Midlife Adventure Crisis!

[scrane]

69 years old. wtf? Let's dive!

 

[scubadada]

I'm 64, Red Sea for 2 weeks 2016, Cocos 2017, Galapagos 2018, best 3 trips of my life.

 

[Steve_C]

O It occurred to me that according to PADI I'm now supposed to plan my dives as if they were 10 feet deeper.

This presupposes that you have been diving for many years. Obviously not for new OW. Plus what is the consequence of adding 10 ft? Just a little shorter dive. Paying attention to work load and exertion seems more relevant to me.

 

[JamesBon92007]

OK, so I'm a tiny bit over 50, and one of my pools recently shocked me by saying I now qualify for a senior discount. Horrors... but I'll take it! It occurred to me that according to PADI I'm now supposed to plan my dives as if they were 10 feet deeper. I started wondering, how do you progress as a diver and at the same time scale back risk? Part of me feels like I could risk MORE now... less time left, gonna die anyway, you know. So old guys, how do you approach this?

50: 10 feet deeper
51: 11 feet deeper
52: 12 feet deeper....

I'm now 65

But seriously, I have high cholesterol and hardened arteries so I knock a few minutes off my NDL and take an extra minute or two on the safety stop.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Ah you misunderstand, it is quite the opposite: I have always wondered why young people, who have so many years before them, and perhaps dependent children and so forth, are expected to be adventurous and take risks, whereas old people, who have less time left anyway, are expected to be risk averse, perhaps to subside into a recliner with a TV remote, to step aside and let the busy young get on with their adventures. When I was young I wondered: shouldn't it be the other way around? And now that I'm getting older, while I find myself perhaps more cautious, which I consider wise, and the body has certain limitations, in terms of choosing to be adventurous I do think I feel MORE adventurous! However, I might choose different adventures now, and I'm curious what others choose.

For me it's not so much taking risks as it is crossing things off my bucket list. I want to die not regretting that I "should have done" something. Unfortunately, my bucket list is empty so I'd better add more stuff to keep me going, such as seeing my very young grandkids graduate from college and being here for some great-grandkids.

I will admit that I never got on an airplane until I was about 60. At that point it was "well, I'm going to die someday anyway" and flying was about the only way to complete the bucket list. The best part is that one of my items was to dive in the Caribbean. Now I've done that a bunch of times. Also, I just did my second Manta Ray Night Dive in Kona--it was better than the first time. Another big factor to consider is that at 60 these things became possible because I was no longer supporting my kids, have very few bills, practically no debt, and can do whatever I want with my money and if I should get killed my kids will still be able to eat and pay their car insurance.

 

[KeithG]

OK, so I'm a tiny bit over 50, and one of my pools recently shocked me by saying I now qualify for a senior discount. Horrors... but I'll take it! It occurred to me that according to PADI I'm now supposed to plan my dives as if they were 10 feet deeper. I started wondering, how do you progress as a diver and at the same time scale back risk? Part of me feels like I could risk MORE now... less time left, gonna die anyway, you know. So old guys, how do you approach this?

Go warmer, more shallow and longer.

Bonaire dock diving fits the bill. Essentially no tank schlepping, dive until I get hungry.

And maybe lay off the booze (a bit). Just returned last week from an over 50 hockey tournament in Nashville. 4 games in 2 days. My whole body still hurts.

 

[АлександрД]

I`m not over 50 (but over 40), and for me I use some extra safety tricks:
I use sidemount, because I`m too lazy, and for me carry two 10L steel tanks is much better than one Al80. You no need to raise it over 10cm from surface, as for backpack, that you need to raise over 1m.
Also I try to use main tank with air and second tank with nitrox, and on the ascend I use nitrox, but follow air rules. Just for health. And on the bottom you can use even for 40m Nx32 without problems, in case of immediate ascent.
Also my VT-3 start to count safety stop from 6 till 4m, and I try to use Minimal Deco Tables rule - does not matter, how deep was your dive - you have stops 12m - 1min (but I verry rare follow it), 9m-1min (or I just slowly ascending from 10 to 8 for 2min), than 6m-3min, 3m-3min.
And when we dive in group, and when we are waiting for others, I try to stay at 1m as long as possible, just for bouyancy training - it is very good practice, because it most difficult depth for that.

 

[aquacat8]

Go warmer, more shallow and longer.

Great advice! Luckily, just as some dream of the deep, I dream of the shallows: I love the photosythetic zone where all the colors show! I think it would be cool to do it in some offbeat places...

 

[aquacat8]

I`m not over 50 (but over 40), and for me I use some extra safety tricks:
I use sidemount, because I`m too lazy, and for me carry two 10L steel tanks is much better than one Al80. You no need to raise it over 10cm from surface, as for backpack, that you need to raise over 1m.
Also I try to use main tank with air and second tank with nitrox, and on the ascend I use nitrox, but follow air rules. Just for health. And on the bottom you can use even for 40m Nx32 without problems, in case of immediate ascent.
Also my VT-3 start to count safety stop from 6 till 4m, and I try to use Minimal Deco Tables rule - does not matter, how deep was your dive - you have stops 12m - 1min (but I verry rare follow it), 9m-1min (or I just slowly ascending from 10 to 8 for 2min), than 6m-3min, 3m-3min.
And when we dive in group, and when we are waiting for others, I try to stay at 1m as long as possible, just for bouyancy training - it is very good practice, because it most difficult depth for that.

Good points about the tanks... gotta try sidemount! Other tips great too thanks Alexander!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I'll be 60 on my next birthday. My old deep diving buddies have either died or stopped diving. I've only made a handful of deep dives in the past few years due to feeling guilty about having others sit on the boat while I'm having fun. I'm still diving with a ton of heavy gear. My tanks have gone from double 120s to single 130s but my camera weighs as much as a second tank so no real difference there.

As Pete said, four foot seas are no fun, but I hated them when I was younger too. I've also had arthritic knees since my twenties so I don't really feel any different these days. I hope to continue diving the way I always have until I can no longer dive. I hate to think about what can stop me from diving.