Midlife Adventure Crisis!

[Hoag]

OK, so I'm a tiny bit over 50 ...

In the words of Jimmy Buffett (from his book A Pirate Looks at 50):

"Fifty is not "just another birthday." It is a reluctant milepost on the way to wherever it is we are meant to wind up. It can be approached in only two ways. First, it can be a ball of snakes that conjures up immediate thoughts of mortality and accountability. ("What have I done with my life?") Or, it can be a great excuse to reward yourself for just getting there. ("He who dies with the most toys wins.") I instinctively choose door number two."

I say you celebrate by going on a milestone trip to celebrate your milestone birthday.

 

[aquacat8]

Nice quote! And yeah I’m going places... ;-)

 

[DogDiver]

I’m 67, been diving since 1966. I moved to Florida so I can do mixed gas staged decompression cave dives any and every day of the year. Age is just a number. Dive fit and dive safe.

 

[aquacat8]

I'm now working on a new bucket list item which is a trip to a small, peaceful, Caribbean island that has no cruise ships, minimal places to stay, but is developed just enough to have a dive shop to rent tanks and possibly boat dives. There seems to be many places that used to be like this. One place is getting a new airport so I assume it won't be secluded for much longer. Part of the problem is that from LAX it will be about two days of traveling to get to most of the prospects with 10 hour layovers at airports I'd never heard of before. I suppose one way to approach it would be to simply stay a few days at each layover spot and leisurely move on to the next step as to avoid stress (which would, of course, be contrary to the whole point of going to such a place). I would love to find a foreign country that doesn't think that everyone who visits wants to be blasted by American rock and roll and day and night--limited electricity might help to reduce or eliminate that. One island boasts that it was a hideaway for rock stars so I'll skip that one Peace, quiet, natural beauty, and some good seafood ought to do it for me. It seems that whenever I try to "get away from it all" everything I'm trying to get away from is in abundance at most places I've been to. My idea of "live music" is a couple of guys with ukuleles and possibly a bongo drum and you nave to seek it out if you want it, not be constantly exposed to it while trying to relax on a beach or in a hammock. For me, paradise is free of the man-made unnecessary noises.

I'm thinking this is going to be a long trip and some of the transportation will likely be time-consuming and by a small boat so it also needs to have fairly inexpensive accommodations etc.. Anyone have any suggestions?

How about a sailing vacation with stops at dive areas? Your yacht is your island.

 

[aquacat8]

I’m 67, been diving since 1966. I moved to Florida so I can do mixed gas staged decompression cave dives any and every day of the year. Age is just a number. Dive fit and dive safe.

You are awesome

 

[aquacat8]

An old body is more fragile, so please plan your 300ft dives as 310ft dives.

LOL I love this!

 

[woodcarver]

At 10, I thought 20 was old. At 30, I thought 60-70 was oldish. At 56, I think 100+ might be old. It's a state of mind as much as anything. One of the "oldest" persons I ever met was in his mid 40s, but he acted as though he was 80.
My gf sat next to a lady coming home from Coz a couple years ago. She had just finished 2 weeks of diving. She was 81.
Mom's traveling the world via cruise ships, at least 2 a year. Most people think she's in her 60s. She turned 84 this year.
Stay active and don't "think" old.

 

[shoredivr]

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.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Culebra is OK, nothing to write home about. The south coast of Puerto Rico is excellent. Mona and Desecheo are outstanding if you can fins a boat to take you there. Vieques is nice, again, too easy to get to. I think very highly of Saba, but their signature dive site was badly damaged by a hurricane last summer (tent wall/reef). Not that I have my own boat, Corn islands are only 2 days away.

You like the diving at corn islands? Should I put them back on my list?

 

[Wookie]

You like the diving at corn islands? Should I put them back on my list?

Never been, but they are on my radar.