What obstacles have you over come to be a diver??

[Fishkiller]

I thought it would be interesting to see what things slowed a person from becoming a diver?

I was doing great until my mother suddenly passed away, the emotional trauma was harder than I thought.

 

[jbd]

In a nutshell two things. Money and time. I waited 30 years before I got the chance to take up SCUBA diving.

Things like marriage, family, divorce, another marriage another family, working. Also once I learned to dive, the lack of dive buddies willing to dive locally. Thats what got me into solo diving. Now I'm "playing" catch up. However I do have dive buddies now 8 years after learning to dive.

 

[JamesK]

Just trying to figure out what to cut out of my other two expensive hobbies; guns and cars.

 

[Zept]

Wimpiness. Never wanted to try it in the UK, the water is just too cold for a skinny bird like me.

Fear. The whole underwater breathing thing, it just isn't natural! Even now, I don't dwell too much on the metres of water pressing down on me. I concentrate on what I'm doing, I check on my buddy, I look at the fish... but I'm not keen on looking up at the surface. I guess I'll get more comfortable as time goes by.

Zept

 

[jashanley]

I had a perforated left eardrum from tympanostomy tubes as a kid...........it never closed. I had two patches, the first failed and the second appeared to fail but I got a rip-roaring external ear infection and that is what helped it heal over. Before that I wasn't allowed to put my head underwater......now you'd have to chain me down to keep me from diving. Wierd story but true.

 

[rtapia]

I was in restaurant management for many years, worked a LOT of hours and almost every weekend, that plus a family, plus wimpiness (afraid of actually doing it), made me put it off for over 6 years before I finally decided to get certified. It's time to make up for lost time.

 

[diverdown50401]

First of all my condolences to you and your family.

Most people I talk to tell me that they would love to learn to dive then they throw in that "but" word.

For me it was my mother. I was watching Jacques Cousteau on TV when I was 9 years old and told my mother someday I'm going to do that. She came up with all kinds of excuses as to why I could not do it. Now I am 35 years old with 4 certification cards. And she supported me throughout my training and diving. She didn't like the idea at first but she decided that this was a long term goal I had planned for sometime.

Most of the reasons people have for not wanting to dive are essentially excuses. Around here it is mostly girlfriends, boyfriends, money, booze, and illegal drugs. They need to decide if diving is more important than all this other stuff.

If your mother supported you when you first got certified and did not interfere I would say get back into it I don't think she would want you to stop enjoying yourself. Remember diving is more than entertainment it is an opportunity to explore places most people only dream of and every time you do your mother will be there with you.

Once again my condolences to you and your family.

 

[tyki]

It's good to see you on the boards Fishkiller. Tyki's been away from the boards for a bit, but glad to be back. I have a photo album sitting on my desk at the moment....I'm using it as a stress buster. The photos in the album are from our dive trip last week.

what took Tyki so long to start diving? Well, there were kids to raise, and a thing called a J-O-B, and a definite lack of money. Last year, as hubby and I sat down to decide what we wanted to do for our 25th anniversary we started brainstorming and doggone it everything had to do with the water. Suddenly, we looked at each other and held our breath...our eyes got big...and we said "wouldn't it be neat to learn to scuba?" That was one year ago. We are now OW certified and have logged about 15 dives. Just last week we sighted our first shark, first loggerhead turtle, and first barracuda. It is an anniversary gift that we gave to ourselves last year, that will keep giving. It is wonderful to glide along in a mild current holding my buddy's hand as we gawk in wonder at the new world that has opened up to us.

The kids are now grown, and our daughter is getting married in November (ciphoning away some of our dive $$s for this year). Now, if we could just win the lottery and do away with the J-O-Bs so we had more time for diving.

Tyki
still hearing the peaceful song of bubbles in her ears.

 

[Fishkiller]

Yes I tried for nearly two months to do my certification dives but couldn't get over the fact I was diving in the equipment that my mom bought. When I did though I was completly hooked
...so much so it has been over a year I have my Advanced Open Water and a few additional certs tossed in I enjoy every dive regardless of location or conditions..
Not to seek sympathy but to illustrate dedication, in the past year I have lost a very close young neice(acidental drowning), soon thereafter lost a very high paying job(more depression and being stupid), two vehicles, several "friends", and falling outs with my siblings. I survived every one of them (so far) by being under the water. I plan becoming a Scuba instructor, I have been the "best" advertising medium for my LDS.

Isn't it nice that with so many things going on in the world how much better it is being a Diver?

 

[divediva]

My obstacle is being a bit claustrophobic. I didn't know how I would react with having a mask over my face at 60 feet. During my pool instruction, I actually did freak out and shot to the surface. Thank God it was only a 12foot deep pool. I did figured out that I was getting that 'closed in feeling' because my mask kept fogging up. Now, whenever that happens, I just clear my mask and....no problem.

I'm still a bit leary about penetrating a wreak. Something about having something over my head, just makes my stomach roll over. On a recent trip to Cayman I did go into one wreak, which featured the engine room. I could only go so far before I had to back out. So it seems I'm still fighting that feeling a bit but hey, I've come a lot further then I ever thought.