What got you started in diving?

[Barracuda2]

At the age of nine, I saw a movie, "Beneath the twelve Mile Reef", 1952, that utterly captured me and never let me go. I read everything I could get my hands on until I was about 14. Subscribed to Skin Diver Mag. for years. (I still have a 1956 mint copy of Skin Diver Magazine) Bought my first single hose reg. and wet suit and steel tank from a hardware store and started diving local quarries and lakes. Never took formal classes because PADI and c-cards were not around yet. When they were required, I got my c-card through an instructor friend of mine in 1975. He sent paperwork in for me with another class and I was certified. Did my first salt water dive in 1961 in Florida. I'll be doing this until I can't drag my body to the edge of a body of water or throw it off the side of a boat any more!!

 

[Makin Raider]

Work said they were sending me to the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and Guantanamo Bay. Why did I leave that job, lol?

 

[Vtdiver2]

The Cousteau specials on TV.

I too got hooked watching the Cousteau specials. I was lucky enough to be living in Spain when I was 11 (1976). My best friend's Dad was the Head Diver on the drilling rig my dad also worked on. He taught me to dive that summer while teaching his sons. Here's a picture of me on my first dive.....in the pool. I've been hooked ever since.
C-Dawg

 

[bikefox]

I took a course in Hawaii for my masters degree. Part of the class was the Manta dive in Kona. I was told I could snorkle or get certified. Easy choice!!

 

[jonix]

when i was a kid i always wanted to be an astronaut...later i realized there's no space program in the philippines. then the Cousteau specials kicked in...wow! told myself that when i did earn enough i'll go for it....underwater astronaut

...ahhhhhh it's good to be living in the philippines eyebrow

 

[caveseeker7]

Watching the movies and reading the books of Hans and Lotte Hass.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Had the dream for many years, growing up watching the marine biologists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and surrounding waters.

The final trigger was my father making a promise to me. Let's just say we didn't have a lot in common, but our love for the ocean was a deep well. Here's the background story:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=22072

 

[spectrum]

What was your motivation to get into diving? How did you get started and interested in diving? How old were you when you took your first open water course?

I was interested in diving since I was about 5 years old and got certified as soon as I turned 15, and I still can't get enough.

Dave
www.divingindepth.com

Seahunt, Cousteau, Thunderball and Fantastic Voyage probably lit the flame.

Enjoyed snorkeling at the beach since I was a kid.

Seeing stuff is cool but the 3 dimensional freedom is what I love. We spend our lives walking & sitting all the while bound to the earth. We can climb a ladder, steps or fly in a plane but we always have a surface beneath us. Underwater be it skin or scuba diving we can fly.

Forgot what the water was for almost 30 years before resuming snorkeling.

Finally the time was right this year to get certified at 48. I'm hooked with 76 dives so far. MTBD (Mean Time Between Dives) is 2.37 days. I've gone dry but it's tough planning dives during the winter and holidays.

Pete

 

[Hammerhead]

Schnorkelling in the Maldive Islands at about age 7. Cristal waters, myriad fish description-defying corals, PO'd because I couldn't stay underwater for more then about 30 seconds at a time.

Sometimes I've even got annoyed at myself for going to University - if I hadn't, I'd probably have started diving earlier...

Cheers, good thread!

 

[Mambo Dave]

I can't remember the exact connection (was it a co-instructor who was co-teaching the diving course?), but it was through an autumn EMT certification course that I learned of a dive course. The goal, for many of us, was to become Rescue divers. Which was sorta cool, until I learned that rescue divers are very more often recovery divers. I eventually became a paramedic, but I never got into doing things for people who weren't with us anymore (unless the departed had departed in front of me - then I'd do everything I could for 'em).

That winter (1993) I took excellently taught NAUI dive classes and did pool time in Pittsburgh with a class of only other EMT's and paramedics. (The certification dives, 50 miles north of Pittsburgh, were delayed for two weekends due to the blizzard of 1993.)

Life got in the way, and it currently is a co-worker who asked me to go out on her boat to re-aquaint myself with her and her husband's gear. That they went down and came up with lobster inspired me to jump back in to it (well, that, and the fact that although I have a brand new Mt. bike, the trails are devastated from hurricane Wilma).