How did you get into scuba?

[nessum]

Well, when I was really young my dad got his OW & AOW. WHen I was in high school a couple friends got into to...
I had always wanted to, but thought it was too expensive or complicated...
A couple years after school some good friends of mine tormented me with tales of dm'ing in Thailand & one took his instructor course at the shop down the road. Well, I actually had a bit of extra cash & figured, hell it's close by & if it's good enough for my buddy, than it has to be a great place.
It was! And I was pissed I hadn't tried diving sooner. It quickly became the monkey on my back & has stayed there ever since (about a year & a half now... almost done my dm course). Of course, there's no such thing as extra cash now.

 

[voop]

I got into SCUBA due to birth-defects: my gills were never fully developed, thus without SCUBA I'd be unable to breath on about 3/4 of this planet

 

[getwet2]

I've always loved the water and when on vacation I was always seeing these people scubadiving and thought "Hey, that looks like fun" so I did the resort course not knowing if I would really like it.

The next year I did the resort course again because I had sooo much fun the last time.

The next year I decided to get serious about it and got my certification and it was one of the best things I ever did.

 

[wstein]

It was always something I wanted to do, but had been putting off for years. First time was in HS, then later in the military, then once I was offered to have my course and gear paid for if I took the course with my 14yo nephew. Finally I broke down and got certified before I was suppose to go the the Keys a couple of years ago. Regretted not doing it sooner!

Paul

 

[Crowell]

I was a computer department supervisor for Sikorsky Aircraft out of Troy, Alabama (SSSI). Our helicopter crash-rescue fire-brigade was made up of union folks, and one day they struck and decided they would no longer respond to incidents unless they were granted additional hazard pay in addition to thier regular wages.

In response, our plant commander called all the reasonably fit salaried supervisors and managers into his office and informed us we were the new crash-rescue fire-brigade, effective immediately and we shipped out Monday to the Tuscaloosa fire college for our fireman certifications. After several weeks and courses at the fire college, and more soot, ash, and steam burns than I want to remember - we returned from fire-college and were told that now we start the underwater rescue/recovery section and to report to SeaDivers in Ozark to be fitted with mask, fins, and snorkels in preparation for our SCUBA certifications.

The rest is history.

 

[alaity47]

I've always loved fish (to look at, not to eat) and swimming, so I always assumed I'd take up SCUBA diving eventually. Where I went to college, it was offered as a PE credit, but I kept putting if off "until I lost weight." (I was between 180-200 most of my teen years). I finally realized I couldn't keep putting everything off just because I was fat, and signed up my senior year with some friends.

Turns out that despite being a good swimmer, I was a TERRIFIED scuba diver. I was basically the slow, nervous one in the class. I got my cert, but didn't feel at all comfortable with all the gear, even though I loved swimming around looking at the fish.

Fast forward a year - I met my now-husband, who was also OW certified. He bought me a refresher course for my birthday, with an instructor who gave me the hand-holding I needed to really feel confident. Hubby and I honeymooned in Cozumel, and after that I was completely hooked - been diving 2 or 3 times a month (in SoCal) ever since. It's been a great hobby we can share, and a good excuse to visit tropical locations!

Of course, now we'll never go to Europe together. Every time we have the money/time to travel, we want to go someplace with tropical fish!!

 

[Randy43068]

Once upon a time I had a neighbor who was a diver then one day his magazine "Scuba Diving" showed up in my mailbox quite by accident. Did I give it back to him? Nope, I kept it, read it cover to cover. It took me about 7 or 8 months of thinking about it before I decided to do something about learning to dive. I found a local dive shop, took lessons and now I'm a diver working on becoming a DM. My first DM class is the 23rd of this month.

One odd thing.. I remember watching some TV documentary years ago about cave exploration, and at that time I thought anyone who would strap that crap on their back and go into a cave is just nuts! I still believe that.

 

[CrazyDave]

I always thought it was very cool looking to be diving. I never tried to do anything about it until i was in Hawaii 2 years ago and went snorkling. I caught the bug from that and took a resort course. As soon as I came home I started lessons. The rest as they say is history. I just wish I would have started 20 years earlier.

 

[DementialFaith]

I was interning at the Long Beach Aquarium in my high school junior year. One day I was standing in front of a large(very large) exhibit and accidently blurted out my thought of wanting to dive in there. My instructor was standing next to me........... got my ow 2 months later, got my advance a month later, got my rescue 2 months later, got my DM 2 weeks after my eighteenth birthday...... working for my AI at the Anacapa dive center...(in Santa Barbra, CA owned by Steven Adams)

 

[jbisjim]

I did one of those really safe resort dives ;-) in Cancun, got back signed up for classes and was hooked.