Age and diving

[rawalker]

Good to know because I intend to be an old fart diving.

[Rainer]

Originally Posted by saltfly

I was just certified this month, as I approach 50. I did it with my 16 year old daughter, and being in good enough shape to deal with both my diving and her supervision motivated me to lose 17 pounds (8 more to go) and to have begun a pretty active swimming regimen (a mile every other day. But slow - 48 minutes. Man, is it boring! I have to figure out an ipod solution for it).

My diving will be the Keys every month or so, and the Red Sea three times a year (I spend alot of time in Istanbul). I have no desire to do wrecks, deep dives, etc. I'm totally happy to spend my life at 50 feet.

My Question: If I keep the weight off, and keep up at the gym, how many years of safe diving can I look forward to? 5? 10? More?

Thanks.

If you're in good shape and doing pretty easy warm water dives, then no reason you shouldn't be able to dive into your 70s (and possibly beyond).

Diving the Keys and the Red Sea... lucky man!

[Scotttyd]

I have seen some people in their 70's diving better than some 35 year olds who where in no shape to dive. It is all about how comfortable you feel, and how you keep yourself in good health. (although I am in no way to preach about health, I am looking to lose about 30 lbs, I have done it before, I just keep finding it at McDonalds

[MrMike]

What I would worry about is creeping oldtimers' and forgetting something important.

[Martin2]

I say more power to the older divers. I'm only in my 20s, but my parents have been diving all of my life. They have diving experiences that I can't even begin to imagine, and they're only in their 50s and 60s (respectively). I hope to see them (and me) dive for a great many years to come.

[cowgirldiver]

For those of you who are NAUI certified, when you filled out your initial dive folder did you look through the list of conditions that require a doctor's signature? One of them is being over 40 years old. I just looked at our instructor (who is quite a bit older than 40) and said "what's with that??" I'm probably in better shape now than I was before I was 40.

[NucMed Man]

Welcome to the Club. I also got OW certified with my daughter (then she was 14) and we love our dive trips together. Now with only two years left in high school we are working on trips once she enters collage in San Diego. Which will make me 60 y.o. at the time, with no plans to give it up without a fight!

[chinacat46]

I've dove with several people in their mid 70's and they had no problems. They might move a little slower above the water but below slow is a good thing.

[captain]

Originally Posted by Goober

As one you was diagnosed with cardio vasclar desease at a very early age. Because of that, and sent and angio, naturally I had to get a dive clearance before I could enroll in OW. Now, from a cardio stand point only, next time you have a stress test (if you've not had one recently and are going to start diving at your age I'd suggest one, as I was 34 when I was diagnosed) ask them to take you to 13 mets. If you can achieve that then dive with confidence, as that was the only real criteria for me other than a general physical.

Not quite as young as you but I had a triple bypass 10 years ago at 53. I just did my yearly stress test yesterday at a 17 METS level. As long as I can maintain fitness above 13 METS I plan on diving another 10 or 15 years maybe more.

[Bodabing]

Originally Posted by saltfly

I was just certified this month, as I approach 50. I did it with my 16 year old daughter, and being in good enough shape to deal with both my diving and her supervision motivated me to lose 17 pounds (8 more to go) and to have begun a pretty active swimming regimen (a mile every other day. But slow - 48 minutes. Man, is it boring! I have to figure out an ipod solution for it).

I don't know if anyone has answered this for you yet (admittedly I didn't read through all 9 pages of responses (only the first 3)

But Speedo makes a waterproof MP3 Player submersible up to 3 meters (plenty deep for your kick-turns if you're doin laps in a pool) It's called the Aquabeat, and it stores 1Gb, which should be fine for a mile. It's pretty aerodynamic (or would that be aquadynamic?) so shouldn't pose much resistance in the water, and it floats incase it comes loose. I don't have one myself, but I'll probably be making an investment in one soon.