AD 2018 Q1

FROM THE SAFETY STOP
LETTERS FROM MEMBERS
SUNFISH SPOTTING
I enjoyed the articles about Mola
molas by Richard Herrmann and
Douglas Seifert in the Summer
2017 issue (Life Aquatic). It was
an excellent issue in general. I’m
just back from two weeks on the
Galapagos Aggressor and six days
of day-boat diving out of Puerto
Ayora, Ecuador, and I would like to
add that molas are commonly seen
at multiple sites in the Galapagos
Islands that are accessible by both
liveaboards and day boats. You will
almost always be the only people
diving these sites (compared with
as many as 100 divers at some of
the well-known sites in other parts
of the world). Because of this, one
of our encounters lasted a good
15 minutes — a very uncommon
experience with these shy animals.
Molas aren’t usually thought of as
a primary reason for diving the
Galapagos, but I’ve been there
with more people who saw their
first mola than who saw their first
hammerhead or whale shark.
— Randall Preissig, M.D.,
via email
RICHARD HERRMANN
EVERY DIVER IS DIFFERENT
The day the Fall 2017 issue of
Alert Diver reached my home, I
was out diving. When I returned,
I read Adrian Hill’s “Guidelines
for Seniors” (Member to Member)
with interest, for we are apparently
the same age. I agree when
the author says, “There is little
concrete advice for seniors,” so
I looked carefully at Hill’s list of
guidelines. I saw that the guidelines
called for rarely going deeper than
80 feet and being at 40 feet no later
than 40 minutes into the dive.
I wonder how DAN would
have responded if I had written
the article using my practices as
suggested guidelines for seniors?
On the day that issue arrived, my
maximum depth was 276 feet,
with a total dive time of about two
hours. I used four different gases
on that open-circuit dive. Over the
past few months, two-thirds of the
noninstructional dives I have done
were greater than 200 feet deep, all
in water about 60°F.
A caption in the article correctly
says, “Every diver must determine
his or her own tolerance for risk.”
So what is a senior our age to do
when comparing Hill’s practices
to mine? How can such divers use
our extremely different practices
to help them make appropriate
decisions for themselves?
What is often missing in articles
regarding seniors is more concrete
information about why it is
necessary to make these changes
as you age. I am not going to make
the kinds of drastic changes to
my diving that Hill recommends
simply because that is what he
does. I really need to know why
the diving I am doing is no longer
appropriate to me. What role does
physical fitness play? What other
factors should be considered?
I think DAN would do the aging
population of divers a great service
12 | WINTER 2017