lamont
Contributor
TSandM:
I get burned out after awhile on the process.
I'm itching to go jump in a random spot in puget sound or lake washington and go scooter around and see what we find...
Do you like diving?
- Thread starter TSandM
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
I get burned out after awhile on the process.
I'm itching to go jump in a random spot in puget sound or lake washington and go scooter around and see what we find...
SparticleBrane
Contributor
^ If only I had a scooter...and lived in Seattle.....I'd join you.
OP
Well, if you jump in a random spot in Lake Washington and scooter, then you MUST be enjoying the process, because looking at mud in 5' of viz can't qualify as great sightseeing 
lamont
Contributor
TSandM:Well, if you jump in a random spot in Lake Washington and scooter, then you MUST be enjoying the process, because looking at mud in 5' of viz can't qualify as great sightseeing
the viz in lk washington will get better towards summer... =)
there's tons of junk out there to find in the lake though...
vablackwater
Contributor
I dive in mud for pleasure.... just happy to be in the water.
Even before my first scuba class, I was hooked on the "process", as you call it, of diving. I've always been a "science geek" (with an emphasis on hard science), and my degree is in chemical engineering. Naturally, as soon as I knew I was going to be taking a scuba class, I headed straight to the library, which was closed so late on a Tuesday night. When I finally got home, my cats were all but ignored (poor kitties), as I fired search after search at Google. By the time my first class came around two days later, I'd read everything I could find online (including the complete course notes for a scuba class at some university in Florida or nearby).
When I've discussed the "wonders of science" with high school kids, I've always emphasized how physics is the science of everything you do. You see, physics is "optional" in many of the schools around here, and I know too many young people who have skipped it, thinking there's no reason to bother. The way I see it, physics is the easiest science to relate to -- although chemistry may tell you what happened to the batter to cause it to set as a chocolate cake, the physics tells you how long until you can frost and eat it.
Anyway, as you can see, I'm a science geek of almost Bill Nye proportions (but without the TV personality contracts, special effects, and... *sigh*... dashing good looks). So, when it came time to learn to dive, I was fascinated with the physics. Pressures, temperatures, volumes, depths, densities... I soaked it up like a sponge, and *then*...
Well, then it was time to actually *dive*. All the fascinating numbers I'd been crunching now had real-world relevance. I could work out my SAC. I could do gas consumption calculations. I could do all the deliciously engaging math that nitrox throws into the mix (so to speak). But there was more!
You see (and for TSandM, I suppose that's not a rhetorical "you"), while I could relish in all the intellectual aspects of diving (and I certainly do), I needn't omit the physical aspects. In the often time-dilated world of the underwater, areas of physics which are hard-wired into the human brain become irrelevant.
No longer is balance something that just *exists* -- at first, it's something you think about, and then, eventually, it's something you don't need to think about. Concepts with no surface-side equivalent, such as buoyancy (and the breath control that is part-and-parcel with it), follow the same progression. Before you know it, you've acquired all these skills that have no more than a passing relation to the world above.
With many divers, that is where it ends. They develop their diving skills to the point they are all but "instinctive" (albeit in ways that run completely counter to our in-built land-living instincts), and they proceed to use those skills without ever truly considering them. There is certainly nothing "wrong" with learning an practicing skills solely to do something else you enjoy, whether that's seeing new things, collecting dinner, or achieving goals, but for some divers, there is more.
They are the few who, upon building all these skills, step back and consider where they are and what they're doing. They consider the wonder of buoyancy, and the grace of balance. They take in the effortless ease of unrestricted motion and the unrelenting drag of life in a liquid medium. For them, diving need not be a means to an end; like a sculpture that serves no useful purpose other than to be experienced, appreciated, and enjoyed, their diving is enough to make them content.
I am one of those divers. While I love to find new things, and while I find myself in awe of the beauty and majesty of the amazing life I see underwater, I would love diving even without the spice. So, I suppose, yes, I do like diving.
When I've discussed the "wonders of science" with high school kids, I've always emphasized how physics is the science of everything you do. You see, physics is "optional" in many of the schools around here, and I know too many young people who have skipped it, thinking there's no reason to bother. The way I see it, physics is the easiest science to relate to -- although chemistry may tell you what happened to the batter to cause it to set as a chocolate cake, the physics tells you how long until you can frost and eat it.
