Been feeling a bit vulnerable.

[Diver0001]

There have been a few deaths lately and I've been feeling a little vulnerable about it.

Yesterday I was on a dive to 48+ meters, which is well within my comfort zone and training. For the change of pace I actually did it with HE in my mix but normally I would do this dive using air.

That said, I had a moment during that dive that I wasn't expecting. I've never thought before "what if it all goes terribly wrong", but that's that's the thought I had. My wife (who is not a diver) has also been concerned about it. She's been saying to me, "all these highly experienced divers dying..... it's like you're the biggest risk group"!

Are we the biggest risk group?

R..

 

[Subcooled]

When you have cravings, you are in risk.
When you don't, you aren't.

You are vastly more experienced than me. As there are two risk groups, total newbies and the experienced ones that have lost their skill to fear, am I safe now? The above comment still applies.

 

[Slamfire]

I do not know how old you are. Worldwide, the average life expectancy at birth was 71.0 years (68.5 years for males and 73.5 years for females). Have you thought how would you like to go? Or at least how would you NOT like to go?

I remember that Lynne and I and several others were discussing something similar. Lynne, being an MD, provided some neat insight into this. She said something to the effect that if faced with a long convalescing terminal illness that will painfully and slowly diminish your capabilities, she might just get an O2 cylinder and just go out on a one way deep dive and enjoy the scenery on your way out of this world.

I do not know what was Lynne's state of mind in her final moments. I hope... I prefer to believe that it was close to blissfulness. From what Peter wrote, she mentioned "This IS the Pacific Ocean", referring to how calm and ideal the conditions looked at that point. I try to envision that state of mind. She's doing what she loves. She's doing a bucket list dive with someone she loves. She's in full use of her faculties. What more can you ask of life?

More directly to your question, very experienced divers by definition will likely be closer to the life expectancy than younger divers. When your time is up, it just is. May we be so lucky as to go out enjoying something we love. Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back.