Chris Sullivan
CCR diving on the Helen C
I’m a diver – and really love the sport. I am other things as well but on this blog I’m just a diver. I’m also now 63 years old – so I’m an old diver. Some of the things I’m going to write about have to do with being an old diver, and some things just about being a diver, or about diving, or places where there’s diving, which is just about everywhere where there’s water. I might write a little about the people I dive with, and how I stay in shape so I can keep diving for a long time.
I’ve been a certified diver for 36 years. I’m a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, become a technical diver in 2007, and made the plunge into (AP Diving Inspiration Vision) rebreather diving in 2016, and now certified for non-hypoxic mixed gas diving to 60m and have just become a PADI Tec 40 CCR Instructor. My day job is with IDC Canada, where we analyze the future of the information and technology industries.
I don’t know where this will take us but you’re welcome to tag along or join in.
Chris
Chronicle of an older diver 
Hi Chris,
Keep up the great work! You’ve got a ton of great content here for the diving community.
Congrats,
Kevin
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Thanks Kevin. Glad to see you in here! I hope some day we’ll see you in the water…. 🙂
—Chris
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Chris, you do an excellent job of providing very useful information! Thanks for all you do..
– Joe
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Hey Chris: good stuff. As an old technical diving instructor-trainer, I appreciate the angle you’re taking on your blog… take care and dive safe. Oh, and drop by my blog sometime!
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Looks like some interesting stuff on your blog. I’ll definitely read some more when I get home.
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Great blog Chris, keep up the work and more importantly the diving!
I’m right behind you… turning 50 so your just a few steps ahead, blazing the trail.
I too learned 25+ years ago, getting both PADI and YMCI open water and AOW. Took a break for about twenty years and have resumed the last few years and am loving it… exploring different types of diving and exploring technical diving, mostly for the learning and additional experience/confidence/understanding. It’s all just good!
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You ain’t old! I dive with people chronologically older than you and they all say the same thing – Diving keeps you young!
Whether it be the Nitrogen, out-gassing, the water pressure or the physical activity involved, divers stay young… until they become instructors.
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as i mentioned on your ‘how does it look post’, i stop by here whenever you have a new post.
i enjoy reading your site and have learnt quite a bit from your physiology and gas posts.
and i dont think its instructing that makes you old! its how you instruct. i’m sure you will impart great stories and knowledge to your students.
tara
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Hey, I don’t really feel old, just older. When I started diving it was a young man’s sport, now it’s for all ages and while still male-dominated, has more than a token number of women participating at both the recreational and professional levels. It’s a great motivator to stay in shape while my high school buddies battle their spreading waistlines and lifestyle related health problems.
I’m looking forward to many more years of diving and hope I can continue writing about it in this blog. When I started I had no idea whether I would be able to keep it up or not, but the 50 minute train ride to and from work has given me the time.
As for instructing. We’ll see how it plays out this summer. Maybe I’ll have grey hair and stoop by the fall.
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Hey old guy, in 9 days I will be 59. Still diving. It does keep you young, at least at heart. First dive 65 minutes, 2nd 55 minutes. dive fatique? ZERO. http://lesliefieger.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/getting-wet/
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That gives me hope – thanks!
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Chris, I came across your image of the wheel on the sea bottom and wonder if you would let me use it in a blog post on the subject of Buddhism, dharma and Nagarjuna. It’s a non commercial thing. If this is ok, please email me at Brooklynometry@gmail.com and look at the blog if you’d like, brooklynometry.blogspot.com.
Thanks!
Amy
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Hi Chris,
Wanted to wish you the best of luck in the IE this weekend, and given your professionalism I know its reciprocated.
Looking forward to doing this dive with you!
Stevo.
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Thanks Steve – it certainly is reciprocated. I’m looking forward to seeing our entire group in the graduation picture on Sunday, wearing our new hats! I know I’m ready – I just have to not screw up!
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Chris,
As a newly certified diver (young diver, older age lol), I really appreciate everything you had to say in your blog. You make those of us who are just getting into the sport, very excited about the various possibilities.
You’re an inspiration to look up to and strive toward.
Thanks! See you in the deep!
Susan
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Hi Susan,
Congratulations on your certification! There are lots of great adventures ahead for both of us, I’m sure. The more you dive, the more you’ll get out of the sport. There’s no substitute for getting the water and trying new things.
Thank you for your kind words,
Chris
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Hey Chris,
Daves son Mike.
We met at the hospital.
Hope all is going well with you.
Diving. Nice. He always talked about it, and always tried to get
me to go with him. Maybe, someday!
I use his skype, so hop on some time.
Would be nice to chat.
I didn’t get to hear about the stories before he died,
and I imagine you have one or two to talk about!
P.s. Don’t get eaten by any sharks.
Mike
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Mike – good to hear from you and see you here. It’s a shame I never had the chance to dive with Dave.
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Great stuff here! I wish I’ll get all this experience one day… I started only 8 months ago, ehm…
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Thanks. Good luck with your blog. I like Neutrogena SPF 85 spray on sun block for the boat. It’s so easy to use it is no trouble to put it on when I get out of the water.
