Time equals money unfortunately.
My previous post was on the short side.
Let me explain my point in detail.
For some it does:
- if you own your business, then it does
- if your job is to do a certain thing for a certain monetary compensation, then it does
- if you are paid by the hour, then it does
There are many people however, who have a fixed salary. These people will benefit from using a greater % of their leisure time to diving. Skill can compensate for equipment - especially when it comes to comfort and joy. Equipment can only partially compensate for skill (but to some extent, sure!).
But, oh, lets get real. Do you do one 60 min dive per week or two? This doubling of dive time is not likely to affect your income in any meaningfull way. Things may be different if you replace one day of diving with two days of diving and your income is actually dependent on time.
Unfortunately, you cannot become a better diver by purchasing expensive gear. Expensive gear can be comfortable and durable and a great investment - and a joy if you can afford it - but a lot can be done with rudimentary gear if the dives are properly planned. I have done some (rather easy) trimix dives, for example, using only an air/nitrox/gauge computer. It was not expensive and it did not calculate trimix deco stops but I did rely on tables, wetnotes, depth and time and these dives were absolutely wonderfull and enjoyable. I would have loved to use a $600 tech dive computer, but there were better uses for the money.
Below a certain depth however, be it 100 ft or 130ft or 160ft, you will want some helium, which practically requires decompression gas(ses) and some money to spend. Helium is not cheap.
