So why did you do it?

[Mafor]

I remember watching divers as I snorkeled on a Bahamas trip. Years after, a diving girlfriend introduced me to the sport and she is still my best buddy to date.

and of course the Jacques Cousteau documentaries did have some influence...

 

[rawls]

For the life of me I can't recall why I decided to get certified. I didn't sign up for the class with friends. I think that my sister may have talked about diving. Her and her then fiance...now husband...were certified. But I'm not sure. I got certified in '94, then got heavy into skydiving a couple of years later. But now I'm totally focused on diving. The thought of jumping out of an airplane from 14,000 feet startles me today...

 

[rob_za]

I got into it because ---ok forget that...The hot chicks man...have ya seen how sexy women are in a wet suit!!!!! and in warmer water...Women divi in skimpy bikini's..nothin like it...DM's have more fun!....it is all about the ladies... and of course the cool gear. Oh yeah and all the other stuff....expolring the underwater world etc...Sea hunt, Oceans alive, Jack Couteau,,,,and driving a cool dive boat!

What he said.

Seriously though, I just wanted to try something new, so I walked into a dive school, signed up and the rest is history.

Rob

 

[Hawkwood]

We started diving as a family early in the year, taking our OW class and pool sessions in January in prep for a trip to St. Lucia in late February where we did our referral dives. The whole idea was my wife's, who had spent a summer in Grenada over 30 years ago, diving daily with a reef ecology program.

I wasn't terribly keen on the idea, but went along for family "harmony" - good thing I did!

We had no intention of doing anything other than "resort" diving, but subsequently my son and I started diving back at home thanks to an invitation from an old friend.

During the summer we attended a diving weekend sponsored by two of the local dive shops. My wife won a complete White's drysuit package as one of the prize draws. However, she had decided that that she was a "warm weather/water look at the colourfull fish" diver - none of this "low vis, cold water, look at the trout" diving for her. Being the dominate of the two males in the house, I got the dry suit ! We did help our son buy his dry suit.

Things continued from there and my son and I have completed our AOW and Dry Suit specialties. I've completed Nitrox, and he will do that in January - we are both doing the Ice Diving specialty in February. This is the one "sport" (hobby?) that he and I are on a equal footing. I can't keep up with him when we ski, off-road motorcycle, or climb. When we dive together, we have a lot of fun.

We'll all dive as a family again in Curacao in March - then again maybe not - my son and I are doing a wreck specialty while my wife looks at the fish!

 

[PNW Dive Girl]

I'm another Entertainment 2 for 1 catch!

I got hooked on the idea snorkeling in Hawaii, I just wanted to stay underwater longer than my breath would allow. Came home and saw a 2 for 1, sold a buddy on the idea (I've never been diving with him). I was certified in 1990, only dove on vacations here and there brcause I had no buddy. It took my 8 years to convince my husband to try it. He took his his OW class and we dive at least one weekend a month now!

 

[Tigerman]

Growing up in the inland of the southern parts of Norway, Ive always had a easy access to lakes and rivers to bathe and snorkel, but there is no diving instructors around here. So when I went to the southern coast of Norway for work in 2006 (a job I quit 6 months later, but thats a different story) I just found the closest SCUBA club and sent them an email, asking if there where any courses going during the summer of 2006. They sent me a reply back a while later telling me that there where, so I just signed up and started.
I actually was asked why I wanted to learn SCUBA diving by the instructor in the first session of the class, and the reply was rather simple "I wanna go down there, but I cant without bringing my own air to breathe"

 

[fabasard]

And 11 years later, I add to a message I started, yeah that FABASARD is me. Why does this new batch of people do it?

 

[TMHeimer]

I joined SB shortly after your OP, so I guess I'm "new".
I took scuba to collect shells. We moved to the ocean from way inland back in '05, so now was the time. Later got into the DM thing but that's another story.
"FABASARD"--new one to me. Yesterday I learned "IMAO".

 

[NelleG]

I grew up in the water but then life got in the way and I caught the skiing bug, so we moved to the mountains. About two years ago I thought hey...I really need a week off, and picked a week in March between other people's children's school vacations. My brother suggested I visit him in HI where he and his family were stationed. Too much $$ from the east coast. But I set up a fare alert and when I saw $600 r/t I jumped on it.

"Do you want to get SCUBA certified while you're here?" asks my brother, who's an instructor and has been diving 20+ years. Naahh....too much $$. Tells me he can get me certified for $99 so I'm in. I bring a swim suit to wear under a wetsuit, and one to sit on the beach if I don't pass the course. I never sat on the beach. My son flew in from CA and we both got certified. Electric Beach, Devil's Point, a Navy tug wreck, Oahu is a pretty cool place to learn to dive! That was March and in May we went back for bro's retirement ceremony which was at 70 ft below the surface.

Since then my (adult) daughter and husband have both been certified and we are going on a dive vacation next week. Ok, it's a cruise, but we are diving at all four ports. We planned this trip a year ago, and if everyone loves it we'll probably do it again next year. Otherwise we're looking for a liveaboard.

Here's what's outside my window today, and it has shrunk a lot. Awful early for this:

 

[TrimixToo]

Sea Hunt had something to do with it. Being a water rat had something to do with it. Wanting to see what was down there beyond where I could free dive had something to do with it. The sum of those things swayed me as a teenager and I got my first OW cert. It remains as one of the best decisions I have ever made.