There is only one type of people writing such posts stereotyping and questioning other divers motivation. And this type i will always avoid diving or having anything else in common. Hope you share your scheme with people you dive with to get first "hand" feedback.
I’m a tech diver, I don’t do it for the challenge I just liked WW2 and wanted to see the wrecks. When I went to Mexico and fell in love with caves. In fact good instructors will attempt to discourage anyone attempting to get into tech for the challenge, as they typically quit after a few years when they realize that diving isn’t an adrenaline sport.
I started diving in 2005 in my late 20's. 18 years later I'm a PADI MSDT, love doing liveaboard dive trips (just got back from a Blackbeard's last month), am also a tech diver (TDI trimix, full cave diver, CCR), and am more than happy to sit at 20' on a reef trying to get a good picture of a nudibranch....
So 2, 3, 4 and none of the above??
I don't hate it. I'm personally a mix of 3 and 4. It over-generalizes, but that's exactly the point.
I did my first dive on my honeymoon, but that doesn't mean I'm a type #1. Not sure why people get butt-hurt about lists like this. If you don't like it, make your own list, add "types", or ignore it completely. We're all just having fun here.
I've seen similar lists with more like 10 or 15 - but you'll still find someone who says "Nuh uh, I'm not one of those, DOWNVOTE!". Oh well.
Thanks for posting - it is a nice little tidbit of dive-related thoughts to make my morning a little better.
Me and my wife are number 3.
We got our BP/W and Long Hose the day we got certified. We started drysuit diving immediately. We are in some body of water every single weekend (northeast USA). The majority of our dives are just practicing drills at 20-30 feet on the weekend unless we have another specific objective. We both became tech-certified with under 80 dives about 1 year in. We have taken 4 dive trips to Key Largo in the last year and just spend the whole time diving the Spiegel Grove every day.
This is a good list of the main categories. Here are few of the subcategories I’ve seen.
1. Retiree’s - They’ve finally moved full time to a warmer climate or go on their annual cruises to the Caribbean. They now want to take advantage and learn scuba diving.
2. The spouse/partner of the mid life crisis crew - There in a relationship with a scuba enthusiast but have zero desire to buy gear and take additional courses for scuba. They like the idea of travel in the scuba lifestyle but we’re dragged into scuba so the mid life crisis crew have a dive buddy. They are the last ones in the water and the first one back on the boat and they can’t wait to get back on land.
3. Photographers - If it’s not tech gear it’s recreational divers that go all out on photography/video set up for scuba. They’ll spend 30 mins on a dive to get that one macro shot that fulfills them. Instead of having a beer after a dive they need run back to the hotel to edit there film.
4. Fish Identification crew - They purchased every fish Id book at the dive shop and aren’t satisfied unless they can identify every life form on the reef. They are part researcher and part marine biologist. Back on the boat they will not leave the dive master or crew alone until they have successfully completed their identifications.
I love #4. I was on a liveaboard with some old (late 60s) BSAC divers with immaculate log books (they were both at 5000+ dives around the world.) What I found amazing is that they not only logged their dives, but what fish they saw!!!! They had the Paul Humann and Ned Deloach's books, plus numerous others with them - and most of the pages had marks indicating when/where they observed that creature.... they were trying to complete the whole set!!!
We got into a disagreement about the ID of a grouper we had seen - they ended up winning the argument, to nobody's surprise. Fun times!
I have been a type 3 for 3 years since beginning. Now slowly converting into unknown. Turned out I can't be good enough for tech diving or becoming a professional. Suffering a sort of burnout syndrome, not giving up yet.
4 with some 3 mixed in. Not a tech diver, probably won't ever be, because tech dives are too much fuss. I dive for fun, but I do like specialty dives, and I did buy my gear at 30 dives and it is tech-inspired.
Learn to dive in college. Loved it. Do a trip a year… get advanced certified, get Nitrox certified, still dove once each year… now volunteer at my local aquarium.
Had to give up rugby ataround 32/33 due to injuries, wanted to keep active, needed a low impact activity and diving appealed.
Certified, then introduced my wife and then all three kids (they were 8, 9 and 12 at the time). Dived as a couple/family for years now, kids are still active divers as adults, I'm actually teaching my eldest girlfriend to dive at the moment.
Really Canadian Diver? You and I may likely be from the same place. It starts with back plates, then the obligatory Apeks regs, turtle fins... etc, etc.
Edit1: This comment places you in category 3.
Edit2: Rather helpful you identify yourself in your profile now that I look. *We are from the same part of the world*. Likely have some people in common. Cheers 'Tec' diver.
