Do you regret.....

[Kim]

....that you didn't get certified at a younger age?

It's already becoming clear that many of us didn't get certified until quite late. I was 47 myself, although I SHOULD have certified 10 years before that - had a plan to do it in Curacao - but broke my arm two days before we left! Somehow it took another 10 years to come around again.

I must say..... I don't regret many things in life, but it sure would have been nice to learn to dive much, much younger - and would probably have radically altered my life too!

 

[pilot fish]

I fear that I might not be alive today if I learned to dive in my 20s. I was in my 50s when I got certified and took chances in diving, beyond my expereince level, almost from the start . If I was 20 and started diving? Please, it might not have been pretty NO damn sense.

 

[deco_martini]

I'm glad I got certified in a time when I could buy a dive computer and nitrox is found nearly everywhere.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

No, I couldn't have gotten certified much younger than I was anyway. But for those of you who started late, you still have lots of time left to enjoy diving. I intend to dive til I just can't get to the water any longer/.

 

[Reefdiver77]

My husband and I are 54 and have been certified since 1977. We started as young newlyweds and have been diving every since then. It is the one thing we truly enjoy doing together. I remember when we did not know what an octopus was and wore horsecollar bc's with a CO2 cartridge. You had to manually inflate your bc. That came in handy when diving in Florida a few years back. My auto inflator was not working, so I had to manually inflate it. The younger divers were amazed that at 70+ feet down I was taking my reg out of my mouth and inflating the BC. Yes, we are glad we got certified young (23). It has given us many more years to enjoy this passion!!

 

[Walter]

No regrets. I would have loved to have started diving earlier, but it wasn't possible for various reasons. As it is, I've been diving over 24 years and see a good 40+ years of diving ahead of me.

 

[jbd]

Pretty much the same for me as what Walter said above. Although I have only been diving for 14 years. I wanted to learn back in the early '60's. Ended up having to wait until the '90's.

Similar to Al I plan to dive 'til the end. Literally, I hope.

 

[spectrum]

I certified in 2005 at 48 and I wouldn't call the sentiment regret though I do wish I had enjoyed a lifetime of diving.

As long as I can remember growing up on Seahunt reruns and Cousteau while snorkeling summers in the ocean here in Maine diving was a fascination. As you can guess the diving community is not a huge one around here exposure to what was involved was scant.

Frankly I have never been the athletic type and I suspect I would have washed out of 1970's era training though it sounds like it would be a lot of fun now. As I got into adolescence I entered a 20 year period where I forgot what the ocean and swimming were. As the kids came along we began camping and I did pick up some snorkel gear and had a good time with that but the expense of diving and the commitment to a growing family along with my wife's lack of interest at the time kept be from wasting any energy even considering the option.

It wasn't until 2004 when I went nuts with local skin diving and my wife joined me that things began to fall into place. With the kids coming of age we had a few discretionary dollars. Cold water skin-diving became the gateway to scuba and while she does not make as many dives a myself I find that she is very enthusiastic. Just last night mentioning that she can't wait for the local diving to resume. All in all it became the right thing to do and has given us something special to share as we become empty nester's.

I'd like to think that I have a good 10 years of solid diving ahead of me before I feel the need to really pick my time and place to dive. In any case what I have experienced in the last 3 years far eclipses my wildest dreams of prior to that.

The bucket list is getting short.

Pete

 

[texdiveguy]

I actually got originally certed at 16 years old in 1971. I dove only during the summer months for the most part through the balance of high school and early college. Then life and jobs/schooling/family and kids took me away from the sport for years. Now I am back at it and loving it!

 

[Beachlover]

I wish that I had gotten certified earlier than I did (28 years old), but no, I do not regret it. I am only happy that I am certified, and that I am able to experience the beautiful underwater world of our oceans. I feel truely privileged to have had any and all of my dives. We divers get to see,feel,live,share so many awesome experiences while in the water. I know how lucky I am.