How you found scuba..

[CBulla]

Lets see.... way back when GM was 10 years into aquiring dives I was just learning to swim. Not long after that snorkeling was introduced to me... then about 1982 I was given a tank that had straps stuck to it, and what I now know to be a regulator and first stage and told "Go clean the boat... if you run out of air, come up!" - oh, I also had 16# of lead on a belt that I used to snorkel and swim with regularly. After I got married, my wife told me she wasn't going to fill my tanks and we dive... I had to get certed, sooo... I got certed... Funny thing, I had to learn to dive with all the extra gear. Anyway, after getting past that you can see where its taken me

 

[Jason Ooi]

I loved outdoors water sport one of the factors

 

[ItsBruce]

I was too little to turn on the TV, but watched Sea Hunt with my dad in the early 60s. In 1967, when I was 9, we were on a cruise and they offered diving in the pool. I loved it but did not have the opportunity to dive after that. We lived by the ocean and my interests turned to racing sailboats. In 1985, my family was on another cruise and I met a young lady who was a certified diver who lived in Pennsylvania. I figured that if she could dive in Pennsylvania, I, who lived within sight of the ocean, should get certified. I did. Now, my kid dives, too.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I can't remember why, but I had been interested in it for a few years. However, I wasn't involved with someone who was interested and didn't think it would be as much fun doing it alone.

Then I met someone who became my wife. We bought one of those Entertainment Value books and saw a coupon in it for buy 1 get 1 free scuba lessons and found out she had the same experience - wanted to try it, but not with anyone who was interested. We signed up for the class and got certified during our first year married and haven't been able to go more than 3 weeks without diving (and this is living in AZ!), and that's TOO LONG!!!

So I guess I really owe it to the Entertainment book!

 

[Barracuda2]

You probably were not born yet. I was nine yrs. old, 1952, and saw a move with Gilbert Rowland and Robert Wagner titled "Beneath the 12 Mile Reef" about Greek Sponge divers in Fla. (I still occasionally watch it) and was immediately hooked. From that point on, I read everything that was available and any story about the underwater world. Got my first tank and reg and wetsuit at a hardware store in 1958 and started diving the local quarries and lakes. The older I got, the more the passion grew.

 

[tankboygreg]

I grew up watching my Dad dive. When I was 8 he bought me some gear and enrolled me in a Skin Diving class that his friend, an LDS owner, was putting on for his teenage son and a few others before they started Scuba. Five years later at the local dive clubs annual dinner my Dad traded his raffle winnings, a couple of bottles of booze, plus $30 for diving lessons with the same LDS owner. Before my 14th birthday I was certified.

 

[trucker girl]

My husband and I and some friends went to Hawaii shortly after 9-11 (if memory serves me right, the hotel/airfare for 5 nights came to around $600 for both of us!). He wanted to get certified there but we only had 4 full days there. I called up a dive shop and found out about Discover Scuba. We paid and went out on a boat the next day. No instructions beyond "breathe through this." The DM was an ***. My husband has asthma and one of our friends has diabetes. No medical forms filled out- no doctor's releases.

None of us had been so much as snorkeling (which brought some rude comments from the DM jerk) and that first few feet underwater was terrifying. I got over it and fell in love with scuba. My husband had a panic attack and- instead of calling the dive- the DM solved the problem by adding more weight to my hubby's belt...

Now my husband won't consider diving. He's happy for me- but he won't even talk about it. He won't even talk about snorkeling. It was that terrifying for him and I will never forgive that stupid shop on Oahu (should I name them? nah... I'll be nice this time) for destroying his interest. His asthma is not exercise-related and it's fairly minor- mostly flares up if the cat litter box needs cleaned... but we'll never know if he can qualify for scuba.

And it the bad shop WAS NOT Dive Oahu- who I plan to dive with next month... looking forward to it!

 

[cascbagrl]

I had always wanted to scuba dive but never really knew anyone else that did so never got certified and then I met my now husband and he asked if it was something I was interested in I said ABSOLUTELY so he got me certified for my birthday 6 years ago and have been diving every since!

 

[EvvScuba]

I had always been interested in the underwater world. But what really got it going was my best friends Dad. He owned his own shop and bugged me every time I was over at their house why I hadn't taken scuba lessons. I always told him it was too expensive, etc. Well, in 2000 I finally stopped in his shop and asked about training and the costs. He gave me a heck of a deal on everything, so I signed up. Loved every minute of it, but wasn't able to do any further diving until this past summer. My soon to be wife got certified so we could dive on our honeymoon and I took a refresher. Since then, we've been diving every other weekend, bought our own equipment, and helped start a local dive club.

It's in our blood now! Next for me is getting into the photographing aspects and taking more advanced training.

 

[eckybay]

I did a discovery session in a pool as a second date with my boyfriend. I liked it so much that I talked my sister into getting certified with me. Now I'm going diving every weekend that I have the time and money - and a few weekends that I don't have either