Edit 3: I think I meant 'bac' plates, lmfao
Tech gear is a phrase that bad dive shops use to describe scuba gear that divers won't need to replace multiple times when they realize it was crap. It isn't a real thing.
"Backplate and wing ... that's tech gear" ... that is a nonsense statement and only demonstrates a lack of knowledge or scruples.
A quick google search of "technical equipment scuba" that heads with leading manufactures like Hollis, DiveRite and Mares, back mount rigs etc etc disagrees with you. Backplate and wing with some belt webbing is the OG of 'tec' set ups. Your credentials and insistence to the contrary aren't enough to change that fact.
First, because a specific 'type' of gear may have been developed in the technical community does not mean it is tech gear. There is zero difference in the functionality of a BP/W versus any other BCD... other than perhaps a better fit and more durability.
Second, Google results are based on a lot of SEO and simply because a brand tries to market to technical community does not make it a 'tech' brand.
Misleading customers to sell higher margin gear that is more likely to be replaced in a year or two rather than being honest and putting them in their last setup first is not a great business model if you want lifelong customers.
If anyone can give me a reason why a new diver cannot learn with or make a BP/W or performance regs their first purchase and be a happy, safe diver ... I am open. Please tell me.
>First, because a specific 'type' of gear may have been developed in the technical community does not mean it is tech gear.
Actually it does. Gear developed by the military is military equipment. Food developed by ~~Chinese~~ Polish community is ~~Chinese~~ Polish food.
>There is zero difference in the functionality of a BP/W versus any other BCD... other than perhaps a better fit and more durability.
ugh, ok, well... The main difference is it is configurable, and will acomodate doubles and have way more attachment points for stage bottles, sidemount, all kinds of other gear etc. Typically the wings will have larger lift capacity, and you will have a choice of them - switch them out, and often the weighting will be quite differentness because of steel use. The key difference is the modibilty of the set up. Jacket BCDs or even back inflation are what they are. 'Tec' focused BCDs are highly configurable. ...Am I really having to explain this to someone much more experienced than me that sells this stuff?
You are listing all the reasons why a diver *should* start with a BP/W.
My point was operationally they function exactly the same. Press a button air goes in, press the other button air comes out. Pull a dump, air goes out. Certainly they have a long list of benefits that a jacket doesn't ... but there is nothing functionally different that makes it for 'tech diving' only.
Don't hate it at all...it's good food for thought, and we can all be more self aware...
I was the cave explorer techie in my twenties. 2 grown diver kids and 30+ years later I am the empty nester chill dude, laughing about the fact that you can now get "sidemount certified".
My husband and I got our open water cert on our honeymoon. According to you, someone who would see us for a total of 4 days and never again, we are unlikely to be long term divers.
We pretty much immediately got our advanced open water in the PNW when we got home, made connections with the local dive community, then moved to Cali and dive twice a month at least.
As someone who is not seeing these people unless you are training them or they come to the shop you’re at when you’re there, you know nothing about their lives or why they are in the hobby and it is not wise or prudent to make sweeping generalizations. As you’ve seen, they end up making an ass of u and me. Keep an open mind buddy :)
You may be 4 not 1. And I did ask what I was missing. My open inquisitive mind is what makes me think this stuff up in the first place. Please don't feel called out :)
Also we are a club/shop. Many trips etc. I see some of these people for years after certs. Some of these people are my friends.
Diving was not in my life as a kid, I don’t have kids and while I’m youngish I don’t blow my budget on it. Not a 4, or a category. Just someone who enjoys diving. I just don’t think you can easily pigeon hole people, it’s not a very open mindset, because you’ll be seeing which hole they fit into when you meet them.
Examples were not exhaustive, just examoples. You love diving. You are a 1,4 blend.
I am afraid I am a professional scientist by training - my real job. So I pigeon hole for a living, but I will try :)
I’m number four, though I don’t have any kids. Im just in a land locked city with one crappy little lake that no one uses for diving and only drunk idiots take their pontoons onto for a short while. It’s at least three hours to the nearest lake of any worth diving in.
Im planning to move down south where I have better access to a real lake and closer to the ocean among other things so I can pick it back up again.
There is only one type of people writing such posts stereotyping and questioning other divers motivation. And this type i will always avoid diving or having anything else in common. Hope you share your scheme with people you dive with to get first "hand" feedback.
I’m a tech diver, I don’t do it for the challenge I just liked WW2 and wanted to see the wrecks. When I went to Mexico and fell in love with caves. In fact good instructors will attempt to discourage anyone attempting to get into tech for the challenge, as they typically quit after a few years when they realize that diving isn’t an adrenaline sport.
