Liveaboard with fewer old people?

[Amberpants13]

I think the age definitely trends to older divers on expensive liveaboards so maybe look for the cheaper local outfits via diveshops rather than the plush international ones. We had a lot of young people on an island in Belize called Reef CI, similarly there were a lot of younger DMs on an overnight boat in Cambodia and the divecentres on Gili T had a youthful set of DMs so its maybe the location and the divecentres you need to look for and try and search for something cheaper than a pricey liveaboard. We had a couple of people in their late 20s-30s on a liveaboard in Raja Ampat in 2017 so maybe its luck.

 

[Wingy]

Strange I revisted this post tonight....on my way home from a Post Malone concert I remembered my dive gear was still in the car so I went for a quick look around the jetty....my 24 year old sons just lectured me for getting home at 5am wet. Im 53.

 

[Fragola]

Aren't you as old as you feel? Or act? I'm at the median age for the average adult activity group. I meet people younger than me who claim they are too old to try new things.That's a negative attitude I don't like being around. It might be more reasonable to say you're too old to become the world's best or an Olympian. On the other hand older people who participate and don't worry about not being at their peak strength, speed, etc are more fun to hang out with.

 

[ontdiver]

An interesting thread. I somehow expect (and hope) that the OP is processing some of the thoughts expressed by the 50+ crowd. Ironically, on those boats where you have a chance to do 4 or more dives a day, I find that most divers are chilling and not talking your ear off.

 

[Sam Miller III]

This is the 215th post to this thread ...

It looked familiar, and it was familiar. I posted over a year ago April 8th, 2018, post #78-- 137 posts ago !

It just might be well to repost since there has been another year of new divers populating the board. My post proves conclusively that old knowledgeable well seasoned divers are a sneaky bunch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When My wife and I last visited Cozumel aka "Coz" we were in the senor bracket -- now we are in the antique category
A snippet from an event of long ago

"My wife Betty and I last visited Cozumel over 30 years ago...It was becoming too commercial and too crowded even at that early date for us-- we always attempted to remain ahead of the wave of dive locations popularity.

We had a great time with two Bonne Terre mine guides so many years ago. They had never dove open water, but were very comfortable in the salt water open ocean and for some unknown reason perhaps by natural selection we buddied up with them for most of the week.

The word had got out among the staff and other vacation divers that we were not typical Cozumel vacation divers

On the very last day of our visit we had made several dives and were underway to the second and last shallow dive site of our week long vacation.

I speak Spanish and had been speaking "Spanlish" all week with the crew. I inquired in Spanish as to how long to the next dive site ? Their reply in Spanish "45 minutes."

I returned to my seat along the gunnels informed my wife and our week long buddies buddies that we had 45 minutes to relax

Then I said what the heck ? Why not ? So I said " You are from the Missouri the 'Show Me State' - I will show you-- Pull out your dive bags start fiddling with your equipment" which they did. Soon the entre boat of divers were pulling out there dive bags, preparing their equipment and putting on their wet suits

As soon as every one was fully prepared to dive we shoved out bags under the seat and resumed out conversations for another 40 or so minutes to we arrived at the last dive site.

Some started chuckling that they had been had others were so hot the deck was steaming .

At the end of the dive and our vacations the Missourians insisted that it would be their honor to carry our equipment to our room for packing - Who could refuse that offer ?

We will never forget those two Missourians from Bonne Terre and the fun we had !"

the message is clear --Never trust an old diving couple who began diving before Cousteau

sdm
April 27,2019

 

[rongoodman]

FWIW, the group I was with on the Red Sea Aggressor in March was younger than most of the other boats I've been on. I was the oldest by 15-20 years, and no one else was even close. I can't say if that was a fluke or the trip is more popular with younger divers. It was marked down by a lot.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

One thing probably nice for some operators with a boatload if young divers is they don’t have to go to far to look for more unspoiled diving since the young ones don’t have any clue what is was like in the old days.
They don’t know any better and are happy with anything.
Older richer divers are pickier.

 

[wedivebc]

I've been on 3 liveaboards now, and Mike Ball in Australia was the only one that wasn't average age 50! Last few have been explorer ventures, maybe I need to start branching out to different companies.

I love liveaboards but as a person in my twenties I really have nothing to talk about with people in their sixties. I love the alone time but am wondering if there are liveaboards with more people my age or even 30-40?

i am shocked to read this post. You seriously you have nothing to talk about with 60 year olds. That is very sad. I frequently hang out with people much younger than me because not many 60+ year olds do the kind of diving I do. I often go sailing with younger people because many can't afford a sailboat but are happy to crew when I'm going out. Nowadays I jam with people my age because music requires less physical demands I can't stand the music the 20 year olds listen to but to say you don't have anything in common with older people is very myopic on your part.

 

[Esprise Me]

FYI: this thread is a year old and the OP hasn't been back to the board since 2 days after she started it, so no one is going to be able to tell her anything anymore. Deep in the midst of these many old pages, OP explained her reasons for wanting to get away from the old folks; essentially she had a bad experience with an old guy who swore at her and called her names when she confronted him after he moved her stuff that she'd left on a deck chair. Several posters agreed the guy was a dick, but several also pointed out the etiquette issues involved with saving deck chairs, which OP did not respond to. In another thread, quoted in this one after OP disappeared, OP announced she was quitting diving. I'm still enjoying the conversation, but just wanted to give folks a heads-up now that I've read through the whole thing.

My thoughts: the fact that OP's desire to avoid old people was triggered by a verbal altercation with one old person makes her even less sympathetic to me than if she just found old people boring in general because they didn't have the same cultural reference points. It's the difference between merely being excited to meet other travelers from your home state when you're far from home, and not wanting to talk to the locals at all because you got mugged there and now you view all "those" people with suspicion.

Anyway, this 35-year-old's presence would have been at best a consolation prize for the OP (at least I'm not--gah!--50!!!) But as someone who still thinks of herself as young, I like hanging out with the older folks. Last weekend I went out on a dive boat with a handful of other certified divers and a bunch of OW students, and I got to chatting with one of the students, a guy who had to be in his 70s. Turns out he started diving in 1964, but long story short, life got in the way and now he's getting back into it and everything's different. It was really fun to hear about the old days, before my parents were even in high school, and how the sport has evolved since before people knew better. I'm childless by choice; I get why not many people my age can devote much time or money to this or any hobby. But I'm looking forward to my first liveaboard vacation with a bunch of retirees and their crazy stories.

 

[agilis]

Old people are yucky to look at. Who needs to see wrinkles, sagging skin, varicose veins, etc.?