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In 2005, i had a work contract for 3 years in playa del carmen. First day after arrival they put me on a snorkeling tour in No hoch Na Chich. I was amaze by the intra-mundo. Seeing cave diver going into darkness was something i never saw before it was jaw dropping.

I had a chance to complete all my training mostly in mexico. I dove after numerous time in belize. Made one trip to utila and galapagos.

Since two years now i dive in the beautiful st-lawrence in Brockville. (solo)

Be safe

That's a hard transition! Brrrrr
 
I was a water kid growing up and have had a lifelong fascination with shipwrecks. I got really good at finding and documenting the ones at or near the surface. I was building increasingly complex underwater sonar and camera rigs having some success with using them to go after the underwater ones. During COVID I had some money set aside for a trip that didn't happen and so used it to get certified.

The underwater photography work I did previously has come in handy and I am proud to have discovered and documented some shipwrecks of my own!
 
Growing up in Florida with a pool my Dad made sure I could swim before I could walk. I did a lot of freediving in Dania in High School. PE at the local college included scuba diving so I got my OW for college credit then quickly did the AOW and early IANTD Nitrox. Putzed around Florida at colleges diving. Moved to Kentucky and went back in 2008 for Lobster Mini Season.
Finally started back up this year when I got my current wife her Open Water certification. We hit the Keys for her certification dives. Her first dives after certification was my old stomping grounds off Dania beach and we did Blue Heron Bridge. Yep, timed that trip for the Mini-Season and bagged 4 bugs doing a solo shore dive. Heading back to do the springs in March and Pompano/ Palm Beach later in the summer.
Found out that my Dad dove when I was an infant but I don't remember any of that. Really wish I'd gotten some bottom time with the oldman!
 
It was in a cheap dive bar, long ago. Diving was pretty drunk, and needed a ride home. I tried to help, but then it became angry and started drooling and spiting as it screamed. I got it a cup of coffee, but that caused it to bazooka barf across a table all over water skiing's shoes. Well, water skiing was there with MMA fighting, and the entire bar erupted into a free for all. I hid under a piano but was soon dragged out from under it by diving, and I have never been able to get away from it since.
 
I grew up in Carmel by the Sea, Ca on the Monterey Peninsula.
My parents were about as far away from anything watersports and diving as it gets. We used go to the beach all the time and I remember seeing a diver come in from a shore dive once at Carmel River beach. I was fascinated watching him come out of the water with his slick black wetsuit and shiny chrome regulator looking very elite. Divers were symbols of daring and had a courageous swagger back then.

Once when I was in 4th grade one of the kids and his dad did a show and tell for the class out on the grass. They did a scuba demo.
They talked about it, where they dived, what it was like, what they saw, etc. The kid was my age, 7 or 8 years old and his dad taught him to dive.
I remember them filling a big trash can with water and the kid hunkered down inside breathing off the regulator.
Then there were the Cousteau specials on TV which seemed incredibly cutting edge and fascinating.
After my mom remarried, my step dad was a fisherman and had a boat in Monterey, we’d go out on it and catch fish. That got me hooked on ocean fishing.
Years later I took up fishing off the rocks up here in Sonoma County from that prior experience. When I would go out I’d see the abalone divers doing their thing. That piqued my interest because who doesn’t love abalone?
I wandered into a dive shop one day to talk about ab diving and ended up buying all the stuff needed to freedive for abalone. From there I also got into spearfishing, why not?
After becoming a regular at the dive shop, I couldn’t help but notice the regulators and tanks, etc. which brought me back to when I was a kid seeing scuba divers, Cousteau, and being inspired.
So the next thing I know I was in an OW class.
After that it kept going with more classes.
Best thing I’ve ever done.
It’s a life long love affair.
 

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