I thought some people might be amused by this story (which I have told before) that I heard someone else tell of his first formal scuba class.
He had actually been diving for a long time before taking the class. When he was only 7 years old, his father got his first scuba regulator in the mail, and he had his son try it. He was diving regularly after that, without taking any classes other than from his father. A could decades and a couple thousand dives later, he was on a boat in Australia, prepared for a week of diving. The captain asked to see everyone's certification card. He didn't have one. The captain said he could not dive without certification. He tried his best to argue, but to no avail. Eventually the crew convinced the captain to make an exception in this one case.
When he got back home, he went to the local PADI shop and got a certification card so he would not have to go through that again. When he told the story, he opened his wallet and pulled out the card, which he still carries nearly 50 years later.
His name is Jean Michel Cousteau.
He had actually been diving for a long time before taking the class. When he was only 7 years old, his father got his first scuba regulator in the mail, and he had his son try it. He was diving regularly after that, without taking any classes other than from his father. A could decades and a couple thousand dives later, he was on a boat in Australia, prepared for a week of diving. The captain asked to see everyone's certification card. He didn't have one. The captain said he could not dive without certification. He tried his best to argue, but to no avail. Eventually the crew convinced the captain to make an exception in this one case.
When he got back home, he went to the local PADI shop and got a certification card so he would not have to go through that again. When he told the story, he opened his wallet and pulled out the card, which he still carries nearly 50 years later.
His name is Jean Michel Cousteau.