My Type Of Divers

There are four major types of divers in my opinion. These types are based only off of my opinion. They are resort divers, vacation divers, dive masters, and professional divers. They each differ in their certification, the equipment they own, and where and why they dive.


Resort Divers:
Resort divers usually have just a resort certification. They may have or be getting open water certification, and might even be getting wreck certification. Resort divers only dive on vacation. They usually plan vacations with diving to tropical dive sites. The places where resorts are. Resort divers might not be resort people but they do go on vacations where resorts are and cruises are a usual vacation choice. Resort divers might own some of their own equipment. They usually do own their own wetsuit. They might own their own BCD and regulator. Maybe they even have a dive computer as part of their regulator. These divers own cameras, though they are usually surface cameras with underwater housings. If they own an underwater camera most of the time it is a refillable underwater camera. Resort divers do not dive at home most of the time, so they are not part of the local dive club. Resort divers dive for one major reason. They dive for the scenery. This is why they dive mostly in the tropics. There visibility is the best and it is where there are plenty of reefs and fish.


Vacation Divers:

Vacation divers have at least open water certification. They most likely have some other, higher certification as well though, like wreck or night dive certification. Contrary to the title of vacation diver that I gave them though, vacation divers dive not only on vacation but at least every once in a while at home too. I call them vacation divers because they plan their vacations around some place that they are going to dive. This means that they usually go on weekend vacations and they go to just about any dive site. Vacation divers do not just go to tropical dive sites. They are usually wreck divers and so they take plenty of trips to places like the Great Lakes where there are plenty of wrecks. Vacation divers own their own equipment. Their equipment usually consists of their BCD, regulator (which usually has a dive computer attached). They have a wetsuit and a drysuit. They also usually own their own tanks, at least 2 to 4 depending on the type of regulator that they use. They also usually own a digital underwater camera. Vacation divers usually have extra equipment as well. This extra equipment is usually in pretty good shape, but quite old. They are probably trying to sell it on eBay as they lend it to you. Vacation divers are more often than not part of the local dive club, and they dive because they like being underwater and maybe have a hobby of a historian related to wrecks.

Dive Masters:

Now I do not mean that you have to be a dive master to fit in this category, but most of the people who do are dive masters. They are sometimes dive instructors as well. Dive masters usually live near diving and therefore they dive just about everyday. They do not usually have an actual job in diving. They may be paid by some dive shop or resort to take vacation and resort divers on dives, or they may not be paid. Dive masters own their own equipment. They have good equipment. It might not be the best out there but it is usually better then what vacation and resort divers are will to pay for. There is a good chance that they have a two tank regulator and more than a few sets of tanks. Most dive masters would be able to use nitrox, but they might not own their own equipment set up to use it. Any extra equipment they might own is on the used side. Those that have cameras probably have pretty nice underwater video cameras. They do not really care about the scenery, they like the feel of being underwater. This is why they have underwater video cameras, so that they can not only see what they saw on a past dive, but they can hear what they heard last dive (usually just their own breathing). These people wish that they had gills.

Professional Divers:

Professional divers is my last type of diver. This is just my general thoughts on professional divers. A lot of the detail I put up in the other ones would differ amazingly between certain professions that the professional divers might be doing. Professional divers have gone on to higher education for their level of certification. They have the BEST equipment, and their old equipment if they have it still is heavily used. If they want to dive on their vacation, then professional divers vary. Some go on vacations like vacation divers, but most are probably closer to resort divers and go for the places with scenery.

Those are the four types of divers in my opinion. Now I did not set up my opinion based on me being in any specific type. I for one feel that I am mostly a vacation diver, I still do not own anything besides a wetsuit, I am not a part of my local dive club, I only have open water certification, and it has really only been recently since I decided to dive somewhere not tropic. I think of myself as a vacation diver because I actually find reefs pretty boring and like it a whole lot more when there is something sunk down in the water. In my opinion loving to go underwater and breathe makes you a diver, so I plan on being a diver.