Deep Thought..

One of the major questions I’ve been asking myself lately is “what I want out of diving, what do I want to accomplish in the next X years.” Not in an attempt to stop diving but to get to where I really want to go. IE: If I want to discover some virgin wreck then the next question that ties into it is “what do I need to do to get to that point.” This has been going around in my head for the last week or so, and I believe the answer I get for myself will determine weather I volunteer for the Seattle Aquarium or other activities. Since there is a stipulation that one has to complete 100 hours of being an interpreter being put on the list for the check out dive to then be able to dive and clean the dome. The reason why I share this with every one; knowing full well I and only I can answer these questions for myself is I guess maybe get some feed back from other people that have maybe already found the answer for themselves. I think the direction of the answer is more complex then “I want to dive to 200 feet, or I want to dive the Andrea Doria.” To me these are skills to learn and master such as night diving (although they are more complex skill.) Personally I dive because its relaxing, and I want to see really cool stuff in this new world.

A little profile of me:
I’m 25 and have been diving over a year. I work at Microsoft as a network engineer. I’m a 2x combat veteran from the army with my last tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2004). I have just over 90 dives to my credit all in the Puget Sound with most of those being at night. I’ve generally been able to learn and master my diving skills with ease and I hold the following dive certifications:

SSI:
Master Diver
Advanced Open Water
Stress & Rescue
Boat Diving
Night/Limited Vis Diving
Deep Diving
Current Diving
UW Navigation

PADI:
Dry Suit Diving

Feel free to share thoughts or ask questions of me

puckvirus:

One of the major questions I’ve been asking myself lately is “what I want out of diving, what do I want to accomplish in the next X years.” Not in an attempt to stop diving but to get to where I really want to go. IE: If I want to discover some virgin wreck then the next question that ties into it is “what do I need to do to get to that point.” This has been going around in my head for the last week or so, and I believe the answer I get for myself will determine weather I volunteer for the Seattle Aquarium or other activities. Since there is a stipulation that one has to complete 100 hours of being an interpreter being put on the list for the check out dive to then be able to dive and clean the dome. The reason why I share this with every one; knowing full well I and only I can answer these questions for myself is I guess maybe get some feed back from other people that have maybe already found the answer for themselves. I think the direction of the answer is more complex then “I want to dive to 200 feet, or I want to dive the Andrea Doria.” To me these are skills to learn and master such as night diving (although they are more complex skill.) Personally I dive because its relaxing, and I want to see really cool stuff in this new world.

A little profile of me:
I’m 25 and have been diving over a year. I work at Microsoft as a network engineer. I’m a 2x combat veteran from the army with my last tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2004). I have just over 90 dives to my credit all in the Puget Sound with most of those being at night. I’ve generally been able to learn and master my diving skills with ease and I hold the following dive certifications:

SSI:
Master Diver
Advanced Open Water
Stress & Rescue
Boat Diving
Night/Limited Vis Diving
Deep Diving
Current Diving
UW Navigation

PADI:
Dry Suit Diving

Feel free to share thoughts or ask questions of me

Click to expand...

Is there an actual question somewhere in all of that?

to get some feed back from other people that have maybe already found the answer for themselves.

puckvirus:

I’m a 2x combat veteran from the army with my last tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2004).

Click to expand...

Well first off let me just say, thank you.

From your list of certifications you would appear to be well prepared to meet most any challege in the rec diving world. If you got certified for nitrox, wreck, and cave and I think you'd have covered it all the way up to tech.

I do understand how you feel though, because I faced the same question. Since then I have come to the conclusion, so far anyway, that I like UW photography of critters. (Thank god for digital or I'd never be able to afford the recurring film and processing costs.) Unfortunately I live in an area where local diving isn't very conducive to good clear photos so I had to find another reason to get in the water locally. In the process I've found that I like lobstering, so that gives me a reason to do cold water diving so I stay current in my skills. You, are just going to have to try as many different things as your budget will allow until you find what interests you most. Good luck, I hope you find what you're looking for.

OWSI176288:

Is there an actual question somewhere in all of that?

