What gave you the itch or motivation to take up diving

[12th Man]

To be honest from the first time I watched "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" as a little guy in the 60's I knew I wanted to scuba dive. He opened up an entire new world to me, one that I wanted to see one day for myself.

I got certified in Naui in 75 and got a handful of dives under my belt over the years. Tough living in the middle of Texas and being able to dive. When I got married in 83 my diving days ended for about 20 years until the kids were out or almost out of HS. I tried to get a new Naui card and was told sorry only had paper records back then. Got re-certified in PADI, good thing the technology/equipment had changed a lot since 75! Since I traveled for living I started diving almost every time I was near the ocean. Been blessed to have traveled around the globe and dove some pretty cool places.

I love being under the seas blowing bubbles as often as I can now. Vacations are usually dive trips for my wife and I now.

Thank you Jacques for introducing me to the coolest world that exists!

 

[DennisS]

Reading and watching Jacque Cousteau, Robert Marx and William Beebe made me want to be an ocean explorer. Traveling all over the world, exploring the oceans and diving was something I wanted to do as long as I remember. Serendipity provided the opportunuty

 

[Lorenzoid]

Watching "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" as a kid, it never occurred to me that I could do that, or even motivated me to have the desire to do that--it just seemed so far outside the realm of what ordinary people do that I gave it zero thought. It was years before I met anyone who had scuba dived or even noticed a dive shop. More generally, as a little kid I probably didn't even make a connection between seeing someone do something on TV and the idea that I could do it, too. Perhaps back then the line between entertainment and real life was more distinct to many people. I watched cop shows and western movies, but never dreamed a guy like me would have reason to fire a real gun someday. Drive a really fast car? Climb mountains? There were hardly even "travel shows" back then. A theme of "you, too, can do this"--I think they call it "infotainment" nowadays--is a newer invention. So I viewed Jacques breathing through some kind of apparatus underwater--I wasn't aware of the term "scuba"--as nothing more than any other thing I saw on TV that only in my wildest imagination would ordinary people like me ever engage in.

When I moved to California after college, I noticed scuba shops. And of course by that time I had an idea what scuba diving was. But still I didn't have much desire to learn to dive. It wasn't until I was planning a trip to Australia that I decided I would be wasting an opportunity to dive the Great Barrier Reef if I didn't learn to dive. So I took the course, dived the GBR and, well, that was 22 years ago.

 

[TMHeimer]

My older brother dived in Long Island Sound (NY/CT) in the '60s getting clams in 15-30' of water off the family sail boat. I was maybe 7 and had little interest in what he was doing. In about 1969 at age 15 I started being interested in collecting shells, and started my collection. Age 23 I moved to Northern Manitoba and had no interest in diving in cold dark northern lakes (no shells to speak of anyway). Also had no interest in taking a "local" (242 miles away in the next closest town) OW course and being what I later heard was called a "Vacation" diver. Diving did not enter the picture. 2005 moved to coastal Nova Scotia and figured hey, I could scuba dive here. Quite by accident at now age 51 I walked into probably the only LDS for 100 miles. First day of (traditional) classroom the instructor asked each of us why we wanted to be divers. I said "Easy, I wanted to collect shells by going down to where they live".
Since then, I found other reasons to dive, such as poke spearing flounders and collecting tasty Deep Sea Scallops. As well, the idea of being a divemaster became interesting and I did that a while (nice to get a tow back into education, being a former Band teacher). Another more recent goal is to reach 1,000 dives (3-4 more years, approaching age 70).
But my original motivation always remains. In my log book under "objectives" I simply write "usual".

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

Being 5 years old and watching my dad sprinkle talcum powder into the legs and sleeves of his wetsuit while gearing up for a dive, and then walk out of the ocean an hour later, flip his DH reg back over his head, and be carrying a speared halibut or white sea bass on his stringer and/or having a game bag full of lobster, abalone and scallops.

 

[Aviyes]

Grew up boating, waterskiing/wakeboarding, and swimming. Had done 2 DSD dives on different vacations as a teenager. Finally had the chance to get certified while attending job training in Mississippi. I was also better able to afford training, gear and the travel bug that followed. The Florida springs were great places to take OW. Also, knew that I would eventually need to takeover for my dad, diving and checking the condition of our boat mooring at my families property at some point, though that will mean getting some experience in the chilly waters of the Puget Sound.

 

[Ben_3]

On a vacation I could see dive boats leaving every morning, crews getting ready and people in really cool gear all having a good time. A guy at the resort’s pool finally talked me into trying it. A great experience but I was far from comfortable in the ocean. It took almost 2 years before I walked into a local dive shop after that and signed up for a class. Living for from the ocean I didn’t even know people dived around my area excepte professionals. I didn’t even know there were local dive shops. Since then I have discovered a whole new world and hobby.

 

[txgoose]

Always kind of wanted to. Ended up snorkeling with sea a couple of sea turtles off the Florida panhandle. that sealed the deal. I started hatching the plan immediately. Now some five years later my family is certified and we all have a great hobby to do together. Seeing those turtles (and not getting to hangout and chill with them) jazzed me up pretty good.

 

[W W Meixner]

To be honest from the first time I watched "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" as a little guy in the 60's I knew I wanted to scuba dive. He opened up an entire new world to me, one that I wanted to see one day for myself.

I got certified in Naui in 75 and got a handful of dives under my belt over the years. Tough living in the middle of Texas and being able to dive. When I got married in 83 my diving days ended for about 20 years until the kids were out or almost out of HS. I tried to get a new Naui card and was told sorry only had paper records back then. Got re-certified in PADI, good thing the technology/equipment had changed a lot since 75! Since I traveled for living I started diving almost every time I was near the ocean. Been blessed to have traveled around the globe and dove some pretty cool places.

I love being under the seas blowing bubbles as often as I can now. Vacations are usually dive trips for my wife and I now.

Thank you Jacques for introducing me to the coolest world that exists!

Kirk Douglas...and a little flick that I saw with my father...way back in the early 1950's...entitled...20,000 Leagues Under The Sea...

That was back in the day when a dive light was a candle in a Mason jar...very short duration...

RIP Kirk...

W.M...

 

[Hank49]

....I moved from Hawai'i to Iloilo, Philippines in 1986....and well, there wasn't much surf...sooo....