Although I had many opportunities in life to go diving with friends and aquaintances I never tried it till I was 66 years old. Of course, I got hooked immediately and think about it all the time. I've been able to get in over 200 dives in the four years since then. I live in the Midwest and all my diving is in the Upper Keys, so it is a little expensive considering the motel, rental car and flight costs, but it is worth it. Many times I wonder what my life would have been like if I had lived along the south coast and could have gone diving anytime I wanted to. Would I have enjoyed it as much as I have in later life or would it be one of those things which is available to me here all the time, like skying or ice skating, which I was never interested in. (Sc**w the cold weather sports.) I wonder if I would have gone into diving as a profession or would I have done exactly as I have done and ended up in the construction industry like a lot of people who live near the coast, just working and making a living, and diving as fun times. I would like to think that I would have been a dive bum, a carouzing, drunken womanizer or as I ended up, a carouzing, drunken construction worker. I like the dive bum idea. Do any of you think about stuff like this or is it just me in my old age?
Wish I'd done that.
- Thread starter Garrobo
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caymaniac
Contributor
No, I like it too. My problem was I liked snow skiing in the beginning, I started at 14. I've been a few places skiing out west. I've been to Alta/Snowbird, Aspen/Aspen Highlands/Snowmass/Buttermilk, Grand Targee, Jackson Hole, Helicopter skiing in the Idaho Pallisades and plenty of places in Michigan.
While skiing at Alta my wife broke her thumb so we went to California for a week with a cast. My wife decided she'd like to try a warm vacation so in 1981 we went to Grand Cayman. Since I couldn't lay in the sun all day I tried snorkeling and got hooked....when we got home I got certified.
So, I could see being a ski bum then, now I would prefer to be a dive bum. I feel your pain but at least I didn't wait until 66. We've been all through the Caribbean and some exotic locales like New Britain, South Africa and on the GBR/Osprey.
While skiing at Alta my wife broke her thumb so we went to California for a week with a cast. My wife decided she'd like to try a warm vacation so in 1981 we went to Grand Cayman. Since I couldn't lay in the sun all day I tried snorkeling and got hooked....when we got home I got certified.
So, I could see being a ski bum then, now I would prefer to be a dive bum. I feel your pain but at least I didn't wait until 66. We've been all through the Caribbean and some exotic locales like New Britain, South Africa and on the GBR/Osprey.
I was an Army Brat who lived in a lot of different places, but most of my childhood and all of my adult life has been within a few miles of the coast. I went to Marineland of the Pacific to see the orcas, but never even thought about getting in the ocean until I was 28 years old. I took up free diving, then later scuba and have loved every minute of it. My favorite beach dive has become Marineland, where I have made 338 dives and met most of my friends, including my fiancee.
Before diving, I played a lot of baseball and went backpacking on the weekends in out local mountains. I really love those activities, but haven't been to the mountains in ten years. Diving has consumed me.
Before diving, I played a lot of baseball and went backpacking on the weekends in out local mountains. I really love those activities, but haven't been to the mountains in ten years. Diving has consumed me.
DaleC
Contributor
An interesting Q G.
I don't know why I didn't dive earlier in life (I was a JYC fanatic as a youngster) but I did the climbing bum thing pretty well. No drunken womanizing though (damn). I lived more like a monk and for the most part felt felt I was on a seperate path than my fellow man. Now I am married with three kids and, while I wouldn't change things, there are those odd times when I do wonder what it would be like if I could dedicate my whole being to diving the way I did to climbing. I wouldn't want to teach though.
I don't know why I didn't dive earlier in life (I was a JYC fanatic as a youngster) but I did the climbing bum thing pretty well. No drunken womanizing though (damn). I lived more like a monk and for the most part felt felt I was on a seperate path than my fellow man. Now I am married with three kids and, while I wouldn't change things, there are those odd times when I do wonder what it would be like if I could dedicate my whole being to diving the way I did to climbing. I wouldn't want to teach though.
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