Considering Hanging it up...but...what to do after scuba??

[Trace Malinowski]

Check out the housing situation.

The housing problems for employees at Vail are all over the news here. There are lawsuits being filed about attempts to build affordable employee housing in places where the land could instead go to luxury homes. (They are pretending it is all about bighorn sheep habitat.)

An item on the news last night was about the Department of Transportation trying to build affordable housing for mountain area employees.

BTW, being a ski area employee is indeed a year-round job. You have to do different things in the warm months, but there is always something going on that requires employees.

Oh, I'm not going to be working in the town of Vail, John. I'll be working just 19 miles from my house in the Poconos. Vail Resorts purchased Jack Frost and Big Boulder ski resorts. I used to supervise lifeguards for Big Boulder back in 2002. As proof of your belief that snow sports are growing, Vail Resorts is working on purchasing older ski resorts around the country and they are investing lots of money in upgrades.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

...which further supports my claim that winter sports are growing.

It seems they are right now.
But what’s going to happen as climate change reduces snow pack?
Is climate change real? I don’t know what to believe anymore. What I know is they have not had so many years in a row with so little precipitation in the mountains. But then we get a freak year like 2018 that breaks all records for rain and snowfall. Go figure?
There’s one fact, the snow seasons are getting shorter with not as much snow and operators need to make more money in a shorter period of time. They need to pay employees more, fuel prices are affecting things, inflation is affecting things including prices of lodging. We’ll see how all this goes.
It may not stay as popular as you think, unless maybe California is in it’s own little bubble and it’s not like that everywhere else. Maybe climate change is only a California phenomenon and it doesn’t exist anywhere else, because we sure seem to be getting hammered for it. What I see (and think as a result) does not apply to the rest of the country?
Is this too political for the TOS?

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I'd say hold on to the gear for awhile and consider that a transition to warm water diving on vacations will be something you can enjoy for many more years...

Or if you want to be totally frustrated and humbled, you could take up golf........ and if you suck at it as bad as I do then you get to swing the club a lot more than your buddies, walk a lot further, take excursions into the woods, etc...

I'm only 67 now and still diving dry up here in the PAC NW.....but not as often as I used to when I was teaching and running a dive shop. It really sucks that there are no longer any decent dive boat ops in the San Juans..... Back in my younger days....my go to op was with Gordon Bradley on the Starfire... I still have his poster in my shop... I used to dive with Gordon 3-4 times a month during the 90's. We were good friends and I even had a key to the boat so I could drive up to Anacortes the night before and sleep on the boat...

 

[BoltSnap]

I think winter sports are more popular than strapping on an ugly mask and stuffing a regulator in one's mouth. I mean, for the selfie generation, what is prettier for a photo op, sleek, sporty and cool looking snow gear or ugly rubber junks strapped all over.

Nothing in this whole universe beats taking pictures with a whaleshark or a dolphin or even a spider crab, nothing!! Don't let them fool you, underwater is where life is!!!

 

[BoltSnap]

my house in the Poconos.

I lived in the Poconos when I first moved to the US. I even went to school there before I went to collage in NY.

 

[Wibble]

Nothing in this whole universe beats taking pictures with a whaleshark or a dolphin or even a spider crab, nothing!! Don't let them fool you, underwater is where life is!!!

Diving isn’t for vegans though. Nature’s not like that, little fish are food for bigger fish…

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Nothing in this whole universe beats taking pictures with a whaleshark or a dolphin or even a spider crab, nothing!! Don't let them fool you, underwater is where life is!!!

 

[drrich2]

I need to have some sort of outlet...so I also do not eat a bullet from depression...diving has saved my life as I said earlier, it is hard and scary to let it go.

A big question pertaining to what you might use to replace scuba diving is, what is it diving give you an outlet for?

Diving means different things to different people. I'll make a list and throw in some reasons people might choose an outdoor activity to begin with:

1.) Something to look forward to (but why?).

2.) Exercise.

3.) Mental stimulation in learning about and researching a new destination.

4.) 'Excuse' to enter the 'outdoors,' get 'on the water,' etc...

5.) Enjoy first hand engagement with foreign places, cultures, architecture, natural scenery, wildlife, etc...

6.) The 'challenge' of performing difficult diving well.

7.) Viewing exotic wildlife in their native habitat.

8.) Building a list of things you've seen (e.g.: a given # of species of shark or nudibranch, etc...).

9.) Enjoy an activity with family.

For me, it's be 1.), 3.), parts of 5.), particularly 7.) and some of 8.). I'm a 'coral reef + medium and big stuff' dude. There's another member on this forum who loves the shipwrecks of the Great Lakes and doesn't want to encounter sharks. Some people love cave diving. What specific itch does diving scratch for you?

Per your profile, you've dove "Truk Lagoon tec diving trip. Canada, Saba, Cancun rec diving." At your dive count, I've surprised you don't list more destinations, and it sounds like you're largely bored with your local diving.

With recent high inflation, and you having a family with 2 kids, I'm sympathetic about the cost (I'm retired, albeit with 1 kid, so feeling the pain on that). Would a 'scuba trip disguised as a family vacation' where the family could do other things, and you dive new places, be a good option? That's how I hit Key Largo, Jupiter, Morehead City (NC), St. Croix and Curacao.

If you give up diving how do we know its replacement will be viable longterm?

What did diving do for you that this replacement needs to take over?

 

[agilis]

Not sure which steel tanks you have, but a pair of LP50s, light and skinny, might fit the bill for kayak diving.

I've got a lp50 and it's great, especially for an 80 year old who has to lug it over the rocks to the inlet from his truck. There's no shore diving closer than 45 minutes for me, but I manage a few trips when the water is reasonably (for NJ) clear and warm. I don't get to dive that often, but still... It's something. Otherwise, I fill my time with photo herping and easy hiking. Lots to do out there, I think.

 

[drrich2]

herping

As in looking in nature for reptiles and amphibians? I like that, too; I consider prowling coral reefs for moray eels and octopus somewhat analogous.