a man has got to know his limitations!
Or more importantly, a diver should constantly reevaluate their limitations.
Recently, I had the pleasure of teaching a 72 yo student my trim, buoyancy and propulsion class. In addition to being a bit older than my usual students, he was also hard of hearing and had a tremor. As his buddy for four days, I also felt obliged to evaluate his limits. After all, I really didn't want to be in a rescue situation, myself.
The pool session was incredibly enlightening. With his hearing aids out, I had to exercise patience and become very creative in how I communicated with him. We did surprisingly well. Yes, there were times he indicated that he 'understood' something when he did not. That's pretty typical among the hard of hearing. So, add persistence to my patience and creativity, but the man really wanted to learn and that was huge. He was intent on mastering his Scuba skills.
His buoyancy and trim were surprisingly good. We spent most of the time working on his frog kick and building up his confidence. It was obvious that he didn't know just how accomplished he had become. It seems he practices in a pool two or three times a week as part of his fitness regimen, so he really had a lot of time in. Of course, age brings with it a loss of suppleness in the joints. He fought me on the frog kick, but as I mentioned before, he was intent on learning it. By the end of three and half hours, he had accomplished in a single session what many divers take two or more sessions to accomplish. Not too shabby! No, he wasn't very fast with his newly acquired frog kick, but you don't need to be. He was having fun. Really, that's the most important thing: he was having fun!
I still wasn't completely convinced and I say that to my shame. The next day we went to do a shore dive off of Cannon Beach in Pennekamp Park as is my normal practice. Wow. He nailed every skill I threw at him. It was at this point that I realized that he did not have his AOW. I suggested that we slightly shift gears and he could get an actual card. I was more and more impressed and I pushed him plenty to see just how resilient he was. I wasn't disappointed. The next two days we dove the Speigel Grove, which is no slouch dive. He was awesome! I approached the captain about the same time he was approaching me. He had seen the age and was a bit apprehensive as well. I made sure he understood my student's limitations, especially getting him up the ladder. They were prepared to take all of his gear, but he only gave up his weights. There were no surprises, no incidents and you know what? He had a lot of fun and he became an inspiration to me.
Let's face it. Getting old certainly beats the alternative, but it's not for wimps. My student was up front and honest with me about all of his limitations. Consequently, I was able to adjust our diving and get the boat to adjust their protocol to enable him to do what he came to do: Have fun! There was simply no guessing on my part either. I took care to get to know him and his needs. He was my one and only concern, and I hope that showed. No, he didn't have the stamina of a 30 year old, but then neither do I. He has the passion of a teenager, make no doubt about that, and that made all the difference to me. He might have come to the Keys as a student, but he certainly left a friend. I wish all my students were more like him.
