Backing off from technical diving

I had a very interesting conversation with a friend yesterday. He was telling me about a recent trip he did, where he did a bunch of wreck diving, all at technical depths. He had had the interesting insight that the diving, although it was actually quite good, just didn't light his fire, especially not enough to justify the horrendous cost of the gases to do it.

I told him I really haven't had the urge to do any tech diving for the last year or so. The things I love most just don't require it, and the sites we have where there is interesting critter finding to do at depth are boat dives, that I don't get to very often.

Both of us agreed that we will probably not do much tech diving in the future, and both of us are considering selling some gear.

I wondered how many other people are out there who got the training, did some dives, and decided it just wasn't worth the effort or the expense.

(BTW, I will keep a set of doubles and a deco bottle, just in case, and also because I need to stay current on skills for cave diving, which I emphatically intend to continue to do!)

Many of these same people, however, would never consider diving economically-reasonable gasses--whether that's air or a much less helium-rich mix--past whatever magical depth they've been told is safe/set for themselves. I don't get it, but whatever sinks someone's rig is what works for them.

But I think almost all of us suffer from/engage in this kind of analysis to some degree. There have been plenty of times I've missed technical dives I, all else being equal, would have liked to have dove that day because I just couldn't bring myself to gear up, throw it on the boat/beach/rocky-ass cliff trail in question, and then haul it all back out.

Not by design, but by happenstance, I've been lucky enough to have a balance.

Roughly 2/3 of my diving is NDL diving on liveaboards, or trips, or locally. These are fun, and no pressure to perform, and I always see something new.

The remainder are a drain on the world's Helium supply. These, too, are fun and filled with cool stuff to look at, and the people I dive with (like Merlin and Ben V.) are just plain fun to hang around with (even without the diving!).

The balance has been good for me. No ruts, no same-dives-every-time, lots of interest for what the next weekend holds.

I believe I'm lucky, the expenses aren't as much as they could be, since I blend at wholesale prices and maintain all my cylinders and regs. That certainly takes the sting out of the tech end.

All the best, James

Well I'm at a crossroads myself after this trip to Bikini & Truk last month after the gas costs, airline excess luggage fees ($400 just for my X-Scooter), and getting type I DCS hit --traveling technical diving overseas doesn't have the appeal anymore especially with regards to the "physicality" involved diving & lugging this heavy stuff all over the Indo-Pacific region. (I'm getting old for this *scat*). Reluctantly looking at Rebreather training, or probably just doing pure single tank recreational diving for the next year (oh yeah, my health --considering elective keratoplasty/tissue transplant for my left cornea).

The interest & passion is still there, but the effort, motivation and financial means is starting to wane. . . :depressed:

I did a dive a couple of years ago to a wreck called the RBJ in south Florida. It was about 260 feet to sand. We did 20 minutes of bottom time, with the total run time, counting ascent, of about 90 minutes . (This is all from memory.) During our last drifting deco stop in blue water, my buddy started writing and handed me a note. It said something like "This is as far as I go to see a wreck." He decided while staring at me for an extended time (a circumstance that would trouble anyone) that the shallower wrecks were pretty good, too, and they didn't require hanging in the open water for so long and spending hundreds of dollars on helium. I am becoming less and less enamored of that as well.

At the same time, I am becoming more interested in another aspect of technical diving--caves. Most of the caves are shallow enough that little or no helium is needed. No boat fees are required. You usually won't get canceled because of weather (except when the rivers flood). They are usually much more interesting than most of the sanitized wrecks available to us.

So I would say that my interest in tech is about the same, but the emphasis is shifting from deep decompression diving to caves.

TSandM:

considering selling some gear.

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I call 1st dibs on scubapro regs.

PfcAJ:

I call 1st dibs on scubapro regs.

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I'm about to sell a whole bunch of stuff--don't move too quickly.

I never actually crossed the line to tech myself. Nibbled around the edges a bit. Took GUE Primer and Fundies. Picked up a doubles set, plus a bunch of extra gear to make further doubles sets, and did some playing with it.

Several of my good friends have continued into cave certifications.

But, honestly, I am really quite happy to keep doing relatively shallow, "rec" dives in open water, especially just playing with the camera and enjoying the interaction of marine life.

I was temped to do more tech type diving, but the more I dabbled in it the more I realized that I am really quite content to just drift weightless under water, and don't really want the over complication, commitment and expense that tech diving requires.

boulderjohn:

I'm about to sell a whole bunch of stuff--don't move too quickly.

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Don't sell too much if you're lookin' to cave dive! If you wanna really get nutty with gear, deep caves are where its at. Guaranteed to empty your wallet.

Sorry for posting here, since I'm not a tech diver, but I wanted to bump what boulderjohn just said. When I read the OP my first thought was, what about just deco diving? That's tech, can be done in shallower water, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Hell, NDL at 130' on air is only 5 or 6 minutes, but you could do a longer dive with some decompression obligation, and really get to look around at stuff.

It's not elite diving, but I think could still be very rewarding. Again, not a tech diver, but seems reasonable to me.