From and earlier post:
When I was a boy, way back when, one of my favorite TV shows was SEA HUNT, starring Loyd Bridges as Mike Nelson. In 1962, at the age of eight, I collected trading stamps (anybody remember those?) to get my first set of snorkeling gear and taught myself how to snorkel. Three years later (1965), a friend of my parents (Harold) learned of my fascination with diving and, during one of our visits to his home, he took me out to his garage and showed me a couple of Aqualung double hose rigs that he'd had for a few years. He had been a Navy Frogman in the 1950s and had brought the rigs home with him. I drooled over the rigs and fingered the two hose regulators (DA Aquamaster). He asked me if I wanted to buy one but I didn't have any money. Then he offered to give me the rig if I would cut and trim the grass on his property for the summer.
Every Saturday, I would spend the day working, then go into the garage to look at the Aqualung rig. Then, two weeks before our agreed upon time was up, the rig disappeared from the garage. I asked Harold where it was and he wouldn't tell me. He just told me not to worry about it.
Two weeks later, I finished cutting and trimming his property and went in to close the deal. There, in his kitchen, was the rig. The tank had been hydro tested and painted. The regulator had been serviced and looked like new. Over in a corner was the other rig. It, too had been refurbished. Although we had not discussed it previously, Harold was including SCUBA instruction in our deal.
Over the winter, we went over the "head work" of diving. I learned the science of SCUBA, how to read the Navy dive tables, safety procedures, etc. In the spring, we went out to the river and I began to learn the skills I would need to dive safely: Emergency ascents, buddy breathing, how to clear the mouthpiece of a two hose regulator, calculating air consumption and timing my dives (we had no SPGs), using the J-valve on my tank, etc.
Harold was not a diving instructor, nor was he certified himself. He taught me what he had learned in the Navy and we filled our tanks (or "Lungs" as he called them) from his compressor. I dove with him and, occasionally, a couple of his buddies for the next eleven years. Then, in 1976, Harold suffered a heart attack and died suddenly. Before I had an opportunity to speak to his widow about his equipment, she disposed of it. Without that compressor, I could not fill my tank.
In 1978 (correction: 1977), I learned of a new dive shop that was opening in my town and went right in to sign up for the certification course. I told the shop owner of my experience and, instead of the usual three week course, he just had me take the written test, then had me go out with his next class to have me demonstrate my skills. After a weekend of diving, he gave me my C-card. It was a Basic Scuba Diver card but, in those days, it meant more than it does now.
I decided to upgrade to OW in 1992 and now I'm thinking about going for AOW.
