Hey everyone!
I'm extremely excited to be back on the forum after an almost 10 year hiatus!
Sorry for the long-winded story in advance, but I figured for the record it would be nice to have it written down.
As a kid, I was an avid swimmer and really enjoyed being in the water. I also enjoyed reading books about diving and had many very realistic scuba dreams as a kid, almost beckoning me to "try" scuba. Near my 21st birthday, I signed up for a "try scuba" event at a local pool and fell in love with it from the first moment I breathed through a regulator underwater. It was exactly what I had dreamed about and was super excited to take the OW course.
I was paired up with an instructor who was really passionate about teaching the proper way. We became very good friends soon after I received my C card and spent the entire year diving together. He taught me how to deal with students, basically training me up to be his divemaster. I learned the course curriculum inside and out as well, which set me up for the next phase of my scuba life. I spent a great deal of time in the pool, practicing bail out drills, out of air and rescue situations. My instructor friend really pushed me hard, using a more military style of training, rather then standard recreational stuff. He eventually started his own training company called Straightfly excursions. I wanted to pursue teaching, so I went to Florida for my NAUI instructor training course and started teaching at the ripe age of 24. After a phenomenal season of teaching both weeknight and weekend courses, my instructor friend and I decided to move to California. We were both tired of the winters, wanted to dive year long and start a whole new thing there.
When we hit the ground, we found out the market in So Cal was already flooded with instructors and shops. We both tried very hard to make it work out, we both did some courses but were never able to make ends meet. I wound up getting a regular job and he wound up leaving California with his wife. Unfortunately, I wound up further damaging an ear drum injury I had as a kid and couldn't equalize. I remember my last dive, when I realized how bad my ear drum issue was. La Jolla cove San Diego, beautiful day, had my full tech rig on with dual 80hp's and my AGA FFM. During the dive, all I could think of was if this would be my last dive. I was only able to go about 20ft down before I couldn't equalize anymore. I found a good happy depth and did a super long dive, almost drained the tanks, felt good. As I packed up and drove home, I knew that would be my last dive for a while. The very next day I started selling my gear off, I knew my body needed a break from diving so my ear could heal.
Well, its been 8 years since I went diving last. I've done a myriad of other activities in the motorsports arena, trying to use my youth whilst I still had it. Started with car racing, moved into Roadracing (motorcycles) and am now riding motocross as my weekend activity. However, I'm getting older and I haven't hurt myself too bad, so I'm anxious to slow down the motorsports and get back into an easier activity on the body.
Recently, a good friend of mine brought up the subject of scuba diving. It was an off-the-cuff remark and it kinda set off an alarm in my head, as if now was the right time to get back into it. I immediately did some in water equalization experiments to see if my inner issue was gone and sure enough, everything seems to be all healed up! I'm excited like I haven't ever been diving before! I've taken time off from my riding and visited dive sites up and down the So Cal coastline in order to gain my bearings.
I'm very excited to get back in the swing of things. This time around, the internet is full of great data, clubs and such all eager to add another member. I should have enough money to buy all my equipment in a few weeks, including a drysuit, which will be great for the winter. So you'll see me around on the forums, poking in here and there as my memory returns. I just hope this time around, I don't hurt myself and I can continue with SCUBA for the rest of my life.
I also started a new youtube page which will have some great diving films I made from 2000/2001 and of course chronicle my experiences here in SoCal. A link to that page will be in my sig very soon!
Thanks for reading, sorry for the novel and safe diving!
I'm extremely excited to be back on the forum after an almost 10 year hiatus!
Sorry for the long-winded story in advance, but I figured for the record it would be nice to have it written down.
As a kid, I was an avid swimmer and really enjoyed being in the water. I also enjoyed reading books about diving and had many very realistic scuba dreams as a kid, almost beckoning me to "try" scuba. Near my 21st birthday, I signed up for a "try scuba" event at a local pool and fell in love with it from the first moment I breathed through a regulator underwater. It was exactly what I had dreamed about and was super excited to take the OW course.
I was paired up with an instructor who was really passionate about teaching the proper way. We became very good friends soon after I received my C card and spent the entire year diving together. He taught me how to deal with students, basically training me up to be his divemaster. I learned the course curriculum inside and out as well, which set me up for the next phase of my scuba life. I spent a great deal of time in the pool, practicing bail out drills, out of air and rescue situations. My instructor friend really pushed me hard, using a more military style of training, rather then standard recreational stuff. He eventually started his own training company called Straightfly excursions. I wanted to pursue teaching, so I went to Florida for my NAUI instructor training course and started teaching at the ripe age of 24. After a phenomenal season of teaching both weeknight and weekend courses, my instructor friend and I decided to move to California. We were both tired of the winters, wanted to dive year long and start a whole new thing there.
When we hit the ground, we found out the market in So Cal was already flooded with instructors and shops. We both tried very hard to make it work out, we both did some courses but were never able to make ends meet. I wound up getting a regular job and he wound up leaving California with his wife. Unfortunately, I wound up further damaging an ear drum injury I had as a kid and couldn't equalize. I remember my last dive, when I realized how bad my ear drum issue was. La Jolla cove San Diego, beautiful day, had my full tech rig on with dual 80hp's and my AGA FFM. During the dive, all I could think of was if this would be my last dive. I was only able to go about 20ft down before I couldn't equalize anymore. I found a good happy depth and did a super long dive, almost drained the tanks, felt good. As I packed up and drove home, I knew that would be my last dive for a while. The very next day I started selling my gear off, I knew my body needed a break from diving so my ear could heal.
Well, its been 8 years since I went diving last. I've done a myriad of other activities in the motorsports arena, trying to use my youth whilst I still had it. Started with car racing, moved into Roadracing (motorcycles) and am now riding motocross as my weekend activity. However, I'm getting older and I haven't hurt myself too bad, so I'm anxious to slow down the motorsports and get back into an easier activity on the body.
Recently, a good friend of mine brought up the subject of scuba diving. It was an off-the-cuff remark and it kinda set off an alarm in my head, as if now was the right time to get back into it. I immediately did some in water equalization experiments to see if my inner issue was gone and sure enough, everything seems to be all healed up! I'm excited like I haven't ever been diving before! I've taken time off from my riding and visited dive sites up and down the So Cal coastline in order to gain my bearings.
I'm very excited to get back in the swing of things. This time around, the internet is full of great data, clubs and such all eager to add another member. I should have enough money to buy all my equipment in a few weeks, including a drysuit, which will be great for the winter. So you'll see me around on the forums, poking in here and there as my memory returns. I just hope this time around, I don't hurt myself and I can continue with SCUBA for the rest of my life.
I also started a new youtube page which will have some great diving films I made from 2000/2001 and of course chronicle my experiences here in SoCal. A link to that page will be in my sig very soon!
Thanks for reading, sorry for the novel and safe diving!
