Active Divers over the age of 50

[DeepSeaExplorer]

I’m 63, certified in 1987 or 88. (I lost the card years ago.) I’m four dives short of 1,100. I’ve been a PADI DM since 2000, but rarely DM.

My deepest ocean dive was 265ft for 20 minutes on the RBJ off Ft Lauderdale. Deepest cave dive ~200ft. Did a bunch of solo staged deco dives in Ginnie, using 30/30 and O2.

I gave up cave and tech diving a couple years ago, but have several certifications: NSS-CDS Full Cave, IANTD Full Trimix, GUE Tech 1 (expired). Now, I just dive recreationally. I have helped a few divers with buoyancy and trim skills and enjoy that.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen a number of divers pass. Reggie Ross was my cave instructor, Capt Jim Mims was my Trimix instructor, (he got me into cave diving), Richard Rydell was my IANTD tech instructor. Rich Courtney used to fill my tanks at Cave East. One day he told me he just bought a .308 hunting rifle and wanted to go shoot it but needed to get some ammo. I was big into shooting at the time and gave him 30rds. The look on his face made it worth it. (He still wouldn’t sign off on my 100 cave dives award because I was solo diving.) Bill Renaker who gave me s*** about having my gear configured GUE. “You’re not going to be able to do any sneak diving with your name on your tanks!” Unfortunately, as you get older you see people who were once icons leave us.

 

[Miyaru]

SB age groups:

The "unknown" group consists of accounts that didn't register their date of birth.

 

[USdiver1]

SB age groups:
View attachment 844990

The "unknown" group consists of accounts that didn't register their date of birth.

I started off in the 10-20 age group, now in the 60-70 age group. Feels like I'm progressing!!!!

 

[MB NZ]

SB age groups:
View attachment 844990

The "unknown" group consists of accounts that didn't register their date of birth.

That's reassuring for the future of the sport. My feeling is that it's an old man's game. The caveat being that younger people are more likely to be online, so perhaps an overrepresentation?

 

[JonnieB]

59 and going strong; did my 1057th and 58th dives today. OW cert at 37 and PADI Divemaster cert at 57 (keep busy during Covid) ☺ ☺ ☺

 

[Miyaru]

That's reassuring for the future of the sport. My feeling is that it's an old man's game. The caveat being that younger people are more likely to be online, so perhaps an overrepresentation?

The graph doesn't say anything about the sport. It's just a representation of ScubaBoard accounts and their registered date of birth.

As a sidestep: the graph below shows the age groups of divers visiting the best diving destination in Europe: Malta. The 50+ part is less than a third...

 

[rgkv]

SB age groups:
View attachment 844990

The "unknown" group consists of accounts that didn't register their date of birth.

Thats more of the 70-80 group, we tent to forget things

 

[Biotech Diver]

Over 50. Certified since 2005. Master Diver Certification and beginner tech diver with doubles. Since I moved away from Florida in 2021, I have become a vacation diver for the most part. I thought about diving the Great Lakes since moving to the Midwest, but still undecided. I’d rather spend the money on diving vacations around the world than diving cold water again, but I may change my mind on that!

Hardest part of diving since getting older is climbing up the boat ladder because my knees are not very strong anymore, but I still manage.

I think my next trip will be to Egypt, but I may do a livaboard in the Galápagos first. Always wanted to dive Chuuk Lagoon too. We’ll see.

 

[Biotech Diver]

Thats more of the 70-80 group, we tent to forget things

Forget things like spelling?

 

[ronnieguha]

Almost 50, just got OW certified. Looking to get GUE training. I’m not pale, but I am stale ;-)