Why did you become a diver?

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KY_BOB

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Maybe there is another thread like this but I haven't found it yet.

I thought that it would be interesting to hear your stories. Here's mine:


SCUBA diving is something that I've wanted to do for years. They offered a classes 10-12 or so years ago at the local pool with check-outs near by. At the time, I couldn't really spend the money and take the time off from work (the classes were during the day and on week days). I figured that I would do it "next year". Well, they didn't have any more classes at the local pool. I always regretted not doing it.

Move to last September: Me and my ex-g/f took a 4 day vacation to Montego Bay Jamaica. One of the "must do's" on my list was to go snorkeling. I did but the water was really stirred up and the vis was crap, so bad that they offered to take me the next day for free. I got to talking to the guys at the water sports center and they had me convinced to go snorkeling the next morning and take a resort SCUBA course the next afternoon.

I really had my heart set on the resort course. In retrospect, it's best that I didn't waste the money. We get up the next morning to find that Hurricane Ike had crossed Cuba and was throwing some nasty waves at us, 6-8 foot seas. There wasn't about to be any snorkeling or diving that day. I was disappointed but managed to console myself at the swim-up bar. We had very little rain or wind but the surf was BAD!

We get back to Kentucky. Three days later, she leaves the picture before MY credit card bill even came in. (I'm sure that she held on just for the trip but I got something out of it too) I did still have a little cash in my pocket that I was going to pay for the resort course with and wanted to do something for myself since she had took advantage of me, then left. I didn't have to answer to anyone and if I wanted to eat nothing but bologna sandwiches so I could spend more money on a hobby, so be it.

As luck would have it, about the same time, I ran into an old high school friend who told me that he had recently been certified as a diver. He could tell how interested I was in it and encouraged me to take the classes. I did.

That's my story. It took a hurricane, a bxtch for a girlfriend, and a buddy all coming together at the right time.


Surely there are some other cool stories. Let's hear them.
 
2 words------Mike Nelson.........there was a thread running around here about the same topic a year or 2 ago......
 
2 words------Mike Nelson.........there was a thread running around here about the same topic a year or 2 ago......

If a moderator wants to merge the threads, that's fine. I went back several months and didn't see a similar thread. :depressed:
 
Curiosity and to see the marine life. I'd always done a lot of snorkeling on tropical vacations, I tried something like Discover Scuba...liked what I saw but didn't like the rest initially. Years later I took a proper course at home and loved it. Life got in the way and then years after that jumped in with both feet and starting racking the dives up!
 
... if we merged all the similar threads we've produced over the years on ScubaBoard we'd have only about a thousand megathreads. By all means, let's create a new one ... keeps things fresh.

Anyway, my story's been posted before ... I was told by my (now ex) wife to find something safer than basketball to do ... because as I got older, slower, and less flexible I kept hurting myself trying to keep up with the younger fellows. So as we were walking out of the YMCA one day (well, she was walking ... I was limping) I noticed a sign on the bulletin board that said "LEARN TO SCUBA DIVE". As it happens, the class started on my 49th birthday. I told her if she bought me scuba lessons I'd give up hoops ... I haven't touched a basketball since (but I have done more than 2,300 dives) ... :D

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
Well, about 15 years ago a good friend of mine and the God-Father of my daughter got certified. We lived in Ohio and I told him he was nuts, there was no where to scuba dive around us. He was always buying and selling stuff on E-Bay and then a couple of years later he actually started working part-time for the LDS servicing gear and he was always talking to me about the really cool stuff that he saw and did. He moved on to cave diving and was always telling me about various things he had done with that as well. I was getting very interested to say the least. So the seed was planted...

Six years ago yesterday, we moved to Texas. My wife and I had actually talked about getting certified off and on for a long time (the seed was growing). After two trips to Cozumel and going snorkeling both times our conversations continued and our excitement grew. This past spring while we were snorkeling on the Palancar Reef we saw three divers below us. I told my wife that was where we needed to be, 40' below the surface checking stuff out, not on the surface.

So while we were in Cozumel, I emailed my buddy in Ohio for his advice and he didn't respond, very unusual for him. After two days of him not responding I told my wife he was in Cozumel or Cancun diving, I just knew it. Upon our return to Texas he had emailed me, he was in Playa del Carmen diving while we were in Cozumel. We discussed our trips, etc. and I told him we wanted to get certified. He told me what to do and we found a LDS and let the kids do the Discover Scuba and then we signed up and did our OW classes.

We're hooked and we can't wait to get more dives in, more training and more dive trips scheduled. Fortunately we have two "hobbies" that we do can do as a family, scuba and mountain biking. We wanted to make sure that our kids could be involved with our activities because of the travel opportunities and being able to do stuff as a family.
 
Snorkeling was my entry. Too many snorkel trips in 40 feet of water...

And yes, you can dive in Ohio! :D
 
TK, Glad to know that I'm not the only one that wanted to do it for years before actually jumping in (pun intended) and doing it.

Your story also reminds me of something that I heard back in January on a fresh water spring diving trip to FL with my buddy that talked me into taking the classes. We were walking into Ginnie Springs, there were a bunch of teenagers snorkeling. I heard one of them say "here's some more SCUBA divers, lets watch then go down".
 
Snorkeling was my entry. Too many snorkel trips in 40 feet of water...

And yes, you can dive in Ohio! :D

Yeah, I know you can. My buddy used to be all gung-ho about it too, now he prefers caves in Florida or the Caribbean, nothing with cold water in it. I wish I would have done it years ago when I was there, I'm just glad that I too finally JUMPED IN!

I would like to learn to dry suit dive someday and check out the deep wrecks on the Great Lakes though.
 
I started by influence of some college friends and end up liking very much, but I got really addicted the day I first went to a shipwreck, was like diving in history itself, since then I did everything to know more, dive more, research more wrecks. Second passion, the caves, came later, but wrecks still number 1, I'm fascinated by history.
 

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