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ScubaLawyer
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First Name: Mark
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Time Flys

Mon Dec 10, 2018 3:17 am

A bunch of us started a dive club a while back. Originally we had about 70 members but as the years passed the numbers dwindled with death, divorce and dementia. Today there are about 20 of us, and only three of us (actually two of us at the moment as one is recovering from heart surgery) still dive. We have all remained close friends. The group still gets together every December for a holiday party and I just attended this year's gathering last Saturday. We have several members in their high 80's.

It didn't really hit me until someone made a toast to our 40th year together.  Where does the time go?
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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Chris
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Re: Time Flys

Mon Dec 10, 2018 3:23 am

Thats a whole lot of awesome written there.

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Formerly tripplec. Decided to use my real name since you guys aren't a bunch of flaky internet trolls.

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: Time Flys

Tue Dec 11, 2018 2:17 pm

Here is my old dive buddy Dan and I then and now. I don't think 40 years has changed us a bit. :shock: :D
Mark & Dan - Bonaire 1978.jpg
Mark & Dan 2018.jpg
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"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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Chris
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Re: Time Flys

Tue Dec 11, 2018 2:36 pm

I would like to think in 35 years my dive buddy and I are still getting together for Pepsi.

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Formerly tripplec. Decided to use my real name since you guys aren't a bunch of flaky internet trolls.

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antique diver
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Re: Time Flys

Mon Dec 17, 2018 1:35 pm

Good Photos. You look better now! Friendly instead of scary. Come to think of it I had lots of hair and a full beard in 1978 too, but I don't look any better now with less hair.

This also reminds me that I need to call my first diving buddy up for some reminiscing of the good old days. Chris and I started taking turns submerging with the single garden hose on my DIY Hookah at least by 1959-60, obtained Scuba gear not long after that, then got certified together in 1965. First cave dives (Jacob's Well) together that year at the bullet proof age of 19, and lived to tell about it. He had a Tinnerman hose clamp failure that let one of the hoses slide off his Voit regulator horn after surfacing from a dive that had required us to doff our tanks to get through a restriction. We began to think about the potential dangers of cave diving at that point. (Avatar photo was taken there)
The older I get the better I was.

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: Time Flys

Tue Dec 18, 2018 12:30 am

Bill, you should have seen me after my first year of law school. I did nothing but study and occasionally sleep for that first year. Ok, I did sneak off for the occasional dive. I came home pasty white from no sun exposure, hair down past my shoulders and a Charles Manson beard. People would cross the street to avoid walking on the same sidewalk as me. I did meet my future cave diving buddy that year. I went to a local dive club meeting for the first time and he did too (not a student, rather he was a Geologist for CalTrans). We started talking and quickly realized we were the only two people out of the 40 people there that actually went diving. Everyone else just talked about it. Another lifelong friendship.
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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SurfLung
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Re: Time Flys

Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:40 pm

On the one hand I envy you guys for having dive buddies that far back that you are still socializing with. But on the other hand, I only started back into diving in 2011 after probably 30 years away from it. All of my dive buddies are relatively new acquaintances and we're all STILL diving actively! It's this wonderful Vintage Double Hose diving that has brought me back and given me new friends to do it with. And you know what? The time has literally flown by for me as well. I have to get all of my Twin 38s re-hydroed already because I got most of them in 2013.

Mark and Bill, you two old farts are MY long lost dive buddies from our yester year days at Silver Springs, FL. Doesn't it seem like only 2-3 years ago that we were doing Sea Hunt Forever? We should get together in 2019 and do this again before you guys get too old. :)
SurfLung
The Freedom and Simplicity of Vintage Equipment and
Vintage Diving Technique are Why I Got Back Into Diving.

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antique diver
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Re: Time Flys

Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:15 pm

SurfLung wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:40 pm
On the one hand I envy you guys for having dive buddies that far back that you are still socializing with. But on the other hand, I only started back into diving in 2011 after probably 30 years away from it. All of my dive buddies are relatively new acquaintances and we're all STILL diving actively! It's this wonderful Vintage Double Hose diving that has brought me back and given me new friends to do it with. And you know what? The time has literally flown by for me as well. I have to get all of my Twin 38s re-hydroed already because I got most of them in 2013.

Mark and Bill, you two old farts are MY long lost dive buddies from our yester year days at Silver Springs, FL. Doesn't it seem like only 2-3 years ago that we were doing Sea Hunt Forever? We should get together in 2019 and do this again before you guys get too old. :)
HA HA... I'll still be diving when I have to roll my wheel chair off the dock. Maybe you can be around to help pull me out later. Yes, time does fly, and I guess to some of you younger guys I really am an "old fart", so I'm not offended by the title! :lol:
The older I get the better I was.

swimjim
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Re: Time Flys

Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:49 pm

"HA HA... I'll still be diving when I have to roll my wheel chair off the dock. Maybe you can be around to help pull me out later. Yes, time does fly, and I guess to some of you younger guys I really am an "old fart", so I'm not offended by the title! :lol:"

I know I'll be diving for a while. The old bod is really only comfortable when I am underwater in a weightless environment. I know a lot of people on this forum know exactly what I'm talking about. I did pass my pool qualifications for another year of dive rescue last night, so I guess I'm not too far off the mark yet.

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: Time Flys

Tue Dec 18, 2018 9:56 pm

SurfLung wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:40 pm
Mark and Bill, you two old farts are MY long lost dive buddies... :)

Frogwoman Ambient Recompression Technical diving

[FROM THE "Federal Acronym Registration Team"]
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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Bronze06
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Re: Time Flys

Fri Dec 21, 2018 5:43 am

Man, Buddies are important.
My mother used to tell me that you only make a handful of REAL friends in life. In this respect I have been blessed. I can honestly count about 25-30 that are ALL WEATHER FRIENDS. Maybe it is due to my Army experiences and such. I have had friends come to my aid from half a world away, just amazing and quite wonderful. Losing frineds is always a sad, and forgive me, personnaly selfish thing, as we all want to keep them with us for the duration of our lives.
One thing to note, we all tend to get clique'ish when it comes to friends and tend to keep core groups due to our own proclevities for "sameness" or status quo" in human groups , to wit people don't like changes in the group. I have been blessed in overlooking this tendency by accepting younger generations into my circle of friends most of the time. This is deffinitely due to having deal with younger folks as a military old fart during my career in the infantry.
I say this because clubs, fraternities, and other social organizations need new blood to keep going. This as you all know, is just a fact of life. When we stop recruiting new people, organizations wither away and die. This fact, and that life takes us away from certain pursuits and sometimes does not allow us to go back to those pursuits. But, by starting an organization, such as a dive club, if the core goals and joys of a social group are solid and of interest to many, you can return to a group years later, possibly an organization you help found, and find the same zeal and love of a common interest still going strong, as well as be readily accepted back into that group as if time stood still, even though all new people are making up the core group. I guess I am just saying that whether old memories and experiences or new ones, it is good to be able to "come home" to people who understand you. It is great to have friends!
"Where'd ya get that ol' thang, don't cha' know them thare things ill kill ya!"

Live From the Red Sea,

Russ

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: Time Flys

Fri Dec 21, 2018 9:36 am

Well said Russ!
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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