50+ year old divers

[TSandM]

+4 this year. I've been diving since 2005.

Live in Woodinville, Washington, which is a half hour outside Seattle.

I mostly dive in Puget Sound, but I've also been to Australia, Maui, the British Virgin Islands, North Sulawesi, Cozumel and the Yucatan and Florida caves.

My favorite dive shop is Northwest Sports Divers, which is close to the house and has an "all you can eat" Nitrox plan that makes my diving somewhere near affordable.

I have Rescue, GUE-F, and TDI Intro to Cave. Going for my GUE Cave 1 cert in two weeks!

 

[merxlin]

< 53 until next month
Live in Duarte, CA
Mostly dive Catalina, but have been to Little Cayman and Roatan, + Hawaii a few times
Rescue cert and just starting DM
Favorite dive shop is the one having a sale!

 

[texdiveguy]

Update:
53 years young....DFW, Texas
Both fresh and salt water diving...prefer fresh and if it's chilly the better.
Not big on little colorful fish and reefs....though the occasional tour is relaxing.
Dive all year of course!
PADI Divemaster; TDI Advanced Trimix

 

[miketsp]

58 and little bit over..

Where do you live?

São Paulo, Brazil

Where do you dive?

On a monthly basis, anywhere on the coast of Brazil.
At least once per year, some place nicer.

Favorite dive shop?
The one with the best promotion on the piece of gear I need at the moment...

Current certification?
My only current official one is an SSI AOW with a few specialities including Nitrox that gets me onto any boat without hassle.
My CMAS cards all expired and I don't really feel like paying to renew them.

When I started diving in the early 70s I trained with pro divers that I worked with on projects and it was actually many years before I actually got around to getting a card. Some of those divers were BSAC instructors in their part time.
The piece of plastic (cardboard?) started becoming more important than experience.
During this period I worked and dived occasionally in some 20 countries.
I never kept a log so I reset my dive counter back to zero in 2002 when my wife decided to get in on the act. She did her OW and I did a refresher.

 

[DennisS]

50+

I've called S Florida home but travelled all over the world as an ocean tech in the last 30 years.

I moved to FL in 1972 because of the diving and a marine tech school, it's a few years later, I'm still diving, still living in S Florida, retired govt, rehired by a contractor, life is good. The money and time spent going to the marine tech school was well spent.

Give me 30 ft, 85 degree water, 100' vis, coral reef and flat seas and I'm happy. My only complaint is-what happened to the staghorn coral in the keys.

I got an AOW because some boats think it is valid proof of competency

I got a RSMAS certification because Rick Frehsee and Tom Mount required it to work on projects.

I got Nitrox because I think Geezer Gas is a good idea

I got rescue because in my opinion, OW, AOW and Rescue=Basic Diver

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

When I woke up yesterday I was 61 but today when I woke up I swear I was 104. Some days.

 

[DiverBeth]

50.5 for me. I live in Chicago.

I dive in Lake Michigan, Cozumel, Belize, Hawaii and I've been to the Coral Sea.

My favorite dive shop is Elmer's Watersports.

I have AOW, nitrox and drysuit. I hope to do rescue diver this year.

 

[BKP]

53 years old.
Amazing, considering the motocrossing, sky-diving (in the old round Paracommander canopies), competition boxing, death-wish I had in my 20's...

Should have started diving decades ago (and saved myself all the bangs, bumps, bruises, of the above -- still do Krav Maga with the 20-somethings, though... older and wiser, for me, are not necessarily synonymous ).

I dive both fresh and salt. However, unlike Texdiveguy, I prefer salt (the warmer the better). Love the colorful reefs, and fish, and thrilled with shark sitings/encounters. Living in Jawjuh makes the Florida/Bahamian reefs accessible, and Coz is right across the Gulf...
I have a Rescue cert (PADI), for the same reason as DenisS, and Nitrox, 'cause, well... why not.
Starting on DiveMaster this summer (so I can take my 8 yr. old diving when she turns 10).

Don't see myself ever quitting -- it's way too therapeutic...

 

[TSandM]

When I woke up yesterday I was 61 but today when I woke up I swear I was 104. Some days.

Those are the mornings I tell Peter, "I'm really creaky today!"

 

[dpbishop]

I'm so old I had to read this whole thread to make sure I hadn't already posted and forgot about it.

60 last month
25-50 dives per year depending on visibility, economics, and whether I won a drive trip that year.
San Diego and Catalina mostly, but have also dove BVI, Antiqua & La Paz.

Diving Locker, I guess. They all tick me off sooner or later.

Open water. 1973 Damned if I'm gonna pay some whippersnapper to teach me how to dive.