Michael Doelle wrote:
> Lee said:
>
>> Since you've been to depths well over 100 feet with me, I presume
>> you've
> got
> AAADD.<
>
> Sure, but I don't remember you as one who considers depth for the
> sake of depth as very important, and you're also not much into dive
> travel *today*.

Ah, I understand.  You're correct.  I don't consider depth, for the sake of
depth much at all.  By the same token, however, I don't shy away from depth
either.  Most of my diving is in the 80 foot range, but not all of it is.
I've been up to try the hold in the wall, 140 feet plus, several times but
have yet to make it.  So I wind up diving to the same depth on the site they
call the Playpen.  It's pretty dissapointing.  A bunch of concrete dumped on
the ocean floor.  I also dive several of the Ft. Lauderdale and Keys wrecks,
all of which are beyond 100 feet to the bottom.  I probably spend about 3/4
of my dive time between 60 and 80 feet and the rest between 100 and 150.  At
150, the times are short and I'm about as far into narcosis as I think I
should be.  I'm still waiting on a local shop, one that opened since you
lived here, to do their low level trimix course.  The Hydro Atlantic is
sitting in about 170 feet and I'd like to see why everybody seems to think
she's so wonderful.

You're also correct about my travel of late.  The job has changed and some
of my flexibility changed along with it.  Instead of the 9 southeast states
I used to cover, I've got all 13 southern states, from Florida to Texas.  I
do more than enough travel on the job to take care of my desire to see
different places and, when you've got diving like I do, this close to home,
the incentive is not as great.  My preferred buddy had a heart attack about
6 months ago and has been out of the water since.  They think they got a
stint in where it needs to go and he takes a stress test next Monday to see
if he can resume a more normal life.  There's a bunch of lobster just off
shore waiting for a visit.  On top of that, my mother passed away a couple
months ago, which added more than a little extra load as I try to deal with
her estate.  The boat is finally behaving, which will let me increase my
dive travel soon, but it still won't be like what most of you guys do.  It's
a damned shame that it took so long.  Gas prices are up to around $4 a
gallon in Bimini, they've now got a $150 per trip entry fee and the red tape
for returning has increased substantially since 9/11/01.  I'm not sure what
good they think it will do, but I'm not required to call in to Customs, but
bring everybody that enters the country with me, to Immigration together.
The long and the short of it is, I'll not get to spend as much time in the
Bahamas as we would, otherwise, have liked, but we'll get there often enough
to keep the stress levels down.

> That prompted the question. Seems like you'll basically just continue
> diving as you do now after 65.

Maybe yes, maybe no.  Like I said, the deeper dives will probably tapir off
until they become a thing of the past.  The Hydro Atlantic and the Hole in
the Wall are the only deeper attractions for me at the moment and I expect
to visit both of them in the next year or so.  After that, who knows.  Jayna
has not been wet in over a year, so I think it's a good idea for me to spend
a bit more time at the depths she finds most attractive.

Lee