Dive and let dive... dealing with different styles of diving.

[AdivingBel]

Or advise them that you are living proof they have no idea what they are talking about.

Yeah well, my wife has threatened to hold a mirror under my nose when I'm diving...I'm kinda lazy (these days I'm finding my zen...who knew??), but I like it that way...I much prefer the fishies come to me...Namaste

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've met folk like that, and if I get annoyed enough to respond at all, I just let them know that as soon as they start buying my gear for me I'd start using it.

Over the years I've seen some really good divers, at no time did I notice that it was dependant on the gear they were diving. A good diver will make any piece of gear look good.

I've been living "Live and let dive" as long as I can remember, I have my preferences and occasionally I get vocal, but in the end I don't care what any other diver uses.

Bob

You and I dive very different gear, style, and philosophy ... but we sure had a great time that day we went diving together, didn't we ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Or advise them that you are living proof they have no idea what they are talking about.

... the gear he considered inferior was a DSS backplate, Halcyon wing, Atomic reg set, and Turtle fins ... all pretty high quality stuff ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Akimbo]

... the gear he considered inferior was a DSS backplate, Halcyon wing, Atomic reg set, and Turtle fins ... all pretty high quality stuff ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It doesn't matter if your mask had two snorkels with ping-pong ball stoppers; it is hard to argue with the fact that you are alive and well after a lot of years of diving.

 

[Bob DBF]

You and I dive very different gear, style, and philosophy ... but we sure had a great time that day we went diving together, didn't we ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Not only yaeh, but h*ll yeah!


Bob

 

[george_austin]

I know that ... but I'm questioning your comment that they won't let you wear anything but black ... everyone in our group (there were nearly 30 of us) was wearing whatever color wetsuit they'd been diving the entire week. Nobody on the BL staff said we should do otherwise. If they have a "nothing but black" policy then it's only been implemented within the past couple years ... and where are they going to come up with black suits for everybody?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Well then I suppose the policy changed. You were there years ago and I was there 2 weeks ago

 

[tech_diver]

When I was an active instructor I had to be careful of how I presented myself and my diving technique. I couldn't be diving on my day off and be seen with a mask on my forehead or get photographed underwater with my console hanging too low.

But one of the cool things about being a grown a$$ man who is not an active instructor is that I don't have to give a flip what anybody thinks of me.

Also, if someone is looking at my rig like they have some issue with it, I can just scream at them, "STOP LOOKING AT ME OR I"LL KILL YOU!" This wasn't an option when I was actively teaching. The draconian agencies have all kinds of authoritarian rules about instructor conduct.

 

[Kharon]

... of course the other side of all of this was my trip to the Maldives, where I spent 10 days on a liveaboard enduring constant criticism from a south Florida dive shop owner for using a BPW, long hose and blade fins. He went through a thorough critique of my gear, telling me I should NEVER trust my life to anything other than ScubaPro. Of course he would say that ... he's a ScubaPro dealer ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

My stock approach is to say "do you remember when I asked you to evaluate my gear?" and when they say "no" I say "neither do I - so buzz off".

 

[aquacat8]

It doesn't matter if your mask had two snorkels with ping-pong ball stoppers; it is hard to argue with the fact that you are alive and well after a lot of years of diving.

Yes you’d better immediately send that gear to me and I will send you this fine Aqualung jacket bc gathering dust in my closet and blue extra buoyant Scubapro split fins I have in my closet. I will throw in this plastic ratcheting reel so you can safely deploy an SMB, and if I still had it I’d ship off my extra large magnetic slate that works like an etch a sketch... you will look cool and trim out with your head up so you can always use your shoulder dump valve LOL. Hope that DSS plate is a small!

 

[kelemvor]

I know that ... but I'm questioning your comment that they won't let you wear anything but black ... everyone in our group (there were nearly 30 of us) was wearing whatever color wetsuit they'd been diving the entire week. Nobody on the BL staff said we should do otherwise. If they have a "nothing but black" policy then it's only been implemented within the past couple years ... and where are they going to come up with black suits for everybody?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

There's two possibilities here. 1. Dive operation is so busy they can afford to turn paying customers away because they don't like that customer's fashion choices. 2. Dive operation is not long for this world.

Given that most operators are complaining about business being slow in general, my bets are on option 2. It's a pity, really. Fewer operators is a bad thing for all divers.