So why did you do it?

[fabasard]

Remember all those years ago? Back when you FIRST started diving? WHY? I think the "New Divers & Those Considering Diving" is the perfect forum for this. Who got you involved, how and why? What made you go "I want to do this the rest of my life"?

I went to Mexico with a few friends for a little R&R beachside (Rancho Libertad) around 1997. One friend was certified and said I should give SCUBA a go, they have this resort course thing, its only 75 dollars. I said 75 DOLLARS, this better be GOOD. So I go and tqake the resort course at this little hole in the wall place in Punta Morelos (just south of Cancun). We go out and do a dive, the divemaster strapped to my back (at least it felt that way, he was RIGHT THERE!) We looked at all sorts of fish and I said "Wow I can float free in 3 dimensions and things are SO beautiful down here, its quiet and there are no sharks." The next dive was a hunting expedition, we caught our dinner, with me holding the blood bag (damn glad there were no sharks), and cooked the fish up "Mayan" style, best FOOD I have ever had PERIOD! The last dive I did there was NOT to PADI regs, I begged to go on this dive to 125 feet. DM said NO, but I could dive to 50 feet solo and shadow them from above. I dove in with them and got to 50 feet as they continued down, now here am I in 50' of water, with 75' below me and water ALL around, ALONE, I was nervous as hell (kept thinking about those damn sharks (still weren't any) anyway I freaked after about 15 minutes and surfaced, got on the boat, but KNEW I was hooked. I got certed with the wife several years and several resort courses later, and I have LOVED diving ever since. I tell people diving is better than sex (one guy told me I wasn't doing my sex right then) but most get what I mean. Diving is spiritual, once you've done it, you either can't get enough or you walk away and think, wow that was nice. SO how bout it....Who, when, WHY?

 

[Zeeman]

I did a few intro dives on the Great Barrier Reef - but I only got my butt into gear a month before a 9 day trip to Vanuatu. I was all about snow sports back then, and I figured if I was going tropical, I may as well have something to do.

 

[Walter]

Well, there's this and this, this, this, and of course this.

 

[Diving Doc]

Having grown up with the James Bond generation, yep that one with Ursula Andress walking up the beach I always wanted to learn to dive.

Then I finally did late in life and found out it was no where near as glamorous but still loved it and cariied on and on and on and on etc

 

[Louma]

I got interested in diving after my brother-in-law got certified and showed me all his neat “stuff” for diving. I thought -- I need more “stuff”. After I got certified my brother-in-law invited me and my two sons to join his family on a vacation to the Florida Keys (I lived in NJ at the time). There would be, for sure, some diving but for the non cerrtified, there would be lot's of other things to do. My sons, not content on just sitting around, asked me if they could become certified also. They got their certification in NJ and off we went. In the Keys, we did a lot of diving from Largo down to Key West, along the way we got our advanced certifications.

We still do our family diving vacation every year. We usually choose some “exotic” destination and dive. Between my family and my sister’s family, there are now 18 divers. We usually find a boat that can handle this size group and virtually take it over for a week.

This has become a tradition that I don’t want to ever end. How else is a dad able to convince his grown sons to go on a family vacation?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

My wife and I took the family on a cruise for our oldest daughter's senior year in high school. One of our ports of call was Grand Cayman. I had heard about how awesome diving was in Grand Cayman, so my oldest and I decided to get certified so that we could dive there. I fell in love with it and, as they say, the rest is history. Shoulda done it alot sooner!

 

[johnny_bravo]

Growing up watching Jacques-Yves Cousteau documentaries I knew I wanted to learn to dive. The catalyst was dating a girl in my teens whose uncle was an old school NAUI instructor. I took my first course with her at the university where he taught and I was hooked.

The rest is diving history...

-J.-

 

[PePaw]

It was my Dive Master daughter's fault !
In her defense she didn't know her disease was contagious !

 

[mikerault]

I wrote it up about a year ago, here it is:

http://www.scubamage.com/files/So_you_want_to_dive.pdf

Mike

 

[Carribeandiver]

I have a good friend that needed a dive buddy really badly. He was bugging me to death and all the while I ignored his pleas. I then went on this cruise and did a snorkel in Cozumel. Torn up reef, few fish but it was sure warm, clear water and I loved it. I signed up for OW, nearly drowned doing the swim and freaked doing my ocean dives but I managed to finish.
Now, my 'buddy' rarely dives with me because he has to get his wife's permission first but I take every opportunity I can find to go below. And to follow my buddy's lead I am getting my youngest son certified so I can have a dive buddy (when his friends cant go, when his girlfriend cant go or let's him go off with me or when.....)