Wisdom without experience

Savvi and I before the morning flight.

It’s raining cats and dogs. Our little flat sure is cosy at times like these. And the sense of familiarity is welcomed too – how else after 11 seasons on the Islands of Seychelles. I am reminded of a quote from General Chuck Yeager – the best pilots are the most experienced pilots – or something to that effect, which brings me to my point: the correlation between wisdom and experience. The famous idiom expresses it quite well – experience is the mother of wisdom – and it is no wonder that we are sold on the idea that age and wisdom goes hand in hand. But does it? Is it possible to gain experience without wisdom or wisdom without experience? Is it at all possible to separate these two concepts? Though I am sure some of you will probably swear you know someone old without wisdom, (and personally I believe being young and foolish is actually cool compared to just being an old fool! :)

Of course with all the rain one can hardly help from being a bit philosophical. ;)

The boat doing a plankton tow. (You can just see the little drag net behind the boat)

Two days ago we had a fantastic run. The afternoon encounter trip was one of those memorable ones where interns, team leaders and the tourists (some Chinese) went home having lived a dream.  The boat crew was completely worn out even before my air support time was up – they had a record number of 23 encounters in less than 1:45 minutes. That is what Seychelles whale sharking is all about; that is why dive tourists come visit these islands – loads of encounters with whale sharks. It turned out a relaxing day for me as the boat was constantly busy with sharks with my just occasionally guiding them along. (Many times there were 4-5 sharks visible within a 50m radius of the boat.) In the morning Savvi and I saw 6 whale sharks in the south. This is Savvi’s second year with the MCSS though last year his whale shark experiences were a bit on the slim side – the six whale sharks were also his first from the air. In the afternoon he was one of the spotters in the boat so his day was full of experiences!

With all the sharks around I too was allowed to enjoy something sweet.

Back to the experience/wisdom concepts… The best way to learn is from others mistakes. This is something that is a wise mantra in my chosen sport! Though I found a nice variation of that on the net:

“A smart person learns from their mistakes.
A wise person learns from others. (mistakes)”

Did the writer mean it is possibly a mistake to learn from other’s mistakes? :))) Hehe…

And is it possible that you are gaining valuable experience just by reading this without even putting a foot in the water or setting a bum in the air?

Hhhmm…

Perhaps one can become wise without experience after all...

Wish you  were here!

:)