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.