60 Year-Olds Scuba Diving

Scuba diving is a great sport because you get to meet people of different backgrounds sharing a common love of the water. In my years of diving I have met many people of all ages diving, including those in their golden years.

But this week I had the opportunity of meeting a couple in their 60s learning to scuba dive. Jeremiah (Malaysian) and Christabelle (Filipino) have two daughters and are celebrating their 30th anniversary tomorrow! What a nice way to celebrate.

Jeremy & Christabelle

I decided to interview them after we had completed their second confined water training. They were happy to share their experience with me. Here are some key points from the interview:

1. What made you try scuba diving?

Jeremy: I have always wanted to dive, and we travel a lot before the pandemic. So when the restrictions happened and we couldn't travel to Philippines, we felt stuck and bored at home. We thought this would be a good opportunity for us to learn something new. Since we both have always wanted to dive, we decided to enroll in scuba diving course.

Christabelle: When I was studying during my semester break, I would work as an airline stewardess. My friends from the airline invited me to dive and we did for some time without proper license. My father was against it and he would angry when he found out. One time I decided to actually takeon the licence, but at the beach when we were going to the ocean, my father found us and brought me back home. After college, I started working, got married and raised my kids. Life happened. Now that we have more time, it feels right to finally do it.

Christabelle posing underwater

2. What did you like most about the training?

Christabelle: For this session, I learnt to breathe better with the regulator. I would love to see marine species like the sea urchin. Sea urchin is delicious to eat. I can see clownfish and blue starfish. Once I found a starfish by the beach and I threw it back into the sea. [From the training session, I found Christabelle to be very comfortable in the water, with good buoyancy and nice flutter kicks].

Jeremy: It’s about progress. I like to understand the science behind scuba diving and the actions we perform at each step. A good teacher is able to coach its students to do better.

3. What do you look forward to when you go to the open sea?

Jeremy: We have always travelled on land, so going to the open sea would be a different experience altogether, stepping into a different world. With all the trainings we have in confined water we can be confident when we go out to sea.

4. Any last words for the Internet land?

Jeremy: “Live life to the fullest” You know, YOLO [you only live once]. Life is too short so enjoy life and do what you love.

Jeremy 'just hanging'

A great ending to the interview.

I agree that the ocean truly is a different world. I have seen many beautiful things in the water. I remember one of my friends told me that he wasn’t very religious but when he goes diving, he feels that God is Great to create the beautiful and mysterious life underwater.

Thinking about this makes me want to go dive in the ocean now.

Until then,

Coach E