When I was a child in the early sixties, the age of sixty was old, not because I was six and anyone older than 21 was decrepit, but because seniors in their sixties were seen as waiting by their firesides to die.
Five decades later, the conceptual view of seniors is more likely to be them bathing on the beaches of Borneo or other exotic places instead of sitting by their firesides. Greater advances in health care mean that people are not only living longer but are fitter and ealthier, in control of their health and lives.
Seniors over fifty are thankfully no longer prepared to accept their life is over. There are many things that they are attempting both by travelling and being more adventurous on their own doorstep.
I have been a passionate scuba diver for over thirty years and I have learned a thing or to about it and the first is that scuba diving is not one of those hobbies that age is a barrier to; age is of a positive benefit to the scuba diver.
Is scuba diving dangerous? Yes, it can be–but so is driving, and for that matter, living. And I am not sure that it is not one of those things that everyone insists is more dangerous than it is!
Is it such things as shark attacks that make scuba diving dangerous? Statistically the majority of people bitten by sharks are bitten while standing on a beach not far from the shoreline. I have been on hundreds of dives in the Pacific, the Red Sea, and the Indian oceans. Have I ever seen sharks or whales? Yes many times. Do I consider them dangerous? Yes, I do. Has it ever stopped me from diving among them? No, it hasn’t. However, neither fact is highly relevant: it is a fact that in the vast majority of dives, you will not see either.
What has accounted for the greatest number of diving incidents I have personally witnessed? That one is easy: the vast majority of incidents have been caused by sinus and breathing difficulties, nothing to do with equipment error, but just the simple human error of not knowing how to equalize pressure properly. I was very fortunate when I learned to dive–I listened to my dive instructor. Sounds stupid but it is true.
I was terrified of water, and that is why initially I wanted to learn to dive to face my demons. I was very heavy at the time and frightened witless, so much so that I threw a wobbly and refused to even walk in the water. It was under a pier in Savu Savu, Fiji. My diving instructor hauled me in the water and apparently took me around the pier while holding my hand. Apparently I missed seeing a whale. I was so frightened that I had my eyes tightly shut. However, I learned a very valuable lesson despite being hysterical before getting in the water: once in, there is little choice; you have to breathe! Trust me, it is either that or drown. That was the lesson I learned: all you have to do to make a good diver is breathe, nothing more and nothing less. Once you have mastered the fact that you can breathe under water quite normally, nothing else matters.
Once you breath deeply and naturally underwater, you are in a different environment: it is your own personal underwater Jacques Cousteau television show. It is too exciting to worry about anything. No one anywhere in the world is allowed in the water without a diving certificate. Earning that diving certificate teaches you everything you need to know, including how to cope with most minor incidents.
Have I ever personally felt threatened while diving? Yes, I have; but not in the last twelve years. I vowed on my fortieth-birthday dive that I was not going to dive with anyone under thirty ever again, whatever the circumstances, and since I have adhered to that rule, I have encountered no problems. The eldest person I have ever personally been diving with was 76, but I know for a fact that Jacques Cousteau died at the age of 87 and he was still diving. I have also been diving with someone who was seventy-three and a learner.
When I learned to dive, there was none of the gadgetry that is available today. You had to work out how long, how far, and how deep you could dive. These days, a computer does it all. If you are older than sixty, you will remember double de-clutch while driving and how easy it is now. If you don’t know what I am talking about, well, you are too young to be reading this article anyway!
We are being told at every juncture that exercise is good for us. Well, there is nothing like diving because once under water, you have the buoyancy of the water and all the aches and pains disappear. There is nothing like swimming with fifty or more species of fish within a few feet of your head. It is something that you never ever tire of; and night diving is different again and offers a completely new world.
Age is no barrier to diving: age bestows common sense and a healthy respect for the deep. If it is something that you have always wanted to do, go ahead and try it. Have one test dive and see how you feel. Once you have done it, there is no going back–you will have opened your horizons forever.
All the rules you need to know about scuba diving are below.
1) Gently equalize your ears and mask as you descend. That means nothing more that holding your nose and exerting a gentle blow-out pressure.
2) Never hold your breath while ascending. Always breath normally and come up slowly and steadily.
3) Always dive with a buddy.
4) Never drink and dive.
5) Don’t fly for 12 hours after a no-decompression dive, 24 hours if your dive required decompression stops. It won’t kill you but it is something you will not want to repeat after you feel the effects.
6) If you have friends and family that have concerns about your diving, don’t tell them until after you get your diving certificate.
7) You do not even have to be a strong swimmer to dive; I have often been diving with people who can not swim at all. However, I would personally recommend that you can swim thirty yards because you have to get to the boat!
8) Scuba diving is a lot harder than snorkelling. That is a myth that snorkeller’s will tell you but no diver ever will.
In conclusion, scuba diving is a relaxing hobby and most if it is done less than thirty feet from the surface. Most of the world’s coral reefs are not deep; we are not taking about forty thousand fathoms under the sea. A few people say they can’t bear the idea of all the weight of the sea above them: while diving, you can feel neither the weight above or below, and in fact, it is the nearest thing to weightless that I can imagine. A common misconception about diving is “I would be too frightened!” The chances are that you will be so enthralled that you will forget to be frightened, and you will surely not forget to breathe! Then the excitement of your own private aquarium will never leave you, even if you dive only once in an open water dive and stay a landlubber ever after.