Anyway, as you can see, I'm a science geek of almost Bill Nye proportions (but without the TV personality contracts, special effects, and... *sigh*... dashing good looks). So, when it came time to learn to dive, I was fascinated with the physics. Pressures, temperatures, volumes, depths, densities... I soaked it up like a sponge, and *then*...
Well, then it was time to actually *dive*. All the fascinating numbers I'd been crunching now had real-world relevance. I could work out my SAC. I could do gas consumption calculations. I could do all the deliciously engaging math that nitrox throws into the mix (so to speak
). But there was more!You see (and for TSandM, I suppose that's not a rhetorical "you"), while I could relish in all the intellectual aspects of diving (and I certainly do), I needn't omit the physical aspects. In the often time-dilated world of the underwater, areas of physics which are hard-wired into the human brain become irrelevant.
No longer is balance something that just *exists* -- at first, it's something you think about, and then, eventually, it's something you don't need to think about. Concepts with no surface-side equivalent, such as buoyancy (and the breath control that is part-and-parcel with it), follow the same progression. Before you know it, you've acquired all these skills that have no more than a passing relation to the world above.
With many divers, that is where it ends. They develop their diving skills to the point they are all but "instinctive" (albeit in ways that run completely counter to our in-built land-living instincts), and they proceed to use those skills without ever truly considering them. There is certainly nothing "wrong" with learning an practicing skills solely to do something else you enjoy, whether that's seeing new things, collecting dinner, or achieving goals, but for some divers, there is more.
They are the few who, upon building all these skills, step back and consider where they are and what they're doing. They consider the wonder of buoyancy, and the grace of balance. They take in the effortless ease of unrestricted motion and the unrelenting drag of life in a liquid medium. For them, diving need not be a means to an end; like a sculpture that serves no useful purpose other than to be experienced, appreciated, and enjoyed, their diving is enough to make them content.
I am one of those divers. While I love to find new things, and while I find myself in awe of the beauty and majesty of the amazing life I see underwater, I would love diving even without the spice. So, I suppose, yes, I do like diving.
Crawl79
Contributor
I enjoy sitting on the safety stop line at the end of the dive just watching my bubbles and the other divers RUSH to get back on the boat. For me it's no rush the longer I'm in the water the better.
I love diving. It was a great refuge my first year back from Vietnam. In the water almost daily, peace and quiet and solitude. Just free and weightless in the blue Pacific.
Since then, over 30 years ago, I still find diving to be my favorite sport. I do dive with friends and family, but, mostly solo, over 1200 solo dives. All over the world I find divers to be a great group of people. The sport transcends ego. Some want to be techs, others love wrecks, I just want to be in the ocean by myself-and a few U/W critters.
Since then, over 30 years ago, I still find diving to be my favorite sport. I do dive with friends and family, but, mostly solo, over 1200 solo dives. All over the world I find divers to be a great group of people. The sport transcends ego. Some want to be techs, others love wrecks, I just want to be in the ocean by myself-and a few U/W critters.
The Horn
Contributor
Its a love/hate relationship........The hate: winter descends upon us here in the great white north and the water becomes stiff and you can't just jump in anymore. You waste countless hours in the bathtub trying out new gear, head in the laundry sink to check the new reg, gear polished and lubed dozens of times because you had to take it out of the bag to see and feel it again because you might get that euphoria back of actually being underwater. You sit around the house in your latest BP/w or undergarments....wife ready to call 911 or the local straight jacket police and all you can think about is what kind of gear they use. You read the papers and the boards where some of your fellow desperate brothers and sisters have not had such a great time under the ice and that immediately gets all the gear out again to make sure it is good to go. Spring arrives and you're the first in the neighbour's pool patching the bottom of imaginary leaks.........then the ice clears
I Love Diving................
I Love Diving................
DiveMaven
Contributor
Someone I know talks about getting bored unless they have a task or skill to practice while on a dive. I simply can't relate to that at all since I'm rarely ready to leave the water before my air runs out.
When we're asked on dive boats what the best part of our dive was, they never know how to respond when we say "getting wet".
I agree 100% with TSandM....everything is good about diving.
When we're asked on dive boats what the best part of our dive was, they never know how to respond when we say "getting wet".
I agree 100% with TSandM....everything is good about diving.
Similar threads
