Fighting Age Discrimination to Snorkel with Sea Lions
We never considered that we might be too old for the adventure
Snorkeling with sea lions sounded like a good idea. My husband and I, along with two friends, were traveling for three weeks in South America, so we had plenty of time to enjoy the conventional tourist highlights. Why not try something adventurous?
We didn’t consider that we might be too old for the adventure. Never having run into age discrimination on a vacation before, I was astonished when three different diving companies turned us down. They told us their age limits were 7 to 67.
We are all past 70.
A couple of us had been lukewarm about snorkeling until we encountered ageism. Now suddenly we were passionate about it. This is what happens when somebody says No. We get outraged at perceived injustices and become determined to set things right. If a seven-year-old can swim with large mammals, surely a 70-year-old should be allowed to.
But no amount of arguing that we were probably as fit as some 50-year-olds could persuade the companies to change their policies. We were almost resigned to giving up when my husband, whose persistence is limitless, contacted one final diving company. He spoke with a man named Lucian who was as eager for business as…
