Overheard a newbie ask about "diving in the dark" and had to bite my tongue

At a dive shop in Port Townsend last week, I heard this kid ask the clerk if you need different gear for night dives because the water gets "darker down there." The clerk just stared at him for a second... I had to walk away before I laughed out loud. It reminded me that we all start somewhere clueless, even if it's funny at the time. Anyone else ever overhear a question that made you remember your own rookie moments?

2 comments

2 Comments

ramirez.daniel8d ago

That's actually a good point and it kinda made me stop and think. Used to be the type of person who would just laugh at questions like that, figured it was just common sense. But hearing you explain how people are just applying their normal world logic to a totally new situation, that really changed my view. Makes total sense why someone would think the water gets darker at night, it's not stupid, it's just a different way of looking at things. We all start somewhere and sometimes the obvious stuff is the hardest to separate from what we already know.

the_mia8d ago

Oh man that is gold! But honestly it ties into this weird thing I've noticed where people think the rules of the surface world just stop working once you go underwater. Like I had a friend who seriously asked if fish sleep with their eyes closed because "they don't have eyelids down there." It's the same kind of logic. We take what we know from dry land and try to apply it to a completely different environment. That's why newbies ask about the water getting darker at night instead of just realizing it's the exact same sun setting situation. We all have those blind spots where common sense takes a vacation.