I think the truth lies somewhere in between. There is a lot of diving that isn't very physically demanding at all. A paddle around our local training site, where the current is considered strong if you can feel it at all, and the distances you cover are small, is not very taxing -- the hardest part of such a dive is carrying the gear to and from the water (which is exactly what the OP feels she cannot do). I suspect most quarries and smaller lakes are just the same. To suggest that you have to be young and strong and very fit to do such dives is really over the top.
On the other hand, I can remember hanging onto the rail on the MV Tala while the boat pitched, with my eyes focused on the shot line ball, knowing I had to make it -- and coming back from that dive, with an iron grip on the line of the heaving RIB, trying desperately to hand an Al80 deco bottle up to the crewman without having it knock me senseless. To suggest that that type of diving is easy and requires no fitness would be equally wrong.
I think you can be sensible about the challenges you set yourself. If the OP has a neck problem that precludes wearing heavy gear, that doesn't mean she can't swim like a fish. It may mean that a high current dive in rough water is preferable to a long walk to the entry point. The person who has compromised leg strength may need to stay away from dives where the current could turn on them.
Diving isn't Special Forces, and you don't have to be THAT fit to do it. Yes, heart attacks kill older divers. Heart attacks kill older golfers, and people shoveling snow. We don't tell people they can't golf or shovel their driveways. Being more fit is beneficial in general, but suggesting that diving be limited to the young and strong is really overdoing it.
On the other hand, I can remember hanging onto the rail on the MV Tala while the boat pitched, with my eyes focused on the shot line ball, knowing I had to make it -- and coming back from that dive, with an iron grip on the line of the heaving RIB, trying desperately to hand an Al80 deco bottle up to the crewman without having it knock me senseless. To suggest that that type of diving is easy and requires no fitness would be equally wrong.
I think you can be sensible about the challenges you set yourself. If the OP has a neck problem that precludes wearing heavy gear, that doesn't mean she can't swim like a fish. It may mean that a high current dive in rough water is preferable to a long walk to the entry point. The person who has compromised leg strength may need to stay away from dives where the current could turn on them.
Diving isn't Special Forces, and you don't have to be THAT fit to do it. Yes, heart attacks kill older divers. Heart attacks kill older golfers, and people shoveling snow. We don't tell people they can't golf or shovel their driveways. Being more fit is beneficial in general, but suggesting that diving be limited to the young and strong is really overdoing it.