300bar]

Some of the most exciting dives I've ever had were the ones where the first words uttered after the dive were "Oh man, that sucked" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

You must be the one with the eye for the smaller things