What do you call the 1 ft metal pokers divers carry?

[J.R.]

These sticks may have another useful function that has not been mentioned. ... the next time I was examining a nudibranch under a ledge whilst a manta ray passed overhead, I was going to get it up my behind.

"Instructor on a Stick"... bad mental image...

 

[RJP]

As far as damaging wildlife is concerned, one could say dangling SPG's, consules and octo's do far more damage to the reef than sticks so should we get rid of them too...

Uh...yeah! (I didn't realize that was still an open question.)

:cool2:

 

[vicdiver656]

Hi,

Help - been spending way too much time sifting through accessory pages and can't seem to find a metal dive poker. Probably because I have no idea what they are "officially" called. My LDS does not carry them and has no idea what to call them either.

It is just a simple alluminum rod, about 1+ feet long, light weight and has a clip loop on the end.

Thanks!

This is me (yah I know I'm weird) but at home they call them "not getting caught by the octopus thingies"!

 

[cdiver2]

:cool2: Hey... don't knock my mudhole... you ain't scuba'd 'till ya've dove in45 deg zero vis mud... unless yer' divin' in 41 DEGREE zero vis mud...

But basically I gotta' agree with ol' Grateful there...

I look at crutches like every thing else... as long as you aren't beating somebody else over the head with em'... it doesn't really hurt anything and if it makes you feel better about your divin'... that probably means you aren't as stressed... which means you probably will dive BETTER... which means MY dive will probably go better... so, rock on...

Besides... 'crutch' is a very subjective term... back in the day we didn't have dive computers either... we planned our dives on tables and it worked... of course our dives were MUCH shorter then because... well, we couldn't calculate in real time... so you either planned a multi level dive... or you went directly to your depth... used the max time the table showed and then made a (more or less) direct assect... it worked... but was far from OPITMAL...

Ya' can do things the HARD way... or the EASY way... personally, I kinda' like easy... hard is what I used to do back when I was trying to impress girls...

What do you think of this for a dive site?.

An Expensive Dive in Strangford Lough - YD Scuba Diving Forums

I have sailed out of the lough many times and it frightens the hell out of me. Dived in the lough in a bay just above where the map says (at the end of the report) Portaferry

Would I dive where they were diving...in your wildest dreams.

 

[scubadobadoo]

Hmmm ... try that here ... or here ... and let me know how it works out ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

As has been stated, those sticks may be the best option in less than 1% or 2% of the dives around the world and I get that. In most other cases and used by most other people, it is merely a diving skewer.

I'll repeat myself...If I can't see something by finning and controlling myself without touching things, then it's not worth seeing IMHO for many reasons. To each his own and I respect/get that as well.

I mostly have a beef with the divers I have seen using these sticks wildly in protected marine parks like Cozumel or Bonaire where the divers PROMISE they won't get so many FEET from the reef let alone the INCHES these sticks bring them. I could only imagine what these divers would do while trying to take a pic of a Pygmy Sea Horse in heavy current.

Let's face it, the OP may be a wonderful diver with the best of intentions but even the OP called the sticks, "pokers." It's a stick used to poke in and around reef/marine life. You can choose other words to make yourself feel better. Poke away.

 

[cdiver2]

As has been stated, those sticks may be the best option in less than 1% or 2% of the dives around the world and I get that. In most other cases and used by most other people, it is merely a diving skewer.

I'll repeat myself...If I can't see something by finning and controlling myself without touching things, then it's not worth seeing IMHO for many reasons. To each his own and I respect/get that as well.

I mostly have a beef with the divers I have seen using these sticks wildly in protected marine parks like Cozumel or Bonaire where the divers PROMISE they won't get so many FEET from the reef let alone the INCHES these sticks bring them.

I could only imagine what these divers would do while trying to take a pic of a Pygmy Sea Horse in heavy current.

Let's face it, the OP may be a wonderful diver with the best of intentions but even the OP called the sticks, "pokers." It's a stick used to poke in and around reef/marine life. You can choose other words to make yourself feel better. Poke away. [/QUOT
There's your problem imagination, how can you put something down until you have seen/done it.

A recent dive vacation Wakatobi, 10 days three dives a day min. On only one dive was there a little current where you could stop and hover.

I know you take great pride in your diving skills and that's ok. However I take pride in my photographs as well as my skills. Nothing wrong in combining the two skills, no harm no fowl.

 

[Doc]

no harm no fowl.

? so... how do we see thos pictures you take pride in- your sig link doesn't work!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

As has been stated, those sticks may be the best option in less than 1% or 2% of the dives around the world and I get that. In most other cases and used by most other people, it is merely a diving skewer.

I'll repeat myself...If I can't see something by finning and controlling myself without touching things, then it's not worth seeing IMHO for many reasons. To each his own and I respect/get that as well.

