[Winnipesaukee Divers]

The difference between 50 feet and 150 feet in salt water is what it says on your depth gage. In fresh water it a whole other world in the same range.

To date I have done over 4000 to total lfetime dives and have worn out more equipment than most divers will ever see. When I was a young diver my dive buddy Don and I belonged to the New England Aquarium Dive club. Don and I use to marvel at the appalling condition of the equipment the more veteran divers would wear. One day while doing a research dive on Stelwagon Banks, I asked one of the more veteran divers why didn't he use better equipment... His reply was: "Why sonny this equipment is less that a year old... when you get to do as many dives as I do in year you'll know what I mean." I thought to myself " if you only knew just how many dives I actually do you would be impressed". Later that year I was at a dive symposium and this old man was the featured speaker and was honored by the Boston Sea Rovers. He was given a plaque denoting his lifetime achievements of 10 thousand dives and the worlds most premiere underwater filmmaker. All could say was, "if only I had only known..." As he accepted his prize he look right at me a winked. He was Stan Waterman.

I look back on those days and think of the great divers I had the pleasure of diving with and wish I could be half as good or have the strength to do half as many dives.

Today, I find myself doing fewer, less adventurous dives... The cold water dives and technoal dives are a thing of the past. Some days I wish I was back exploring the depths of the lake instead of doing mooring hell. But, what the hey, it keeps me diving and every once in a while I sneak off and get a pleasure dive or two in. Who knows, I may just find that rare bottle that I don't already have...