Some people think technical diving is a cult of divers that drink the 'juice' of a certain way of doing things. This can turn other scuba divers off the idea of technical diving. Although there are exceptions to the rule, but this is not the general rule. Most scuba divers get into technical diving because something about it peaked their interests. This ranges from learning more about being a better scuba diver to just plain diving shipwrecks beyond the normal recreational diving limits. There is so many different diving personalities and teaching styles to become a real cult. Two things come to mind with technical diving: increased risk; and increased safety. With those two things, there comes a certain standard in the industry. This standard could be miscommunicated to the dive industry . The standard of diving for a tech diver is a little different from the recreational diver set-up. Moreover, this standard practice helps keep scuba divers safe. This standard set up includes, but not limited to:redundant regulators, lights and other items. The two is one, and one is none philosophy.

• additional tanks for extending limits and decompression.
• more stream lining gear to reduce entanglement and drag.
• signaling devices such as lift bags or DSMB.
• standard harness and wing set-up instead of the recreational BCD.

How all this gear is put together is a whole other topic. Some of the set-up for technical diving can be very detailed. Some divers can be very picky and specific to what works and what does not work. Rightly so. It is about increasing the safety of a technical dive. Weird things happen when you do not have an immediate access to the surface. Technical divers have what they call a glass ceiling. The glass ceiling is due to the decompression requirements on a technical dive. It is not uncommon after an extended stay on a shipwreck, for example, that the currents picks up and blows you off the wreck. Maybe even a random hose blows on your stage bottle and leaks gas. These are things that can happen on recreational dives. However, with a glass ceiling for a technical diver, these problems can escalate to a much higher risk factor than a recreational dive may have. This is why technical divers do things a little different to add a layer of safety and preparation to handle these types of situations. Technical diving is not a cult. They just do things differently to reduce the added risk and increase the safety of a dive that is extended beyond the recreational limits. It is a good idea for recreational divers to learn about what tech divers do to reduce the risk factors and increase safety to be a better recreational scuba diver. You never know which dive you will need to know a different way out to safety. Butch Zemar www.ScubaButch.com