22 replies to this topic

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Whether you're a casual diver, a dive fanatic, or a dive professional, what initially drove you to start diving?

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

I discovered the ocean in my mid-40's.....a company-paid trip to Maui, and on a snorkeling trip to Molokini, they had a mask that corrected my near-sightedness (but not my astigmatism). I was AMAZED that I could actually see while in the water, and fascinated by what I was seeing. For the next 2 years, all my vacations revolved around the ocean. I was perfectly happy snorkeling and free-diving.

My husband (at the time) told me that he wanted to learn to scuba dive, so for Christmas 2004, I gave him a gift certificate for his OW certification. 11 months go by, and he still has not gotten certified. Christmas is coming around again, and I told him since he didn't use my last gift, I wanted a gift wish list. He complained that he couldn't get certified because he would not have anyone to dive with. This conversation goes on for several weeks. I finally throw my hands up, and say "OK, get me a gift certificate for OW certification for Christmas this year, but if I don't like it, don't get mad at me!"

Turns out I excelled at the lessons, and was really good in the water and had good air consumption (which improved by A LOT when I quit smoking!). The ex, on the other hand, struggled a bit in the pool, in the checkout dives, in our subsequent vacation dives, and his air consumption sucked to the point that I was surfacing with 2/3 of a tank.

By the time the divorce was final, I was a Rescue Diver, and he is still OW.

[Scubatooth]

Actually my first taste of scuba was by the boy scouts at the boy scout national jamboree, where they had a discover scuba set event.
Might have only been a 4 foot pool but i was hooked, but the dream of getting certified would have to wait fout years.

Four years later i was in college, and had taken the previous semester off due to having surgery and was still recovering. Was looking for a few easy credits for my first semester back, and was needing a PE credit and nothing on the list was getting my interest, still i saw scuba. The rest they say is history and now I have recreational and technical certs, and im not done yet.

Diving was my escape from the stress of life as once below the surface i was free and only thing i heard was the sea life and my bubbles. I want to get back to that but time will tell as it will depend on how my back heals and my strength comes back.

Edited by Scubatooth, 19 March 2011 - 05:30 AM.

[Greg@ihpil]

I had been a Snorkeler for several yrs.Then one day a friend of mine was showing a Dive Video.MMMMM.Between seeing Divers below ,& when I snorkeled.It evolved to my current QUEST/Urge to SPEND: $$$ for Equipment., or being drawn like a magnet to every Dive shop you pass by.However ,it does bring a sense of accompmlishment with each cert you pass.I have now grown to LOVE our WONDERFUL-Underwater World ...

Edited by Greg@ihpil, 19 March 2011 - 03:10 PM.

[Jerrymxz]

From as far back as I can remember my parents had me in swimming leasons. I loved anything to do with the water. Anytime jacques cousteau was on TV I was there and I still have the books he put out. So I knew from a very early age I would SCUBA dive when I could afford it. So in 1981 I was stationed at MacDill AFB in Tampa Florida so I walked into the first dive shop I found and announced I was there to learn to dive!

...and Mike Nelson
...and Flipper
...and Voyage to the bottom of the sea

[lynnlchan]

That's hilarious Tammy.

I learned because my boyfriend took his ex-girlfriend on a two week dive trip because I wasn't certified. It was pretty painful at the time but what an amazing gift. I learned to dive, I love diving and I've met all kinds of wonderful interesting people.

[Diver Ed]

I didnt like the water as a kid. In the mid 70's, we took a family trip to the bahamas. Later that year, my parents bought some property there, and soon after, we were taking four trips a year to the islands to build a house. Seeing beautiful clear water and colorful fish, instead of murky brown water and crabs ( on Long Island ), gave me a totally new perseption on the ocean. The frequest quick dips into the water during each work day made us all appreciate the water more and more. As the work on the house became less, the time in the water increased. I loved the snorkling, and started to build my own reef off the house. Watching the hard and soft corals grow on that over the next few years, gave me a further appreciation for the ocean and sea life. I did a lot of freediving, and spearfishing, and around 1978, I was given a resort dive course as a birthday present. I was hooked from that point on. Ed

[scubaski]

5 words........Sea Hunt starring Mike Nelson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[scubaclint]

I have always been interested in the water. I guess it started with a family trip to Niagara Falls when I was 2 years old. I kept leaning over the edge because I wanted to see fish! Diving had always been #1 on my bucket list but different reasons had always gotten in the way.

I had been a snorkeler for years ever since we were stationed in the Phillipines when I was a kid. For my birthday in 2009 I decided to go SNUBA diving and absolutely LOVED it. Afterwards, the instructor/guide asked if I had ever considered scuba because I would be great at it. When I got home from vacation, I signed up for OW.

When I told my family I had decided to take up scuba diving, my Mother's reaction was "WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME!! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT ANNOUCEMENT SINCE YOU WERE 2!!".

[uwfan]

I didn't learn to swim until I was in 7th grade - it was a required part of PE and while I wasn't a big fan of PE, I loved swimming. I didn't remotely consider swimming in the ocean though I loved watching Jacque Cousteau on TV. The ocean was that water that was beyond the mud flats of the inlet where we sometimes went clamming and it was where the salmon came from that we went up river with my dad to catch.

My first ocean experience was an unexpected trip in college that put me off an island of Thailand for a day and even without any prescription in the mask the snorkeling was incredible. That stayed with me for another 6 or 7 years as I landed in Houston after college and realized there was a dive shop that I passed on my way to and from work. I never went in because I didn't think I could afford it but I KNEW it was there. My fourth year teaching my dad passed away and I decided I needed something to push me out of a bit of depression that I'd slipped into. I gave myself the biggest birthday/Christmas present I'd ever had and bought gear and lessons... froze in a Texas lake to finish the course and had the best time drifting along the reefs in Cozumel. Needless to say I was hooked, even if two years later I had to take a twelve year hiatus...I'm making up for it these days!

[ScubaTex]

If you've been on a SD trip with my 'Spawn' [aka TXAggieDiver], you've heard us argue about who got who into diving. My desire was piqued by 'Sea Hunt' at an early age. As for the 'Spawn', she was a Marine Biology major at A&M. I felt she wouldn't be much of a marine biologist, if she didn't get into the water, so for Christmas one year, I gave her OW lessons. Several months later, when she exited from her first 'OW' dive at Aquarena Springs she said, "Dad you got to do this". I already knew I would, within a year I was certified, and bought 2 sets of gear. And now I get to spend quality time w/'Spawn'.

Time on earth is precious, time underwater even more so. Dive life one day at a time, dive your @$$ off!!!

Bill

[susiq]

Working on a cruise ship (as pianist in an Opera Trio!!!) in 1991 got me real comfy with snorkeling in all kinds of places and situations around the Caribbean, and so I took the leap in 1996 with a resort course-- where else??? Cozumel!!!

Although I loved it, I didn't get back to it until years later and then got certified in Jan. 2005, back in Cozumel (you can see I've always been a warm water wuss!)

Kept up the progress and got my Rescue Diver Cert. in 2008..... and my obsession is all the stronger, the further I go on! I've interested bunches of my friends, so I hope they don't wait as long as I did!!!

It has changed my life.

[peterbj7]

I had just started work in central London and accepted an invitation to join one of the well known (gentlemen's) clubs there. They had a full size swimming pool and I used to go there two or three times a week, and one time there were some people from a scuba club there using the pool for training. I asked about it and that was that. This was in the late '70's.