What does the underwaterworld mean to you?

[DCBC]

As I get older, I wonder about some of the decisions I've made, how I've spent my time and what it has all meant to me and my family. For me the underwater world has provided me with a vocation, as well as entertainment.

To-date, I've spent over 3 1/2 years of my life in a pressurized environment (wet and dry). It seems a long time to be in a foreign environment. It's shown me much of the World I live in, as well as some of the one I only frequent. It has allowed me to dive in all of the World's oceans and live in several countries. Its provided for my livelihood for the past 42 years and has been my hobby for 8 years longer than that.

It has shown me many beautiful and terrible things. It has caused injury and killed some of my colleagues. I've endured its cold, currents, depths, waves and surf, or at least until now. I've always been aware of its danger, but call it a friend. It has helped shape the person I am.

How has your underwater experience influenced you? Has diving changed the person you are, or want to be? What you want to do in the World, Where you want to live? How you see the World?

I'd be interested in your comments...

 

[Wingy]

Diving is my secret world. Its my peace zone. I am not anyones anything down there. I am insignificant. I am plankton in the grander scheme of things. Over the years of diving and travelling ive seen places and things I know only will ever be seen by a handful of people. The ocean is my scale. Its also my clock. I do not have your breadth of experience but It has shown me that everything can change in a nanosecond and not always for the good.

What diving has given me as Ive aged and the oceans have aged is a timespan of a really sad trend. I lecture for a day job, often about sustainable issues which includes climate issues and engineering for rising sea levels etc. I have taken to recently saying to my students who are always interested in pics of where I have been and what I have seen that I am starting to see myself ending my vocational career as a historian not a observer.

I dont ever want to see the day when im showing holographic some image of schooling bumpheads in papua new guinea in a virtual classroom and saying...oh, i took that 30 years ago, its all gone now though, theres just mud and worms.

Its also influenced how I travel a lot. I now travel mainly to island destinations where diving is the main attraction but its the destination that's not mainstream that i find myself looking for more and more now. I am prepared to learn to dive in cold water so when I do get to norway I can hopefully dive with orcas. With new off the beaten track type destinations i often have to learn how to speak whatever language pretty quickly and deal with new cultures which has taught me trust in humans as much as its taught me to never forget to be a little bit savvy.

I am who I want to be doing what I want to do. Diving has definitely given me a both incredible admiration for the oceans and a deep concern for what we are doing and a graphic view of how exponential that damage is.

 

[TSandM]

Diving has allowed me something I always wanted and never had . . . I can be graceful. The joy of that is something I deeply want to share with other people. I want to fix all the problems I see that keep people from being able to revel in soaring. This is why I spend way too much time on line, trying to share what I've learned.

Diving has also changed ME. I am the poster child for social anxiety disorder; I hate strangers, especially in groups. Diving has helped me learn to relax and reach out to people I don't know (and it's even helped in non-diving contexts!).

Diving has taken me to some fantastic places . . . I don't know that I would ever have gone to Australia, or the South Pacific, or Indonesia, without wanting to dive in those places.

And diving has given me an outlet for one of my favorite activities, which is writing. I have written blog pieces, advice pieces, and even articles -- it's a great joy, and something I had lost when I left academic medicine. Come to think of it, the other thing I lost with that change was being able to teach, and diving has brought that back to me, too.

Great idea for a thread, DCBC!

 

[TMHeimer]

I retired at an early age (perhaps earlier than I should have). In moving to NS I was able to do something I infrequently thought of all those years out West. My main goal was to be able to do my shell collecting where they live, and that has occured. Diving has also given me an activity I enjoy and in retirement, pretty much to dive when I want -- if weather sucks today there is tomorrow. Taking courses gave me goals, and now doing some DMing has furthered that and gotten me back into education in a small way.

DCBC, Wow- 3 1/2 years UW. And I thought I was good at 8 days....

 

[DivemasterDennis]

The underwater world is a place of peace for me. Peace and quiet. The absence of car horns, cell phones, people yelling, and the natural environment just throbbing with life and its motion all draw me to return again and again. Diving is my relaxation and my adventure. It is what makes me feel good about myself, having the skills and spirit to do it and to enjoy it and to share it with others. In times of distress and illness, looking forward to returning to the water has sustained me and given me hope, especially this year. ( But now, back to Akumal in just 12 days! ) The underwater world and the equipment and techniques necessary to visit there present me with areas of lifelong learning, good for keeping one's mind and body in decent shape. The underwater world is my "deal." WHEN i AN'T BE THERE, I WRITE ABOUT BEING THERE.
DivemasterZDennis

 

[knotical]

Diving is an escape. I’ve never yet thought about topside worries while underwater. It’s as if I had no debts, concerns, or inabilities.

Diving is mind expanding. It’s gotten me more deeply (pun intended) interested in biology, physics, physiology, …

Diving is social. I’ve made life-long friends through the pursuit, and am convinced I’m more closely bonded with my wife than if we hadn’t become buddies.

 

[DiverGirl1972]

In addition to taking me to places that I never would have visited otherwise, diving has taught me to live in the moment. Above water, I always have a ton of to-do lists. I’m planning for tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. Try as I might, it has always been a challenge to just turn it off. Even if I’m doing something topside that I enjoy, there is always a place in the back of my mind that is thinking about things that are troubling me or tasks that need to be done.

When I’m diving, all of that inner chatter completely disappears. I can completely focus on the dive and whatever is in front of me and just “be”. I’ve never been floating through the underwater world and thought “Hmmm, what am I going to make for dinner?” Nothing else has been able to do that for me and that has had such a positive impact on my life.

Also, diving was the catalyst for me to quit smoking and take better care of myself so that I could continue enjoying it for many years to come. On so many levels, diving has improved both my mental and physical well-being. When I got certified, it was more than simply starting a new chapter in my life. It was like starting a new book.

 

[jord1990]

As I believe Jim once said:
"Hi I'm jord and I'm an addict"
Diving is my drug. Even though I've only been doing it for 3 month's. After my first dive I wanted more. Underwater is the place where I can tell my overworked brain to shut up. He doesn't completely listen, but rather just critiques my diving. I've been avoiding people for a year now because I get angry around them. But like TS&M said for some reason I can talk to other divers.
So what is the underwaterworld to me ? It's my reason to go outside. It's the reason I'm fighting with myself to get a job (i really want a drysuit)
And it's the reason I'm here typing on a forum to people I don't know.

Jord

 

[LindaSSF]

I was the world's clutziest kid. My parents had me take dance class in hopes of instilling
some grace. It really didn't help. I grew so fast that I never caught up with my legs.

In the 60's, I grew up in a pool or in the lake where I learned that I could fly, swoop and spin effortlessly under water. Coming up for air was the only limitation. I learned to dive in the Florida springs, then got officially certified so I could get air fills in the 70's.

Now I am arthritic and use a cane on land. In the water, I still have that sense of of freedom. I can still fly with the fish.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Laurie S.]

I love the other world that I enter when I dive. It feels so natural to me that I can't believe it. It's been like that from almost my very first dive and I hope it never changes. I can't imagine ever stopping diving.