New Diver Again!

[csicnomore]

1st time diving was in November of 1977 in a lake in Arkansas in my swimshorts, boy was it cold. About 10 of us were being certified in a college class and most of us being students couldn't afford wetsuits (and where would you buy one in Arkansas in the '70's?) A few months later I joined the Navy and thinking a certification on a lake wasn't good for the ocean, I never dove again... Went to the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Australia, Carribean. Of course years later after retiring from the Navy I find that an Open Water Certification is good anywhere!! BUMMER! Fast forward to 2007, I have Gulf War Illness and major back problems from walking on steel flight decks carrying heavy equipment and find that swimming under water reduces my pain level to almost zero. Then while dating my future wife ( she had just certified) I go thru scuba diving class, Again! Boy has the equipment changed. What I wore in '77 was't much different than what Lloyd Bridges wore in Sea Hunt! My body is 30 years older but my gear is new, haha!
Now I ordered a pair of FF pro's on Ebay for $115 and I'm countin' the days till that Brown UPS truck pull into the driveway... Can't believe i missed out on 30 years of fun cause I missunderstood what my Dive Instructer said, but then again at 17 I was young and stupid. Can't wait to see what the next 30 years brings....Happy Diving

 

[JBRES1]

Welcome home,

I had the same kind of story, started in 1973, quit in 84 and restarted in 2006.
Boy have things changed for the better.
You will enjoy your old /new sport .
The big difference between when you started and now, now you have the money for that wet suit.
Jim breslin

 

[Robert van Brussel]

Hi Ciscnomore,

welcome to ScubaBoard and enjoy more than the next 30 years!
Your body may be 30 years older but with this new advanced equipment you schould feel at least 30 years younger! My oldest dive buddy was 79 years old..........so what?

Nice Dives,

Robert

 

[csicnomore]

your right, i can afford the wetsuit.... and one day all that other stuff too. And boy, can I dream of more stuff.... started in '73, your story is better than mine! Can't wait to try out these new fins..

 

[NJMike]

Yeah, welcome back to the sport, csicnomore! I have a similiar story. I was certified in '73. Did not do any diving afterwards, although I can't remember why.

Twenty years later I did a refresher course and two ocean dives off South Carolina. It was great.

Another 12 years go by without any diving. Then, in late summer of 2006, I decide I would let my kids use my snorkeling gear, and that I would give up the idea of ever doing any decent scuba diving again.

Two weeks later I hear an ad on the radio on my way going to work for Dutch Springs! That is maybe the best fresh water diving on the east coast, imho. And it's only an hour away! How could I have not known that!

Well, two weeks later I am back in the water, and now, 86 dives later I am getting ready for a trip to Jupiter, FL!

And oh yeah, that many years has definitely taken its toll on the ole bod. And the dive computer - what an awesome thing!

 

[csicnomore]

Robert,
Thanks for the welcome. 79, wow! My Grandfather-in-law is 90 and he likes to ask me about diving, says he wishes he'd done it when he was younger... then, no kidding he cranks his chainsaw! His greatest treat is now that he's ninety, he eats at Golden Corral for free.
I do feel younger in the water, for sure and very grateful I can do the things I can...

 

[csicnomore]

didn't notice you'd done it not twice but three times, NJMike. Remember your original dive class...
My instructor had been diving 30 years, still looked young, but had gotten the bends and one eye crossed as a result. As you can imagine, he was a stickler for safety and drumming certain things in our head. Still remember how he told us to clear our masks. Once he put 8 tanks with regulators on the pool bottom and 9 students. The extra person would swim to the 1st tank and bump everyone down, then the last person swam back to the 1st tank and the process started over. Well, the last person left some of her long hair behind hanging out of the regulator, next person swimming from the 1st tank out of breath grabs the regulator, sucks in air and previous persons hair and up comes his stomach contents...I'm next, see the puke and bound for the surface to see a grinning instructor that says, Your Bent!....Ohhh Mann...

 

[NJMike]

Man that's a funny story! I can still remember my instructor, his son and also his assistant. Not too long after they certified me, a group that I was affiliated with at college asked me for a favor. The group had some connection with a lake, and the lake had a valve below the surface...only a few feet below and the water was only 10' deep. So they asked me as a community gesture, would I ask the dive shop to open the valve. So I did ask and they said yes, so we all donned gear and jumped in the water. I can still remember that I was all over the place. My feet caused more waves than the Titanic sinking! I can remember one of them turning his head and looking at me. I'm sure all three were thinking, "Did we just certify this bozo?" !!!

When I did the two ocean dives 30 years later, I'm surprised that I survived them. One of my first real scuba lessons occurred on the first dive - "equalize early and often".

Well, anyway, we're both here and I, for one, am enjoying it immensely! Hope you are too!

 

[DiverBizz]

Welcome back to diving. I am sure you are going to love the Board.

 

[csicnomore]

That's embarrassingly funny. Glad you didn't break the valve. Know what you mean about equalize often. We had a big snow (for this area) then when it melted there was a lot of river run off into the sound making the water murky. No viz down to 25ft and couldnt judge my rate of descent, which was too fast i think. I think i equalized once below the surface, not sure I did again till i hit bottom, ouch.