The Grey NATO – 196 – Why We Love Diving (And You Should Too!)
The Grey NATO – 196 – Why We Love Diving (And You Should Too!)
In honor of World Oceans Day, we’ve got a dive-themed episode in which Jason and James go deep (sorry) on why they love diving and how diving has enriched their lives. From the training to the gear, the amazing people you meet, and the chance at experiencing some of the planet’s most incredible animals. It’s a wonderful and flexible activity that’s also a chance to put your dive watches to good use!
From the get-go, the TGN boys are commiserating about proper headlights, vehicle wiring issues, and Jason’s review of Top Gun: Maverick. Be sure to stay in the mix for a Final Notes featuring a solid podcast recommendation and a heads up on the return of one of James’ favorite shows.
Click here if you want to play episode 196 from your browser – thanks so much for listening.
1:00 Wind Up Chicago!
8:17 Top Gun: Maverick
11:48 Firefox
14:16 Zeiss 50mm F2 Planar T ZM
16:52 Jason’s Citizen Aqualand
17:57 Oris “Full Steel” Holstein Edition 2022
22:42 Oris “Worldtimer” original
23:26 World Oceans Day
24:05 TGN Ep 09 - Open Water Certifiable
26:33 Discover SCUBA
54:00 Learn to Freedive with Carlos Coste
57:40 On The Dog Watch Podcast
58:55 Top Gear Season 32
“On the surface of the ocean, men wage war and destroy each other…just a few feet beneath the surface, there is a calm and peace, unmolested by man.” - Jules Verne
Rewind to early 2016 and you’ll find me discovering TGN ep.1, falling headlong down the watch rabbit hole, voraciously over-studying for my open water cert (I get it, James) while also reading Shadow Divers, all in a 6-month period that will culminate in me taking my first giant stride from a dive boat that June, off the coast of NJ. Later that year I’d also buy a Doxa Sub300 50th Anniversary Professional, my first “nice” watch. In hindsight, I might be the TGN mascot.
But truly, for the last 6 (!) years the entire TGN milieu has brought me so much joy and even real fulfillment. Unlike any other podcast, where the joy is in the listening, the joy in TGN has been in the living, and that has shown up for me nowhere more than in my continued pursuit of diving. Today I’m a NAUI master scuba diver, preparing to head back to Jersey, this time to descend a 2hr boat ride off the coast to the wreck of the City of Athens in 110 fsw.
I still feel like my underwater journey is just beginning, and that’s what makes diving so wonderful to me. It’s a disciplined pursuit in which the learning never ends. It’s surely the most gear-intensive sport on the planet. It’s human beings pushing hard against the limits of the natural world in order to experience things that relatively few ever will. It’s *absolutely* the flow state. It’s real freedom.
I look forward to seeing you boys (as well as many other familiar TGN faces) in Chicago, shaking your hands and thanking you for accompanying, supporting, and feeding my journey into the “silent world.” And when we get the TGN dive expedition on the books, you already know you can count me in.
I really enjoyed this episode. Inspired by y'all, I've been wanting to try diving for at least 4 of the 5 years that I've been listening to you, and I really need to just knuckle down and do it. There's a beautifully clear man-made lake less than an hour from me with a submerged town, an old summer camp, vehicles, etc, and a dive shop on the shore, so I've got no excuse.
On a related topic, can we persuade Jason to do a head-to-head review of the current Citizen Aqualand JP2000 and the new Seiko ani-digi divers with depth gauge? You're the only one who could do this topic justice!
https://www.fratellowatches.com/citizens-promaster-aqualand-depth-meter-2022/
https://www.fratellowatches.com/seiko-hybrid-ani-digi-divers/