What got you into diving?

[Buc Chick]

I had considered getting certified before but just never got around to it. Then my husband and I went on a cruise (yes, we WERE pod people) and stopped at Roatan. Did not really know what to expect. We rented a scooter and checked out the island and met some cool, laid back people--divers. I fell in love with the island and did not want to leave. This really got me seriously thinking about diving. First tried a resort course in Grand Cayman. Then was totally hooked and finally got certified. I think it's all the divers looking so cool in their gear is what got me interested at first.

 

[drbill]

Let’s see… I was born in 1973 (no, I’m not afraid to reveal my age- considering how many old farts come to this board!!!!! ).

Hey, I resemble that... but I can still outdive a lot of twenty somethings!

Forgot to mention the influence of the early Cousteau films and Lloyd Bridges' "Sea Hunt." By the time Thunderball came out I was already submerged. Much later I ended up working on a two hour TV documentary with The Captain, and living at the very place where Mike Nelson's boat passed a small pinnacle at the end of each episode. We call it Mike Nelson Rock and I have a painting of it by a local artist hanging in my bedroom.

 

[diver 85]

Easy answer, 4 words.......Mike Nelson, Sea Hunt.......All the 'old timers' will remember this one...as a kid growing up watching tv in the 50's & early 60's, it was a dream of mine........TV Land needs to bring it back........

 

[trucker girl]

Hey, I resemble that... but I can still outdive a lot of twenty somethings!

I was wondering how long it would take before someone noticed that...

 

[undefined]

After enjoying reading everyone elses story, I suppose I should share my own.

About two years ago I had a bad work experience. Long story made painfully short, I found myself unemployed and disenchanted with the corporate America lifestyle. After I got things put back together I found that I had lost my fear of new things completely. I made a list of all things that would otherwise be objectionable and began completing them one by one. Diving was first on the list, followed by rappelling, spelunking, white water rafting, horseback riding, and a laundry list of other activities too numerous to mention. The last of which I have not competed due to scheduling issues, but before this summer I plan to make my first skydive. I'm what happens when corporate America screws someone up.

To that end, my wife and I are moving to Roatan to enjoy a simpler life. To heck with cubicles (her) and invoices/billable hours (me). When the reward is no longer incentive one must look for other challenges to find happiness.

 

[jpsexton]

I always wanted to dive for as long as I can remember. As a kid I would watch Cousteau and daydream about sailing the Oceans exploring far off lands. (come to think of it, I still have those daydreams ) My best friend in high school was a diver and always tried to talk me into it but I was allways too busy. Life was allways in the way untill a couple of years ago I was looking for a new hobby for me and my teenage son. I've been diving every chance since then. I regret not starting sooner in life but I am trying my best to make up for it.

 

[tracy_from_oz]

My cousins.
When they were alive they wrote under water articles for a lot of magazines. Being much younger I thought their diving/travelling was the coolest thing in the world and basically worshipped the ground they walked on as most kids do of people they idolise.

I remember they would come back from expeditions and I would see their car, run down the street and pretty much crash tackle them with hugs. Then would start the hours of footage marathon we would have at the house, basically enjoyed by all for the first 2 hrs, and only myself and uncle after that as the rest of the family thought watching the footage 3 times was enough, my uncle and I thought differently.

Also my dad, for going off and signing me up for a discover scuba dive on the Low Isles, Great Barrier Reef with Quicksilver, when we were out on their boats for the day. I was 12 and the instructors name was Rocky.
When I was 15 he came home with the dive books and said he had enrolled me in my open water dive course.

 

[John4455]

I have been an active skydiver for ten years. When I met my wife who wasn't a skydiver (she did make one jump with me but didn't continue) we wanted something that we could do together. On our honeymoon in Cancun we did a resort dive and we both really liked it, so when we got home we got certified.

 

[scuba.ie]

Well. back in the mid-90s two mates of mine bullied me into doing a try-a-dive with my LDS. In the pool it was just amazing and I was doing somersaults after a couple of minutes. By the end of the evening I had signed up for an entry level course and did the OW and AOW that year (3 months and a dozen or more dives in between).

 

[TheHobster]

Since you like to be historically correct:

Where is Horsehoe Cove in New Port Beach California?

It is a name and location unknown to me and I would assume others in the OC Diving community.


sdm

Sorry, brain fart, Horse Pastures; I was thinking a combo of Scotchmans Cove and Horse Pastures - so sorry -