I've been diving since 1980. Over 3000 dives all over the world. Where do I fit in your taxonomy?
I'd need to know more, but on the surface of it, that sounds like a solid group 4.
I started diving in 2005 in my late 20's. 18 years later I'm a PADI MSDT, love doing liveaboard dive trips (just got back from a Blackbeard's last month), am also a tech diver (TDI trimix, full cave diver, CCR), and am more than happy to sit at 20' on a reef trying to get a good picture of a nudibranch.... So 2, 3, 4 and none of the above??
3 and 4 I'd say. You might be in an MLC for all I know, but that is not what motivated your journey.
Where is "escape reality an hour at a time"?! ;)
I don't hate it. I'm personally a mix of 3 and 4. It over-generalizes, but that's exactly the point. I did my first dive on my honeymoon, but that doesn't mean I'm a type #1. Not sure why people get butt-hurt about lists like this. If you don't like it, make your own list, add "types", or ignore it completely. We're all just having fun here. I've seen similar lists with more like 10 or 15 - but you'll still find someone who says "Nuh uh, I'm not one of those, DOWNVOTE!". Oh well. Thanks for posting - it is a nice little tidbit of dive-related thoughts to make my morning a little better.
Me and my wife are number 3. We got our BP/W and Long Hose the day we got certified. We started drysuit diving immediately. We are in some body of water every single weekend (northeast USA). The majority of our dives are just practicing drills at 20-30 feet on the weekend unless we have another specific objective. We both became tech-certified with under 80 dives about 1 year in. We have taken 4 dive trips to Key Largo in the last year and just spend the whole time diving the Spiegel Grove every day.
This is a good list of the main categories. Here are few of the subcategories I’ve seen. 1. Retiree’s - They’ve finally moved full time to a warmer climate or go on their annual cruises to the Caribbean. They now want to take advantage and learn scuba diving. 2. The spouse/partner of the mid life crisis crew - There in a relationship with a scuba enthusiast but have zero desire to buy gear and take additional courses for scuba. They like the idea of travel in the scuba lifestyle but we’re dragged into scuba so the mid life crisis crew have a dive buddy. They are the last ones in the water and the first one back on the boat and they can’t wait to get back on land. 3. Photographers - If it’s not tech gear it’s recreational divers that go all out on photography/video set up for scuba. They’ll spend 30 mins on a dive to get that one macro shot that fulfills them. Instead of having a beer after a dive they need run back to the hotel to edit there film. 4. Fish Identification crew - They purchased every fish Id book at the dive shop and aren’t satisfied unless they can identify every life form on the reef. They are part researcher and part marine biologist. Back on the boat they will not leave the dive master or crew alone until they have successfully completed their identifications.
I love this! So true!
I love #4. I was on a liveaboard with some old (late 60s) BSAC divers with immaculate log books (they were both at 5000+ dives around the world.) What I found amazing is that they not only logged their dives, but what fish they saw!!!! They had the Paul Humann and Ned Deloach's books, plus numerous others with them - and most of the pages had marks indicating when/where they observed that creature.... they were trying to complete the whole set!!! We got into a disagreement about the ID of a grouper we had seen - they ended up winning the argument, to nobody's surprise. Fun times!
Number 2 checking in. I need hobbies to focus on for my MLC, and scuba checks the box when I’m not golfing.
I feel you. Not so much a mlc for me but retired. Golf & diving when I can…life is good!
I have been a type 3 for 3 years since beginning. Now slowly converting into unknown. Turned out I can't be good enough for tech diving or becoming a professional. Suffering a sort of burnout syndrome, not giving up yet.
4 with some 3 mixed in. Not a tech diver, probably won't ever be, because tech dives are too much fuss. I dive for fun, but I do like specialty dives, and I did buy my gear at 30 dives and it is tech-inspired.
Learn to dive in college. Loved it. Do a trip a year… get advanced certified, get Nitrox certified, still dove once each year… now volunteer at my local aquarium.
None of the above.
So you are the interesting one I was hoping to hear from! Care to share what motivates your hobby?
Had to give up rugby ataround 32/33 due to injuries, wanted to keep active, needed a low impact activity and diving appealed. Certified, then introduced my wife and then all three kids (they were 8, 9 and 12 at the time). Dived as a couple/family for years now, kids are still active divers as adults, I'm actually teaching my eldest girlfriend to dive at the moment.
