We are always told that we should learn sports when we are young, when our bodies are most resistant to the bruises and bumps that can inflict us when learning a new sport. This is true up to a point.
Take, for example, my experience learning to windsurf. I learned the sport when I was 26 years old. If I were to learn this sport now at 42, chances are I wouldn’t get very far and would probably give up after 1-2 tries. Learning to windsurf was like fighting with all your might at the same time! We’re talking about trying to balance over choppy waves on a wet and slippery board, while also maneuvering a glider that’s heavier than you in the right direction you want to go. In the process, I contributed blood and meat from cuts. on barnacles and bruises from hitting the surfboard more than once before hitting the water.
But there is a big difference with diving. YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN TO DIVE. I can never say this enough. I learned to dive when I was 38 years old. I’m not saying that 38 is a mature age, but still, the body feels a little less strong and less resistant. Added to that, as we get older, we also seem to have more fears. Maybe we feel like we have more to lose if something happens to us.
I say middle age and beyond should never be a factor in learning to dive BUT you do need to have these:
1) an intense love for the sea
2) the willingness to learn from someone younger than you
3) relatively good health and last but very important
4) time and money
Now I assume that you are thinking of learning to scuba dive because you want to make this a sport that you can enjoy every other weekend if time and money allow and not just learn for the sake of education.
An intense love for the sea
To enjoy a diving trip, you will have to love the sea and I mean really love it with all its wonderful creatures, great and small. You’ll know what I mean on your first scuba trip after you’ve passed your open water tests.
Your scuba buddies on your first scuba trip are unlikely to be the same classmates on your scuba course. Due to time and money constraints, you will find that you may be the only one interested enough to join a scuba trip soon after your certification.
Most of the time, your dive buddies will be a group of scuba freaks doing at least 4 dives a day plus another one at night. This means that on a dive trip, most of the time you won’t be doing anything but diving, talking about the sea creatures and encounters on each dive, before preparing for the next dive. For someone who only wants to do one dive a day and then go shopping, you may be disappointed as many great diving spots have few of these shopping and entertainment facilities.
In case you’re already getting stressed just thinking about this, don’t be. Every newbie to diving goes through this. Just have a novice attitude, be humble, and you’ll find that experienced divers are more than willing to share tips and can even help you prepare before a dive.
Willingness to learn from someone younger than you
Your scuba instructor is likely to be someone much younger than you. Some scuba instructors have an attitude and are arrogant so you may have to live with that for at least 3 weekends before you get certified: first weekend for classroom and theory, second weekend weekday for sessions in the pool and the third weekend for the real tests in open water. Put your ego aside and put up with it, it will be worth it in the end.
Having said that, that’s not to say that there aren’t good and friendly dive instructors. I was lucky to receive scuba instruction from PC, a very kind and patient man, without whom my scuba learning experience would not be as smooth and enjoyable.
relatively good health
It is not necessary to be in top shape before you can start diving. However, you will need some strength to be able to walk with full scuba gear strapped on. Once you enter the waters with all your gear, you are almost weightless. But it’s the few steps to get on the boat or across the beach into the water that can be a challenge for someone not used to carrying heavy loads.
Having said that, some dive resorts have fantastic dive staff who can help to overcome this by bringing the tanks and equipment to the boat so you can adjust inside the boat. And of course, if you are on a cruise (live, eat, dive, sleep, aboard a boat for the entire dive trip), then this may not be relevant.
time and money
These are probably the 2 most decisive factors for someone to continue enjoying diving after passing the open water tests. Getting certified through a scuba course is very fast, just 3 weekends basically. And not too expensive, probably around $300 to $400, including a dive trip out of the country for open water testing. But unless you live near a diving area, chances are you’ll have to travel a distance or even out of the country to get a good dive.
Now just think how much each trip is going to cost you and multiply it by how many times you would like to dive in a year. When you do the sums, it can be amazing. So you narrow down the number of dives you want to do in a year and then calculate and cut down a few more.
In our scuba class, my husband and I were the only ones who continued to dive after the class ended. Even then, we didn’t manage to do the number of dives we really would have liked to do in a year. This is how it finally ends that we are averaging 1 dive a year. This more or less ensures that we will always dive as “newbies to diving” (hence the name of the blog). A diver “rusts” when the interval between each dive trip is too long. The ideal is to dive at least once every quarter.
I haven’t even gone on to calculate the other “investments” to customize your gear, like your own BC (buoyancy control), your own octopus (breathing apparatus), and your wetsuit.
Having said all this, I still believe that you are never too old to learn and enjoy diving. Even with our limited dives since becoming certified and diving as newbies to scuba, we enjoy each and every one of our dive trips. Find the right people to dive with, find a fantastic dive spot that suits your preferences (whether it’s macro, spotting small sea creatures, or seeing bigger fish) and nearby spa facilities to soothe body aches after a dive : It’s a wonderful combination. that will almost always ensure a great diving experience!
A newbie to diving can still enjoy happy diving!
