Had a chat with an old saturation diver last week that got under my skin

I was swapping stories with a guy who did 30 years in the North Sea, and he told me I was relying too much on my fancy dive computer instead of learning to read the water. He said, "That screen ain't gonna save you when the batteries die at 80 meters." It hit different because he wasn't wrong, I've been lazy with my basic skills since I got that thing. Anyone else ever get called out by an old timer and realize they had a point?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliotl2429d ago

Yeah that's a rough one but fair. What exactly did he say about reading the water that made you stop and think? Like was he talking about watching currents or something else specific that a computer cant pick up on?

james66129d ago

Came at it from a totally different angle than I expected honestly. He wasnt talking about currents or waves at all, he said the real thing a computer cant see is how the water moves around the bank after a rain. Like theres this weird slow settling that happens after the water clears up that affects where fish hold, and a computer just sees clear water but a human can catch that change in the behavior pattern over days. He also pointed out that water temp changes in a way that feels different on your skin than what a sensor reads, especially in spring when theres cold pockets mixing in. Kind of blew my mind because I never thought about the tactile side of it, just the visual stuff.