Click to expand...

puckvirus:

The reason why I share this with every one; knowing full well I and only I can answer these questions for myself is I guess maybe get some feed back from other people that have maybe already found the answer for themselves.

Click to expand...

puckvirus,
I actually think it is a good question. I've started thinking along those lines myself. I do 5 to 8 dives almost every weekend but they are starting to get a bit less satisying. Basically the same dives over and over. I'd like to get with a couple of guys I know that hunt new wrecks and be one of the first to dive it and help identify it. That is one of my diving goals.

Joe

I sent basically the same email to my wife who responded:

"my take on it is you might as well volunteer. then if you still want to go find some rotton boat then you can."

First off, let me be the second to say the following: Thank you for your service.

Second off, my turn for ill placed advice. My background is definitely not quite extensive as yours. I am NAUI OW certified, and have a DIR-F provisional. This means that a) I am not as experienced, b) am still in college c) was interested in what a lot of people(don't flame this post!) call the "best of diving".

Coming away from DIR-F I learnt quite a bit, though taking everything with a grain of salt. The biggest thing that I learned was that diving is primarily about safety...i know, i know, "But lord1234, didn't they teach you that in NAUI OW?" sure they did...but looking back, my own instructor did some pretty dangerous stuff during the class and I do not look forward to diving with him again.

Your goal might be "to become a better diver". Maybe it is time for you to take some tech courses. Skip the Wreck cert, and go get a cert from TDI/IANTD/SDI/GUE/etc etc. Try out a tech course, see if there is some new skill or interest that you find during these courses that will help you decide better.

and Third off: My resume might cross your desk in about 6-8 months

Dive Safe
--L1234

puckvirus:

Personally I dive because its relaxing, and I want to see really cool stuff in this new world.

Click to expand...

Gee that works for me. Beyond that, I'd like to valued as a good mentor by a few divers down the road. We are also trying to give something back to the community by assisting in a colledge projects and we will eventaully connect to pitch in on some trash clean-up dives.

Make it a goal to be a life long diver. You are young and probably don't need to get yourself back into shape like many of us from the "Sea Hunt" generation who are finnaly coming to the sport in mid-life. Be smart about how you live, dive and configure. That example will make you a role model in the eyes of many.

Remember this is supposed to be fun and while being goal oriented is good you're off the a very solid start. See what strikes your fancy and follow your bliss.

Pete

I posed the same question to my wife, who doesn’t dive and has no plans to. My wife told me last night that I should start at the Seattle Aquarium and then if I wanted to go see a sunken boat I could. But use it as a starting point; and who knows maybe it'll lead me into studying 6 gills more in detail with them. I'm still considering making the call; as I don’t like to make decisions like this with out much consideration (per this question.) I am interested in learning the advanced skills such as Nitrox, Adv Nitrox then onto Trimix so I can expand my reach deeper into the UW world. However as Kirby also said in another thread, the budget with wife and kids leaves funds to more noble projects.

I started diving after I got back from Iraq in 2004 because the war taught me that life is too short to put off your dreams (among other lessons) and I had been putting off getting certified since I was 13. Since getting certified on June 6th 2004 I haven’t looked back since. To me diving isn’t about a hobby, but it’s an experience that one is immersed in.

Reading books like Shadow Divers and Fatal Depth got me considering things beyond the tide line. I feel that even John Chatterton didn’t have too much of a vision or an answer to this question when he put searching for the true identity of U-Who (U-869) when he found other missing wrecks before coming back to his passion. While I'm not trying to compare myself in any way to John Chatterton, I'm trying to merely point out that even great people like him might not have that bigger picture in mind and are just diving like it was a destination.

Some one once told me that "life isn’t about the destination; it’s the journey." However I want to take that one step further by stating "it’s important to know your end goals so you can forge the path and it will make that journey much more rewarding." This is why I don’t just want to volunteer for the Seattle Aquarium because I don’t have that end goal in mind. Although I wonder if it’s something that should be done so I can find though the journey what that end goal could be then reset/adjust my goal.