Cost of Tec Diving?

[scubafire]

While everyone on here is out diving, I sneak into their homes and steal some goods and then I sell them to various pawn shops.

When they all return home, I go diving.

Genius.

 

[stargost]

I dont know much about tec (tek? teck? Teque?) diving, but i assume that when decoplanner will be ready for OS4, it'd be another 650$ expense (149 + 500 for ipad2) to consider.

 

[nielsent]

When I was growing up, my father always used to say "When we do things, we are always after good, fast and cheap... You can never have all three, but you can get two at a time." As a result, I have learned a lot of patience, and have managed to make some great progress in my diving for not a huge amount of costs (say less than two grand in my tech investments).

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I don't know, I think it's pretty expensive (and that's not counting airfare, hotel, food, car rental, tips, etc) when you're paying all that for only 20-25 minutes of bottom time!

The lame part is, sometimes those few minutes are worth the cost of admission (though I must say, I've done way more ho hum T1 dives than great ones...).

Best tech dives I've done to date were Nootka Sound ...

Below 150 feet we had gorgonian corals.

130 to about 80 feet, cloud sponges

Above 80 feet, strawberry anemones and inverterbrates

20 feet and up ... kelp and jellies

I could've done twice the deco and enjoyed every minute of it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

I start with kids out of college, knees too bad for my former expensive skiing hobby, and a decent retirement plan. I add in my instructor discount on all my purchases through the shop.I then turn 100% of my instructor-related income into my tech diving needs. Finally, I throw in an attitude that I would rather have rich experiences like this than riches.

I could not have come anywhere near affording this without all of those pieces in place.

 

[Rainer]

Sounds like some great dives. I'd love to check those out at some point.

Multi-level profiles where you can deco up a reef (or along any structure) sure beat mid-water deco (which is usually what I do).

It's not that I've done a lot of bad T1(+) dives, it's just that our recreational dives out here in SoCal are that good. It takes a pretty special deeper/longer dive to make the 5-10x cost difference justifiable (especially when the deeper dives involve usually half the bottom time). Simply doing something "different" isn't always a great reason to empty the bank.

Best tech dives I've done to date were Nootka Sound ...

Below 150 feet we had gorgonian corals.

130 to about 80 feet, cloud sponges

Above 80 feet, strawberry anemones and inverterbrates

20 feet and up ... kelp and jellies

I could've done twice the deco and enjoyed every minute of it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

I'm with Bob -- the best tech dives I've done so far were in the Brothers Islands in the Red Sea -- 20 minutes on the wreck, and then 70 total minutes of "deco", if you can call it that, on a spectacular wall with cascading hard corals, colorful soft corals, and lots of fish. It ain't deco, it's diving!

 

[liuk3]

Hey, like I said, just be glad if you aren't really into it. It's a lot cheaper that way!

 

[Ozwald]

Well, after I got the bug which wasnt that long ago I have dropped probably $20,000. That's in the last year!

I am fortunate enough to have a profession that pays me well. 6 plus. I look at it this way.....when I come home from a dive and show my friends the video's and pics I look at their faces....priceless! More importantly what diving does for me both spiritually and psychologically.

I have two sets of priorities now...investing for my retirement and experiencing diving and neither is negotiable.

 

[ADeadlierSnake]

Hey, like I said, just be glad if you aren't really into it. It's a lot cheaper that way!

I already know im going to be addicted to tec once i get the chance to actually do it. Ive been in and around water my whole life, and after going diving for the first time, i was 100% hooked. And having previously done a lot of rock climbing, i have learned to love technical aspects of sports. Im more excited to learn to tec dive than i have been about anything. So its a bit too late for me. I just gotta figure out what to do to pay for it. =P Was considering commercial diving... Mighta said that in the OP though