What made you get into SCUBA?

[wyodiver]

I'm old enough to have watched Sea Hunt as a new TV show and have always loved swimming. About 4 years ago I and my wife had a chance to spend two weeks in Hawaii. I decided to indulge a childhood dream and got certified with the idea of diving a bit in Hawaii and then maybe every couple of years or so.
Wrong!! I fell in love with diving and have over 200 ocean dives and just recentlyl became a dive instructor.

 

[simonk999]

For a long, long time, I didn't want to try scuba, even though I enjoyed snorkeling, and even though every diver I met encouraged me to try it out. Then, my father got certified, in his early 60s. Gosh, if he could do it, why not me? That, plus being invited on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

-Simon

 

[scubabunny]

I spent the first 29 years of my life in western Maryland, in the mountains (ocean was a 7 hour drive) and never even considered diving...until I met the man of my dreams on the internet (in a chat room..believe it or not!) Turns out he was a dive instructor in Guam. After months of chatting and running up OUTRAGEOUS phone bills, he flew to Maryland to meet me, and a few weeks later I was on a plane headed for this tiny island in the Pacific.

I always loved to watch the underwater shows on the Discovery channel (don't remember Sea Hunt...but did watch Cousteau when I was little), but I had only been to the Ocean 3 times in my life...and never been snorkeling. And, truthfully, the ocean scared me at the time.

4 days after I got to Guam, I got my intro dive...and all of a sudden I was LIVING the Discovery channel! And, I was hooked! 2 1/2 years later, I have 2 obsessions...diving, and the man that made my dreams come true!

 

[Mr.Bubbles]

I know I posted what made me get into scuba. But there is one other thing I want to share. I'm 37 (maybe mid life crises) but I was thinking. My life is 1/2 way over if I'm lucky. When I'm dead and gone I will never, never get a chance to do the things I always said I was going to do. So all I can say is don't wait to get old to do what you want, do it now because tomorrow you may not Ever get a chance to do it.........

 

[bradymsu]

I got into diving to connect with history in a way you just can't in a museum. I've always been fascinated with maritime history. The ability to reach it through wreck diving in a natural setting is extraordinary. We're really lucky not to just be able to read about shipwrecks and the stories of the men whole sailed them, but to be able to actually dive them and see/touch the real thing. For divers who really appreciate history, a wreck is nothing less than a holy site much like a shrine would be to a very religious person.

 

[Frog]

Iv always had a fscination with water, first it was fishing for carp in the picturesc lakes of England. Over time i got bored of watching the water and the fish that swim in it. So one day while fishing i also began skin diving (without snorkel or mask) while fishing in the summer. This was when i was about 14 years old. This went on for a few years until i bought a mask and started diving with it while fishing in the lakes. Admitedly alot of people didnt like me doing this because they said it was scaring there fish heh. But when any of the guys on the lake had a carp trapped in weed or lilly beds i would dive out and release it. So thats how i started diving. I always knew the cost of scuba gear, this is what stopped me from trying scuba until now (over ten years after i first started diving in the lakes). I am still trying to find someone to teach me freedivng properly. I think for me non ballest freediving would be on par with scubadiving if not better.

 

[Zagnut]

Like I said in my intro/greet, I've been snorkelling since I was a little kid. I guess I'm like alot of you all, in that, it's been a lifelong dream that I just took a long time getting around to. It is kind of expensive getting started with classes, gear, etc.,.
I wanted to find sunken treasure!!.. When I was a kid, my friends and I loved Jaques Cousteau and the T.V. show flipper. We all went to the city pool every day in the summer(not much else to do in a small town in Nebraska). We would practice our back roll entry from the side of the pool with our flippers and masks. We loved to take a handful of change and fling it out into the pool, then all jump in and see who could come out with the most money....finding sunken treasure!!..

p.s.
You all should see my Flipper impression.. I've got him down pat!

 

[King_Neptune]

Whoa there now Mr.Bubbles ... "37 and your life is at least half over if your lucky"?

So, maybe 74 eh? Well, hey now, your cup may be 1/2 empty but mine is 1/2 full!

I've got something for you to take notice of ...

I don't mean to single anyone out but there is a special "quiet someone" on these boards that is a PERFECT example of my point here. Consistant divers usually tend to be healthy, active and generally motivated people. I don't know how many of you have taken the time to learn the TRUTH about the "History of Diving" and who the REAL founders were but one of those such types of people is in our midsts here on this forum. And I will tell you something, I hope that I have 1/10 the motivation some of these "old school divers" still have to this day! They could still school most of us any day of the week and that's after giving us a good head start.

Now, of course, you CAN'T all be as -

1) Studly as I am, or possibly as ...

2) Good Looking as I am or even as ...

3) awesome of a diver as I am ...

but I would hate to think that all I have to look forward too at 37 is, "Come, take Deaths Hand and lets Die, err, umm, I mean, DIVE together" ...

ACK NO! 40? 50? 60+? Just getting warmed up! hehe

=-)

 

[Greg G.]

Are you as bald now as in the pic?

Originally posted by King_Neptune


awesome of a diver as I am ...

ACK NO! 40? 50? 60+? Just getting warmed up! hehe

=-)

 

[Mr.Bubbles]

The post was not met to say im ready to jump in the grave. It was trying to say, People spend all there life doing a think so called working for a liven. I feel that we better watch the time on our watch because if you are not careful buy the time you look at it again it will be 11:59. Life is too short to spend it all at work so that one day you can retire and then live. You have to live for now, yes with plans for later. I have a lot of friends that tell me that they has always dreamed of scuba, but don’t have the time for it. ”Maybe one day I will get around to it” well some times there is no tomorrow and that time will never come. Once Your Gone Your Gone For Good.