I mostly have a beef with the divers I have seen using these sticks wildly in protected marine parks like Cozumel or Bonaire where the divers PROMISE they won't get so many FEET from the reef let alone the INCHES these sticks bring them. I could only imagine what these divers would do while trying to take a pic of a Pygmy Sea Horse in heavy current.

Let's face it, the OP may be a wonderful diver with the best of intentions but even the OP called the sticks, "pokers." It's a stick used to poke in and around reef/marine life. You can choose other words to make yourself feel better. Poke away.

People misuse gear all the time. More damage is done to reefs with diver's fins than any other piece of gear. Does that make fins "unnecessary"? An "impediment"? A "crutch"? Should we tell people not to use them?

Of course not. They're a tool ... and like any tool they can be used or misused.

We have a difference of opinion. Mine is that rather than telling someone not to use a given tool, I'm more interested in telling or teaching them how to use it properly, and under what circumstances the use of that tool is even appropriate.

Same goes for a lot of other "hot button" gear topics we end up discussing here on ScubaBoard so regularly.

Just because something doesn't suit your particular application doesn't mean it can't be used to advantage by someone else, under a completely different set of circumstances ... perhaps a circumstance you have never even experienced.

You say that if you can't see something by finning and controlling your buoyancy then it's not worth seeing. I disagree. There are plenty of things out there that are worth seeing that I would not see by finning. That's one reason I purchased a scooter. Would you also call that a crutch? It would be for the diver who's using it to overcome a deficiency in skills, or who's damaging the environment by not using it properly. But to the diver who is using it to achieve ... or to optimize ... a particular goal of the dive, it's a useful tool. And like any tool, it requires consideration as to when and how to use it.

We're all different ... and the world of diving can provide us an unlimited spectrum of experiences ... if we don't impose a self-limiting outlook on what we can experience and how those experiences can best be achieved.

Don't be so quick to write something off as "useless" ... consider instead that perhaps you simply haven't yet put yourself in a situation where its usefulness would be appropriate.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[cdiver2]

? so... how do we see thos pictures you take pride in- your sig link doesn't work!

foul on the other hand, I do believe in run away and live to fight another day

I am sick of that link works one day and not the next. I will take a look at it and let you know, one way to see it. Go to Photodex.com click sharing the in the name put in cdiver2

 

[scubadobadoo]

People misuse gear all the time. More damage is done to reefs with diver's fins than any other piece of gear. Does that make fins "unnecessary"? An "impediment"? A "crutch"? Should we tell people not to use them?

Of course not. They're a tool ... and like any tool they can be used or misused.

We have a difference of opinion. Mine is that rather than telling someone not to use a given tool, I'm more interested in telling or teaching them how to use it properly, and under what circumstances the use of that tool is even appropriate.

Same goes for a lot of other "hot button" gear topics we end up discussing here on ScubaBoard so regularly.

Just because something doesn't suit your particular application doesn't mean it can't be used to advantage by someone else, under a completely different set of circumstances ... perhaps a circumstance you have never even experienced.

You say that if you can't see something by finning and controlling your buoyancy then it's not worth seeing. I disagree. There are plenty of things out there that are worth seeing that I would not see by finning. That's one reason I purchased a scooter. Would you also call that a crutch? It would be for the diver who's using it to overcome a deficiency in skills, or who's damaging the environment by not using it properly. But to the diver who is using it to achieve ... or to optimize ... a particular goal of the dive, it's a useful tool. And like any tool, it requires consideration as to when and how to use it.

We're all different ... and the world of diving can provide us an unlimited spectrum of experiences ... if we don't impose a self-limiting outlook on what we can experience and how those experiences can best be achieved.

Don't be so quick to write something off as "useless" ... consider instead that perhaps you simply haven't yet put yourself in a situation where its usefulness would be appropriate.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Slow down Bob. I never used the word crutch. That was another posters opinion and words. I never said that someone should not use a specific tool, even the poker. You are putting words in my mouth. You and I agree more than you think. Education is important, but honestly I don't see the need for a poker specialty class any time soon.

I get your "tool" comparison and I agree 100% because it makes sense. That said, are you saying that a poker is a great tool that should be used regularly at most dive sites and taught to new divers for destinations like Bonaire and Cozumel? Of course you weren't, just as my statements weren't as black and white as you made them out to be.

In MOST places, the poker isn't needed. That's my main point. Fins on the other hand generally are needed.

Other than the two links you provided, can you offer many more places in the world where using a dive poker is as necessary as using fins? Perhaps that will help with my self limiting issues.

Btw, thanks for calling me "self limiting." I really enjoyed that coming from a guy that just ranted about insulting others with their comments here on SB.

For the record, here is your ringing endorsement of this educational and necessary like fins tool....

I got a couple nice pygmy seahorse shots without using a stick too ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

So it can be done and you proved it.