What made you get into SCUBA?

[100days-a-year]

I lived on the Med. Sea as a child and the people who lived next to one of the castles there wanted my dad to dive the rocks it was built on for Octopi.To be able to go into the sea and wrestle out a meal was an inspiration to join the Navy in '82.I had been snorkling all my childhood.The Navys rec. dept. had classes.I got see Belize,Honduras,Jamaica,Caymans and Key West all in my first 2 years thanx to the USN.

 

[greg somers]

He said I could be a stripper,go in the army,sell brushes door-to-door or go to prison dive school.I did the only thing I hadn't done before and here I am... :tease:
Cheers all Ears,
The Thunder from Down Under,
The Gasman

 

[jbd]

Sea Hunt and an older cousin who learned to dive in the '60s got me dreaming. Finally 30 years later I took the plunge. Asolutely love it and wish I could go daily. Wish I had not waited 30 years. Also used to watch Jacque Cousteau on TV. Now that I think about it I think his shows had the most impact on me many moons ago.

BTW I'm really glad to meet the Thunder from down Under as a diver instead of a stripper ;-)

Cheers naked ears!!

 

[fooks]

It was something that I always thought about and never got around to doing until a year ago. Since then diving is all i talk about and think about.

 

[Fishkiller]

It was a continuance of my obsession with things underwater.
I have seen fish, own two aquariums (both freshwater).
I have eaten fish, Sushi to deep fried. I practice selective harvest now.
I have caught fish, own a World Record in the 2-pound line class.
Onenight after finishing up a custom fishing pole, a commercial for scuba lessons came on the TV, the shop was right down the street. What better way to find fish?

 

[neil]

My wife had always wanted to dive, so one summer when I was working in Puerto Rico, she came along and took a resort course. On returning to NYC, she got certified and did some diving locally. Cupla years later, she suggested a vacation where she could do some warm water diving, and I would get certified. Having visions of her diving all vacation with some hunky divemaster, I said okay and we went to Bonaire, where I took the class, shoved hunky aside and we finally dove together. And what do you know? I loved it! Now we're both instructors and we live where we can dive most any time.

Neil

Gasman: There actually was a prison dive school here in CA. They taught commercial diving. There was a documentary made on it, can't think of the name offhand.

 

[striking viking]

I had my sites set on getting accepted on the county rescue team at work, and I wanted to have an advantage over the others. I also took a swiftwater class and basic mountain climbing class around the same time. Lucky for me I enjoyed diving for recreation, too.

 

[DivingGal]

Like many others who have commented, I'd been thinking of it for years. Watching Sea Hunt, and other u/w programs were influences, but I guess it was just after years of snorkeling (Cindy - it's been a lot longer than 1969, but we won't go there) and seeing all the life below the waves, I finally took the plunge as it were. I don't regret one moment.

 

[large_diver]

For our 10th anniversary, my wife wanted to get me something "out of the ordinary". I was about to turn 35 and was experiencing some sort of early mid-life crisis (need to get out and and GET A LIFE/HOBBY vs. focusing 100% of my energy on the kids now that they are 5 & 7).

First idea that I always wanted to try was to enroll in a 2 day car racing program at the Skip Barber racing school -- tooling around Lime Rock Park at speeds up to 140 mph. Bad news -- 6'5" 260 pound people are not meant to be Formula 1 drivers (I could not fit in the 1/2 scale F1 cars they use -- the head mechanic took the inside of the car apart, moved the seat, adjusted the pedals -- no dice).

Second choice was enrolling in my BOW course last spring -- I've been obsessed like the rest of you ever since.

 

[Starfish]

Okay well this is a tangled web, but it works for me.

My folks and I watch Jacque Cousteau on TV for years, so from an early age I was fascinated and wanted to dive. When I went to college I figures, here is my big chance because they offer it as a college course. You had to be a Sophmore, so I waited. The next year it was discontinued.

No other opportunites came, but I still wanted to learn.

I went to Graduate School and attained a NASA Fellowship studying environmental change (greenhouse gases and global warming). I was lucky enough to visit Johnson Space Center one day when they had Astronauts in the neutral bouyance tanks. I watched the Astronauts and support divers and said, I have to do that!

Went back to Graduate School and found a local YMCA. . . but they had just discontinued their course too!

Five years later for my 5th Anniversary, my husband called me on the phone at work, and said, "Tomorrow you start SCUBA classes!"

Now at the end of August we are going on an early 6th Anniversary trip for 8 days/7 nights at Cozumel!