Midlife Adventure Crisis!

[lowviz]

Yummmm cupcake dive!

* SIGH * Try to focus...

(-these young kids, nowadays! )

 

[Schwob]

What is it that you worry about?

My biggest worry of course is that I might be squandering opportunities away to give my all and everything at and to "work" by being distracted by distracting things, like "having a life", "family", "scuba"...
...
NOT!
...
but, a real big worry of mine so seems to be that I continue to struggle to figure out what to do about "work" taking over....

 

[JamesBon92007]

There was a period of my life when work took up most of my time. Fortunately I am past that

I can now look back and know that I ran a successful business and made lots of money and blah blah blah but that is not so important to me now but if I had not done it, who knows how I might feel about it later on.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

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?

Goodness, I didn't even start diving till I was 49. At 55 I was just getting into tech diving, particularly deep wrecks. At 57 I took up cave diving ... and a year later became full cave certified. At 59 I took up solo diving. I'm 66 now, and am probably done with cave and deep tech dives ... but otherwise I just keep my ascents slow and dive my usual profiles ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Still schlepping twin 100s here in the PNW at 54 and back and knees are still hanging in there, but moving to sidemount really soon, but more due to shoulder mobility than gear lugging.

I moved to sidemount for the same reason ... if you can't manage your valves, you shouldn't be diving backmount doubles.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Considering I only started diving north of fifty you guys are starting to scare me a little ... I sure hope I can coax my diving a little more uphill first, ... before it really goes downhill...

I found a regimen of regular workouts helps ... four times a week, split between cardio and strength conditioning. I started this program in 2010, and am probably in better shape now than I was 10 years ago ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

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...

Often the shallows are where the best life is at. I did two dives on Sunday at one of my all-time favorite shore dives ... a place called Sekiu, on the westernmost part of Washington State. First dive maxed at 26 feet, second was at 34. Besides having amazing stuff to look at, the shallower dives meant longer profiles ... 87 and 72 minutes, respectively. We found 11 different species of nudibranchs on those two dives ... but this was my favorite subject, found in six feet of water ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

At least that particular volcano is considered to be "dormant." Oh wait, so was Mount St. Helens. But I suppose the chances of it erupting again within my lifetime are quite small.

While Mt. St. Helens was dormant for 140 years, it was still considered (and still is) an active volcano. Since the eruption in 1980, there has been continuous volcanic activity in the form of steam vents and dome build-up. It could erupt again at any time ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yep, I met a 78 year old and a 70 something year old married couple who were giant striding off the back of the dive boat in the St Lawrence River wearing drysuits and doubles. They weightlifted and did cardio exercise. After diving with them I have a new goal: be doing the same thing at their age.

There's a term for people like that ... role model ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Wookie]

Often the shallows are where the best life is at. I did two dives on Sunday at one of my all-time favorite shore dives ... a place called Sekiu, on the westernmost part of Washington State. First dive maxed at 26 feet, second was at 34. Besides having amazing stuff to look at, the shallower dives meant longer profiles ... 87 and 72 minutes, respectively. We found 11 different species of nudibranchs on those two dives ... but this was my favorite subject, found in six feet of water ...

View attachment 463814

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

This is magical. Is it some kind of octopus? May I share it on my facebook page (giving you credit, of course)?