Some years ago, as I first started going deeper, staying longer, hoarding regulators, etc. I noticed a cultural oddity around me that I found it hard to wrap my head around. The Tech vs. Rec divide.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Recreational Course Director who reads all the magazines, certifies hundreds of competent students a year, attends all the shows, is as just as pretty in the water as a hawksbill turtle, been diving all over the world for decades, and should bloody well know better:
"Those tech divers are just macho hooligans with a death wish. There's nothing to see where they go, the way they dive is dangerous, and their back-inflate BCs will float you face-down in the water."
Techie who could have Sheck Exley award but stopped logging ages ago, more hours on 1/2 dozen different CCRs than most dive clubs have combined dives, first deco stops usually far deeper than anyone else ever even goes, been a push diver on expedition teams in places you've never heard of, and should bloody well know better:
"80s divers can't even swim worth a damn, much less dive right. If they aren't going to do it properly why don't they just save the money for their travel BCs and take up knitting?"
I couldn't understand it because I was perfectly happy and having a roaring good time in either environment. 200 feet down and 1000 feet back in a cave? Awesome. 30 feet down on a reef watching a secretary blenny for 1/2 an hour? Awesome.
I figured the Rec person (from the example above) just didn't want their lack of understanding about the tech world to take away from their well-deserved feeling of expertise. And the Techie... well, perhaps they simply couldn't remember back to when they could only dive once or twice a year and clearing their mask was still a challenge. What was wrong with straddling both camps, I thought? It's one sport, right?
Now here's the trouble and why I bring this all up...
I've been diving for only about 12 year now. Instructing (recreationally) for 8. Tech diving for about 9, cave diving for 7. Been on a rebreather for about 6. I don't know when it happened, I don't think it was a single event or just the buildup of DMing boatload after boatload of certs...
Recreational divers annoy the hell out of me.
I'm still perfectly happy with a 30 foot reef bimble (at least, I think I probably would be... it's been a while since I've done one). I don't HAVE to go into deco to be happy on a dive. But listening to recreational prattle puts my teeth on edge.
I don't like this about myself. I was a newbie not that long ago. I still am a newbie in a million ways. And I've got to figure out a way past the prejudice.
I ask this of both sides of the fence: wondering if I'm alone here.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Recreational Course Director who reads all the magazines, certifies hundreds of competent students a year, attends all the shows, is as just as pretty in the water as a hawksbill turtle, been diving all over the world for decades, and should bloody well know better:
"Those tech divers are just macho hooligans with a death wish. There's nothing to see where they go, the way they dive is dangerous, and their back-inflate BCs will float you face-down in the water."
Techie who could have Sheck Exley award but stopped logging ages ago, more hours on 1/2 dozen different CCRs than most dive clubs have combined dives, first deco stops usually far deeper than anyone else ever even goes, been a push diver on expedition teams in places you've never heard of, and should bloody well know better:
"80s divers can't even swim worth a damn, much less dive right. If they aren't going to do it properly why don't they just save the money for their travel BCs and take up knitting?"
I couldn't understand it because I was perfectly happy and having a roaring good time in either environment. 200 feet down and 1000 feet back in a cave? Awesome. 30 feet down on a reef watching a secretary blenny for 1/2 an hour? Awesome.
I figured the Rec person (from the example above) just didn't want their lack of understanding about the tech world to take away from their well-deserved feeling of expertise. And the Techie... well, perhaps they simply couldn't remember back to when they could only dive once or twice a year and clearing their mask was still a challenge. What was wrong with straddling both camps, I thought? It's one sport, right?
Now here's the trouble and why I bring this all up...
I've been diving for only about 12 year now. Instructing (recreationally) for 8. Tech diving for about 9, cave diving for 7. Been on a rebreather for about 6. I don't know when it happened, I don't think it was a single event or just the buildup of DMing boatload after boatload of certs...
Recreational divers annoy the hell out of me.
I'm still perfectly happy with a 30 foot reef bimble (at least, I think I probably would be... it's been a while since I've done one). I don't HAVE to go into deco to be happy on a dive. But listening to recreational prattle puts my teeth on edge.
I don't like this about myself. I was a newbie not that long ago. I still am a newbie in a million ways. And I've got to figure out a way past the prejudice.
I ask this of both sides of the fence: wondering if I'm alone here.