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I've surfed from early childhood, and was on a surf trip on Isla Colon in Panama some years ago when they first built the airport in Bocas. The only place to stay was a dive resort and they'd drop me at the reefbreak on the other side of the island and come back three hours later and pick me up, often with some divers. I was snorkling around them at 50 feet, snapping some photos with a cheapo underwater camera and the divemaster handed me his secondary and I swam around with them (No gear!). The next day he asked me if I wanted to do a dive because there was a solar eclipse, and I just put the stuff on and went. Really stupid, I realize now, but I was hooked, came home and got trained.
My family went to the now closed Club Med Sonora Bay in August before 9-11. I planned on working on my golf game for the two week stay at Club Med, but it was SO HOT that after the first day I went looking for something else to do. There was a PADI dive shop at the resort so I signed up, did two hours in the pool, took a short test, and spent the next two weeks doing boat dives with two dozen certified divers. The next year I did the class and pool work locally and then completed the OW cert on a referral to an instructor on Maui. All trips are now dive trips, especially since my wife got tired of hearing about it and got herself certified in 2006. We are off to Turneffe Island Resort, Belize, in two weeks.
As a kid in Florida growing up on a farm in the early 60's I would watch the old Sea Hunt shows in black and white and was captivated with his adventures. Seemed every show had a scene with an underwater fight where someone got their regulator hose cut. Then there was no finer day in Science Class when the teacher would show Cousteau movies. Thought I was going to be an Oceanographer when I grew up. Saved up my money from mowing lawns and bought a mask, fins and an "S" curved snorkle with the float on top, and made up my own adventures in our backyard pool. Started reading books about SCUBA diving and how the equipment worked. Cut off the top of the "S" curved snorkle because it was dangerous. In High School found out that there was a dive shop about 25 miles away on the coast. Drove over there one Saturday to check it out. I still remember that my palms were sweaty, heart was beating out of my cheast and I was breathing hard, just like it was my first date as I walked in the door. I almost couldn't talk I was so nervous. The owner was awesome. He showed me around the store and told me about all the great diving in the area. By the end of the day he had me in the pool for a short Intro Diving lesson. I was hooked! I knew I had to be a DIVER! My family thought I was nuts. But, being a poor farm boy it wasn't until I got to college that I was able to get certified. My roommate and best friend got certified, too. We spent about four years diving just about every spring, sink hole, jetty and reef in Florida. I took a job in California after college, then in Idaho and didn't dive for 30 years. Five years ago met and married Wife Version 2.0. We honeymooned in Belize and I asked her if she wanted to try a Discover SCUBA. She was hooked and I fell back in love with diving. As soon as we came home she got her OW and started planning a dive vacation. We have been to Roatan 3 times and Key Largo for dive vacations, and both got our AOW this last trip. We love our diving adventures!
Always loved the water - GI Joe Scuba and Sea Sled, watching Jacque Cousteau as a kid. Became a life guard during high school and my sisters and I got OW through the YMCA in the 70's.
A friend and hunting buddy introduced me to scuba as an adult and it stuck.
As a kid I always wanted to be a marine biologist, watched every Flipper, Cousteau, read underwater books,etc.
It was in my blood but as a adult grew defeated and dreamless.
Scuba unlocked my life and set me on a coarse of discovery.
Very cool journey this is a very abbreviated version of a long story!
I watched Sea Hunt as a kid. Always thought Mike Nelson was worthy of hero status. My family also watched the Cousteau shows whenever they were on. Growing up in NE, CO and making part of my life in WY wasn't exactly anyplace to get much of the scuba virus. Then I moved back to CO, there are a number of great dive shops along the front range. I was always interested but access to training and other divers was limited.
I had made several comments about being interested in scuba and then it happened. One fine day my dear sweet wife did some research and found a dive shop while online. She loaded me in the car telling me she had a surprise for me. The dive shop was about 45 minutes away from where we were living. We made our way to the dive shop, stopping for a nice lunch and of course a quick stop at the mall. I was starting to become a little disappointed as the day was, with the exception of a new place to eat a nice lunch, kind of boring and certainly not a surprise. Then we drove into the parking lot of a dive shop. We went inside, met the owner who gave us the grand tour of the place, a quick overview of their programs, training and of course the retail store. I signed up for my open water course and the rest is a story of borderline obsession.
It is part of the story to note that after years of hard work we had finally reached a point that we had some disposable income. Enough income to allow us to do some traveling. Not as often as I would like but still the trips are special treats. My wife does not dive, she doesn't even like the water. She has some medical issues that limit the amount of time she can spend in the sun so there isn't much in it for her but she encouraged me to get certified to dive. I wish she was able to enjoy the sport as I do. She has accepted my love of the sport and has grown to accept the purchases that occur with nothing more than a roll of the eyes and a comment along the lines of whatever......
Summer of 67' Sixth fleet, USMC. After an amphibious landing training exercise on Sardinia, we had a couple of days on the beach setting up comm networks. In my free time walking along the beach, I came upon 6 or 7 Navy divers checking out their gear and cleaning fish. Sat around for a while chatting and asking questions when one of the guys offered to put me in some gear and take me diving - A little chit chat about what's what and off we go. I hung out with them at Crete and Malta too. Been diving ever since.
I was always one of the kids that the adults had to drag kicking and screaming out of any body of water I could find to be in. After 20+ years of free diving I had spent years thinking about getting into SCUBA to extend my bottom time.
Finally got where finances and time allowed to pick it up and very glad I did. Now I am back to where I have to be dragged out of the water. Everyone pretty much knows that if you want to find me on the weekends you have to catch me during my SI.
I still also mix in some free diving as well on those days I just really don't feel like dealing with all the equipment.
Always wanted to do scuba but none of my friends (or their parents) were even remotely connected to scuba diving, thus, I never knew exactly what it takes. I was an odd duck, I guess. My own parents were not especially enthusiastic. Then, I just said to myself, this year I'll get certified no matter what (this urge also has intersected with some disposable income as I started to make a little more green). Took a while to find out the information required to sign up for a class. Each shop offered different terms depending on equipment you must buy... Took me a while to find an instructor with whom I could just learn scuba and not be up-sold. Even took advanced right-away so I could continue to dive during classes (I did not have my own equipment then). Then little by little I bought my complete set of equipment and started to dive every weekend I could. Funny thing is, I am using almost nothing from my initial purchase, tastes change.
I always wanted to go to Australia. I decided the only way to escape my pager was to get off the continent so of course OZ was the obvious choice. I decided your couldn't go "Down under" without going down under so I took a dive course on my first trip over here. Unfortunately the boss still managed to track me down via email and I had to go return home early.
The best part is that I met this awesome Aussie bloke through diving and well.. the rest is history A few trips back and forth and then the big move! I now get to be the citizen of the two best countries in the world.. but maybe I am a little biased?
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