Do you remember your first breath on SCUBA and how you felt?

[Diver Dennis]

I actually took my first breath from a regulator on a farm in Saskatchewan, about as far from the ocean as you can get in Canada. It was my Uncle's tank and reg, on the porch during a hot, dry and dusty summer. Not even in the water. I didn't start diving until years later but I'll never forget the thrill I got from that first time.

 

[Gil57usa]

I remember sitting on the bottom of the pool thinking, Man, this ain't normal. But very cool.

 

[Rick Inman]

My first breath was in a local pool in 1971 at age 13 on a Voit Aqua Master double hose reg.

I felt like Mike Nelson!

 

[diver 85]

Not really 1st breath here, but remember the time we went to the bottom in the deep end of our pool on scuba(wife, daughter & myself were taking private lessons from a good friend) & how 'different' it(the pool ) looked while being able to sit there & not surface after a few seconds.....Remember it well & that was 22 years ago......

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Oh yes ... I remember my first breath on scuba.

It was the summer of 1992, in a cove on Lake Winnapesauke in New Hampster. One of my sailing buddies was a scuba diver who offered to "show me everything I needed to know" to scuba dive. He brought two sets of gear, showed me how to set up the rig, explained (briefly) how to inflate and deflate the BCD, and had me take a couple breaths off the reg. Then we waded into the water, finned up and went diving.

I think I maxed at about 15 feet ... couldn't go any deeper 'cuz my ears hurt (he neglected to mention anything about clearing, or about not holding my breath). But I had a great time terrifying the local fish for about 5 minutes. Then we swam in to where we could stand up and got out of the water.

I didn't dive again until 9 years later ... when I finally signed up for an OW class at the local YMCA. It was then that I learned what a stupid thing I had done, and how easily I could've damaged myself through sheer ignorance. But I never forgot how cool it was to go swim with the fishes ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[sandmanz32]

i have quite different feelings than the other's have posted. the first time i took a breath underwater i paniced. it totally freaked me out, i dunno why. i have always been interested in the water, and diving....just never had the stones to do it. my buddy and i decided to go one day. literally! it was that random.....lets go scuba diving! ok sounds cool lets go! lol the instructor was awesome, very patient, took his time and let me go at my own pace and i freaked over a couple of other things but over all i got over all my fears, passed the coarse, and love diving to the fullest!

 

[BubblesUp]

While taking my first breaths on scuba, I remember feeling like I was getting away with doing something wrong... Breathing underwater?! We're not supposed to be breathing underwater!

As a relatively conservative woman never lived out her rebellious teen years, breaking that "rule" was remarkably appealing. I remember big smiles, a few giggles and a leaky mask.

 

[TSandM]

I was amazed at how easy it was.

Nothing was easy from that point onward, but simply breathing off a regulator underwater was an immediately comfortable thing.

For the first couple hundred dives, I used to get a definite feeling of mixed apprehension/anticipation as I drove to the dive site, and it would continue until I submerged (and sometimes for a while after, depending on how the dive was going). That's slowly dissipated, and only comes back in a noticeable form when there's something unusual or different about the dive, like being in a new place, or new gear, or diving in front of an instructor.

 

[Walter]

I hated it! Those first breaths underwater were horrible! It was one of the worst experiences of my life!

I toughed it out and soon it was OK. By the time I finished the pool work, I was OK with the feeling. By the time I completed my checkout dives, I was loving it! Now it's the most relaxing thing I can imagine.

 

[drbill]

Hey, we guys have feelings too.

I can barely remember my first time on SCUBA. Remember, it was the early 60's and I was there. A lot of brain cells have been sacrificed since then so the memory is a bit fuzzy.

My first time sucking air from a reg was at the bottom of our high school swimming pool. When I read today about divers doing their 100th dive naked, I have to laugh. I did my FIRST "dive" that way since our team practiced in the buff! Haven't done another since, but I'm willing to try... with the right dive buddy!