Old timers diving

[pjhansman]

I'm 60 and just got started 4 yrs ago. If my next dive is the last thing I'll do (going to Fiji in 3 weeks) my face will have this big o'l grin on it. What a way to go. Wait. Still have 1 thing on my bucket list, see northern lights. Guess I'l be careful in Fiji, Roatan (June) and Indonesia (Oct.) since I don't plan on Alaska till next Feb to finish list. After that I'll get a little bit crazy:mooner:

After more than 15 years in the Canadian arctic.....and all the northern lights one could possibly desire....I can say without doubt that it's much better to be under 50 feet of warm tropical water, than to be freezing one's butt off watching the aurora borealis.

 

[Thalassamania]

Don't know about that, some of the most amazing dives I've ever had were north of the Arctic Circle, especially the night dives. There's nothing quite like rolling out of the water onto a Zodiac in the middle of the Arctic Sea, when the Aurora is at it's best. That is a peak experience.

 

[agilis]

"I must have given you the best ride money can buy and I excited you (nearly) to death." I heard those same words from a girl in a Jamaican rum joint, fe true. It was long ago and I was pretty young at the time. And she was right.

Wookie, I get really annoyed when younger divers see me as death waiting to happen. I've seen a few Scuba accidents, and witnessed two deaths, one here in Jersey, one in Jamaica. Young guys all of them. I also saw the police rescue squad pull the body of a lawyer (no wisecracks) from under a local RR bridge. He was doing his first open water. Young guy. I went diving there two days later. Discarded equipment all over the place. i found a nice compass. I like to think it belonged to the lawyer.

In a NJ inlet not long ago an instructor responded to a student's buoyancy problem by clipping on more weights.. One right over the student's weight belt buckle. He died. OOA in 25feet of water, so heavily weighted his BC could not lift him, and he couldnt figure out how to drop the belt as the current swept him away. Both young, impatient, stupid. They should have stayed home playing those idiot video games. I had a conversation last week with a young DM. I mentioned that 66 feet was three atmospheres. No, he insisted, it's two. "It says so right here in this training guide. " It did, too.

Let's see. What was my point? I forgot.

I got old by being very smart and very careful. Make no assumptions about anyone based on age.

 

[DandyDon]

At 72, every time you climb back on a boat it may be your last time too. All perspective.

Same thing at 32 or whatever.

 

[Garrobo]

I've noticed over time that a lot of the people who die while diving or after diving are in their late 40's and 50's. I've always figured that it was bad physical conditioning or maybe an unnoticed heart condition. I had an uncle of mine many years ago who seemed to be in good shape sorta go "Uhhh!" and flopped over in Auntie's lap deader than hell while watching Liberache or Lawrence Welk or something like that. My cousin told me later that it was heart. Personally, at 72, I do a thousand yards at the Y pool at least once a week and a couple miles on a walking treadmill every day that I think of it. I pay no attention to what I eat and figure that the meds I take will burn out anything not necessary in my veins and arteries. At the price they go for I would expect that. I have an arrhythmia which I have had all my life so occasionally get a stress test. If the cardiologist doesn't say that I am in imminent danger of kicking off I keep on keeping on. Same goes for high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, if the pills work I'm OK with it. Too many people just sit on their asses and watch TV after they have retired and deteriorate. My brother did that. He retired and sat there, downing two fifths of vodka a day for three years and didn't wake up one morning. I started diving when I was 66 and have never gotten either physically or mentally tired of it after more than 200 dives. I don't see where a person should over-exert themselves while diving unless caught in a heavy current. I usually just go to the bottom and take my time back to the boat when this happens. I figure that they will wait for me. If not? Then.............

 

[farsidefan1]

A combination of Liberache and Lawernce Welk could kill a 20 yr old marathoner. Let's give the beatles some love here or Simon and Garfunkel, or... fill in the blank. PS, I agree with Thalas, Just leave my body there. My wife knows that if I die diving I will truly have achieved the LAST item on my bucket list.

 

[herbdb]

I hope I'm still diving into my 70's. I started at 61 and have a lot of diving to make up. Since my retirement this is my main outside interest. I almost always dive with one of my sons, diving is an activity we can do at almost any age.

We haven't been in the water since November so two of us are heading to Florida on Saturday for a quick fix. We have three days of diving, hoping to get a dozen dives with my new camera, if the weather cooperates.

Keep on diving!

 

[theduckguru]

Yes, coming in with a corpse is a little alarming, but I can see why USGC might get upset with corpses.

I got nothing against diving geezers such as yourselves, I hope to be one someday myself . I would hope, however, that for the peace of mind of the rest of the folks on the boat, you might 1) take care of yourself health wise, and 2) have a checkup periodically to include a stress test. You see, if you come out with me and die, I'll pat myself on the back and feel that I must have given you the best ride money can buy, and I excited you to death. Some passengers and crew don't take it like I do, and get kinda freaked out by stinky corpses on their boat. Still others get mad cause I have to bring the boat home early. I know that you won't care, or have anything to say about it, but it sure makes it easier on me when all the passengers come home under their own power. The Coast Guard frowns on bringing home corpses, too.

 

[metaldector]

Never thought of myself as a Geezer but at 65 I guess I am. Anyway, next week I'll have a stress test and the day after that go diving if all is okay. I have had a layoff for 5 months having had bypass surgery and I'm most anxious to get back in the water. Time is a wasting.

 

[Magnolia3]

Never thought of myself as a Geezer but at 65 I guess I am. Anyway, next week I'll have a stress test and the day after that go diving if all is okay. I have had a layoff for 5 months having had bypass surgery and I'm most anxious to get back in the water. Time is a wasting.

Same here.. not seeing myself as "old"...can someone define that word? ALL my friends ask the same question and we have yet to figure out what is old... then again we are baby boomers, we have never grown up, so I guess we will never grow old till someone plants us in our grave.. or in my case on an "eternal reef"... ymmv

Am busy planning a 10 day kayak trip on the Wilderness Waterway in March. I hear the mosquitoes haven't been fed all winter..