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well, I meant DIVING experience, the blog started only 3 days ago 🙂 anyway thanks! I’ll keep on following you!
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Chris, may I send you my new book for review. FROGMEN is about my time diving with Jacques Cousteau (1973-1979). – Richard
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If you’d like the book please send me your address. Also, any other blogs, etc. you’d recommend? I’m trying to get the word out (self published so no big marketing machine behind it).
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Richard,
Here’s a few blogs I read from time to time.
http://decodoppler.wordpress.com/
http://www.rebreatherpro.com/
http://www.thedivingblog.com/
http://precisiondiving.net/blog
http://scubadivergirls.com/blog
http://psychosolodiver.com/
If you send me your book I can promise you I’ll read it and comment on this blog.
Cheers,
Chris
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thanks for the trimix blending formula I was wracking my brain trying to remember the second step, calculating the nitrox component
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Keep the posts coming! It’s fun to read about new wrecks, but also interesting to hear different perspectives on the wrecks i’ve been on/in. At 31 I’m most often the youngest person on the boat, so I am starting to think diving may be more of an old man sport (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
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Thank you for the encouragement. I don’t think it’s an old man (or woman) sport, but the superior equipment and better fitness of older people these days (at least some older people) has allowed us to keep diving. For younger people there’s more opportunity to do some real exploring and benefit from the experience of those who have gone before.
I hope to hear from again. Check back soon, or in 20 or 30 years…
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The Final Dive – How much must a concrete burial vault 10’x4’x4′ weigh in ground with 18″ of soil covering to prevent it from ‘popping up’ from the ground given a flood 5′ above ground?
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At 160 cubic feet, the vault would displace, 10,240 pounds. So it would have to weigh more than than. How much more would depend on the forces of the flooding water. That would then depend on the terrain, soil density and composition, and many other factors, which go way beyond a simple buoyancy calculation.
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Chris,
Wondering if you still have the poseidon SPG and whether or not you might be willing to part with it?
Thanks
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Good afternoon Chris,
I’m trying to get in touch with a Canadian diver and filmmaker John Stoneman. I found your blog (which has also been interesting to read!) from a google search and noticed that you tagged his name in a blog post a few years ago.
If you have any contact details for him, I would love to get in touch – I can send an email with more information, or I could send you a letter to pass on to him.
Thanks very much, Eleanor Jest
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Hi Eleanor, that’s a great question. I have no idea, actually. I’d be interested in what he’s up to, if anything. I’ll will ask around a bit and see if anyone in my network of diving friends knows.
Chris
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Hi Chris, Thanks very much, I really appreciate any help you can give. My email is ejest@directors.uk.com
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I found this Facebook fan page but the owners don’t know how to get in touch either. He would be about 78 now, assuming he’s still around. I hope he is.
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Here’s something from 2009 I found in a forum where the man himself had posted.
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Thanks very much for your help, Chris. I’ve sent a message to a producer he worked with a few years ago, hopefully that will lead me to John.
All the best, Eleanor
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Is there any advice you would give to a younger guy trying to go deeper in salt water
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Make sure you get proper instruction. Salt or fresh, deep diving requires more attention to detail and planning and a good instructor will help you with that.
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Since when nitrogen is an inert gas??? People, when you write something, check your facts!!!
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Hi Pavel, you left the comment here, but there is nothing in this post that refers to Nitrogen as an inert gas. However, much of diving literature refers to N2 as inert. When I was young I learned that inert gases were Helium, Argon, Xenon, Neon, and Radon but diving literature tends to refer to these as “Noble gases”. I think the distinction is that when it comes to diving is that there are no chemical reactions in diving involving Nitrogen, so it is for practical purposes inert in this context.
Check out this Quora page for further information. Nitrogen is indeed reactive, but that doesn’t matter in diving.
If you really want to stretch the point, the noble gases aren’t truly inert either. They are more inert than Nitrogen, but Xenon can be persuaded to combine with Oxygen to form Xenon Trioxide, which is unsurprisingly quite unstable.
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Hello Eleanor. I hope your search worked out. Let me know if you see this. The most recent reference I can find to John is the Car Control School where he is listed as an instructor. I’m not sure how recent but the page is dated 2018, although that might well be an automatic update. I am searching for an episode of the Last Frontier called “the Arabia Incident” as it is one of my favourite shipwrecks and I would like to see that episode again to review what they learned in their search.
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Hi Chris, No luck in the end unfortunately with finding John. I am no longer trying to find him, but thanks for reaching out.
The best I have found for The Last Frontier is an amazon box set which may include last frontier footage. Out of stock on amazon, but might be helpful to you:
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Thanks Eleanor. Perhaps it will remain a mystery. Strange that he could disappear so thoroughly after having such a public career. I wonder if he could be found through Dr. Joe MacInnis, who is now 82 and appears in the Last Frontier. Dr. MacInnis has a Wikipedia page while John Stoneman does not, so he may be easier to track down.
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Hi Chris,
How can I find an instructor in Kingston Ontario? My email Id: mcholoth004@gmail.com
could you please help me to find one?
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Just stumbled across your site. As a fellow oldster and active diver, I applaud you! I finished my OWSI last summer. I’m 72.
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Congratulations on getting your OWSI.
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