I've started to look into technical diving. I have a lot more training to do before I can start thinking about it seriously, but I've been thinking about it nonetheless.
I'm looking into what I need to do to prep myself for technical diving training. I've already picked up a Nitrox certification, which most seem to consider to be the starting point. I'm also working on the Rescue Diver certification, mainly because it's a prerequisite for Master and Divemaster.
The other specialties I'm going to try to pick up in the next year that I think would benefit me in my goal are Deep Diver, Multilevel Diver, Dry Suit Diver, Night Diver, and Wreck Diver. My reasoning:
Deep Diver: Seems kind of obvious, since technical diving generally involves going deeper, or longer, or both. So this one is on the short list.
Multilevel Diver: I'm presuming that this will be more than just learning how to operate the PADI Wheel. It would seem that it would be about learning more about diving physiology which would add to the base knowledge needed for technical diving.
Dry Suit Diver: Technical diving generally involves exposure to colder water or longer exposure times. Using a dry suit is fairly standard.
Night Diver: Since one part technical diving is diving in limited visibility environments (caves, wreck penetration, or just plain really deep water), the skills learned in the night diving course would seem to be useful.
Wreck Diver: The main reason I'm interested in technical diving is for exploring wrecks. Wreck Diver is a prerequisite to the technical wreck diver certification offered by some certification agencies. Even it it wasn't, I want to do wreck diving, so this one is on the short list (i.e. next year).
I have several other specialties on my short list, like Underwater Photographer and Search and Recovery, but these are just 'cause I want to do them.
There are a lot of diving activities that fall into the technical diving scope from cave diving to underwater filmography. Most uninformed people think of "technical diving" as the "lunatic fringe" of diving. While I agree that the lunatic fringe are part of the technical diving community, most technical divers are completely uninterested in cheating death. They are quite interested in staying alive. I fall in that category. I'm not interested in pushing the limits of known diving. I want to live in the parameters determined by others.
Interestingly, many of the activities I participate in are things that the uninformed consider risky or dangerous: flying, scuba diving, motorcycle riding, hunting, etc. I do enjoy activities that are more dangerous than watching TV or playing shuffle board, but they are hardly life threatening activities. It's about risk management: you learn what the risks are and learn how to mitigate them.
From a diving perspective, especially technical diving, that means learning everything you can about the hows and the whys so you can develop safe dive plans and handle any emergencies that come up maximizing your chance of survival. If you understand the things that can go wrong and make contingency plans for those problems, the risk of death or serious injury becomes almost negligible.
Obviously you can't completely eliminate the risk, but then again, you could slip in the bathroom, hitting your head on the sink, and bleed to death before someone finds you unconscious on the floor. Do you have a contingency plan for that? Don't take a shower without a buddy! Some risks are so small as to be not worth worrying about. With proper planning and risk management, so called "dangerous pastimes" are like that. Most people get hurt (or killed) in these activities are the victims of poor planning or risk management.
So to those who look at technical diving as some kind of crazy stunt like base jumping off a downtown building, just remember that you don't take a potty buddy with you to the bathroom, so you must be just as crazy as me.