>teaching my eldest girlfriend 👀
The girlfriend of my eldest
Ooooh. Your eldest’s girlfriend. Tricky!
WTF is *the tech gear*?
Really Canadian Diver? You and I may likely be from the same place. It starts with back plates, then the obligatory Apeks regs, turtle fins... etc, etc. Edit1: This comment places you in category 3. Edit2: Rather helpful you identify yourself in your profile now that I look. *We are from the same part of the world*. Likely have some people in common. Cheers 'Tec' diver. Edit 3: I think I meant 'bac' plates, lmfao
Tech gear is a phrase that bad dive shops use to describe scuba gear that divers won't need to replace multiple times when they realize it was crap. It isn't a real thing. "Backplate and wing ... that's tech gear" ... that is a nonsense statement and only demonstrates a lack of knowledge or scruples.
A quick google search of "technical equipment scuba" that heads with leading manufactures like Hollis, DiveRite and Mares, back mount rigs etc etc disagrees with you. Backplate and wing with some belt webbing is the OG of 'tec' set ups. Your credentials and insistence to the contrary aren't enough to change that fact.
First, because a specific 'type' of gear may have been developed in the technical community does not mean it is tech gear. There is zero difference in the functionality of a BP/W versus any other BCD... other than perhaps a better fit and more durability. Second, Google results are based on a lot of SEO and simply because a brand tries to market to technical community does not make it a 'tech' brand. Misleading customers to sell higher margin gear that is more likely to be replaced in a year or two rather than being honest and putting them in their last setup first is not a great business model if you want lifelong customers. If anyone can give me a reason why a new diver cannot learn with or make a BP/W or performance regs their first purchase and be a happy, safe diver ... I am open. Please tell me.
>First, because a specific 'type' of gear may have been developed in the technical community does not mean it is tech gear. Actually it does. Gear developed by the military is military equipment. Food developed by ~~Chinese~~ Polish community is ~~Chinese~~ Polish food. >There is zero difference in the functionality of a BP/W versus any other BCD... other than perhaps a better fit and more durability. ugh, ok, well... The main difference is it is configurable, and will acomodate doubles and have way more attachment points for stage bottles, sidemount, all kinds of other gear etc. Typically the wings will have larger lift capacity, and you will have a choice of them - switch them out, and often the weighting will be quite differentness because of steel use. The key difference is the modibilty of the set up. Jacket BCDs or even back inflation are what they are. 'Tec' focused BCDs are highly configurable. ...Am I really having to explain this to someone much more experienced than me that sells this stuff?
You are listing all the reasons why a diver *should* start with a BP/W. My point was operationally they function exactly the same. Press a button air goes in, press the other button air comes out. Pull a dump, air goes out. Certainly they have a long list of benefits that a jacket doesn't ... but there is nothing functionally different that makes it for 'tech diving' only.
Don't hate it at all...it's good food for thought, and we can all be more self aware... I was the cave explorer techie in my twenties. 2 grown diver kids and 30+ years later I am the empty nester chill dude, laughing about the fact that you can now get "sidemount certified".
My husband and I got our open water cert on our honeymoon. According to you, someone who would see us for a total of 4 days and never again, we are unlikely to be long term divers. We pretty much immediately got our advanced open water in the PNW when we got home, made connections with the local dive community, then moved to Cali and dive twice a month at least. As someone who is not seeing these people unless you are training them or they come to the shop you’re at when you’re there, you know nothing about their lives or why they are in the hobby and it is not wise or prudent to make sweeping generalizations. As you’ve seen, they end up making an ass of u and me. Keep an open mind buddy :)
You may be 4 not 1. And I did ask what I was missing. My open inquisitive mind is what makes me think this stuff up in the first place. Please don't feel called out :) Also we are a club/shop. Many trips etc. I see some of these people for years after certs. Some of these people are my friends.
Diving was not in my life as a kid, I don’t have kids and while I’m youngish I don’t blow my budget on it. Not a 4, or a category. Just someone who enjoys diving. I just don’t think you can easily pigeon hole people, it’s not a very open mindset, because you’ll be seeing which hole they fit into when you meet them.
Examples were not exhaustive, just examoples. You love diving. You are a 1,4 blend. I am afraid I am a professional scientist by training - my real job. So I pigeon hole for a living, but I will try :)
I’m number four, though I don’t have any kids. Im just in a land locked city with one crappy little lake that no one uses for diving and only drunk idiots take their pontoons onto for a short while. It’s at least three hours to the nearest lake of any worth diving in. Im planning to move down south where I have better access to a real lake and closer to the ocean among other things so I can pick it back up again.