Why Do You Dive? / Why Did You Start?

[lakesdiver]

Why I started: Lloyd Bridges & Jacques Cousteau (jeez, I'm old!)

Why I continue: because I know of no other activity that teaches me so much, is so visually interesting, feels so good, & has so many sociable afficionados. (and, no, not even what you're thinking)

 

[ebbtide]

as most of us divers think back to just when and what
that infamous name comes back to haunt us Jacque Cousteau
i remember being a kid in the bath tub with a scuba mask my mother baught me , prenting to be on some underwater quest !
lol with Jacque i knew then that some day i was going to be a scuba diver , then after the teenage sceen and first wife out of the way . I rediscovered diving with a friend who was allready certifyed he dident have to twist my rubber arm mutch to intrest me back into it . now he gave up diving and i am forced to go alone . but no way am i ever going to give up my hopes and dreams from when i was a wee lad in a bath tub with an imagnation ! its a shame a lot more kids arnt like that instead of the music,drugs,etc !

 

[ScubaBaby]

When I was 15, my dad did his Open Water. I was completely against it - I hate being out of my depth!

My dad and his instructor tried to get me and my mum into a try-dive. We ended up buckling to shut them up - at which point were we're treated horribly but another instructor who was due to take us out. We both freaked at him, chucked out wetsuits and BCD (no tank attached - damn!) at him and told him to "shove it!"

My dads instructor took us out with a couple of other guys after hours and it was brilliant. My mum hated it but since she has been trying for my dads sake to get into it.

The following year, we went back to the same resort and I trained for my Open Water with the same instructor who did my first ever dive!

So I guess I have my dad to blaim!

 

[Newhampster]

Scuba was one of those things I've always wanted to do but never got around to it. Well...in 96, on vacation in the Bahamas, I did a resort course with my then 25-year old son and decided I wanted to get certified. That took another 4 years...and since then, I wonder why the heck I waited so long.

 

[MNScuba]

I guess I can answer the "Why did you start" portion at least!

We went to California one year to visit my Uncle who happened to have a ScubaPro dive shop and school there (He's known as "Charlie Tuna" if any of you Californian's may have heard of him), anyway... I thought that was really neat, and he ended up taking us on his boat with the students for their certification dive (must have been a fairly advanced class). After they were done, my Uncle loaned me a wetsuit and snorkel setup and had me jump into the cold water... I was hooked right away. After about 5 minutes of snorkeling I went down about 5-6 feet and saw something big come at me and then move away... startled I came to the surface and to my pleasant surprise it turned out to be a seal! We looked at each other for about 10 seconds (felt like 10 minutes) and then he swam off. That was THE coolest thing I think I have ever experienced and about 20 years later I am finally taking the steps to finish my goal and begin diving.

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

Well that's an interesting question. I must confess the reason I started was from very mild cases of claustrophobia and hydrophobia. (I have a very bad water/closet experience as a young child) What keeps me going is the bottle nose dolphins I frequently encounter, the beauty and the diverse things that I find interesting.

Ed

 

[trymixdiver]

Good question

When i lived in NZ we spent every weekend on the boat fishing while my dad dove. I was just always amazed as a kid to see my dad go under the water and come up 40 min later. Amazing thing to see as a kid, i alwayswanted to do it, so i did!

TMD

 

[daisho]

Well I've had a craving to dive (I don't know why) for a few years. I've always loved the water and couldn't get enough of it. Last summer I finaly was in a finacial postion to "Take the Plunge"

Now I dive at least once a week and my fiance thinks I'm leaving her for the deep. I'm totally hooked

 

[AliKat]

I had orders to Guam. I looked on a world map, saw this little tiny dot with the word Guam written over and a whole lot of blue around it. Figured I'd better find something to do in the water or I would quickly go insane.

It was a great move. I spent a great 32 months on that Island, am now living on my second (sub) tropical island and am hoping for Hawaii from here.

 

[luvdiving]

Why? - I dive to see things I've never seen before, to challenge the reef for lobster, to take pictures for my scrapbook and in general just to experience the underwater world.

Why did I start? - I was stationed on the Pacific side of Panama (Corozal) in the early 80's. A group from my unit went on a weekend camping/dive/party trip to an area near Portobello on the Atlantic side and I went along just to party. One of the guy's offered to show me how to Scuba and loaned me his gear. After a 5 minute block of instruction, I was diving.

I bought my own gear at the PX (no C card required) and had someone with a C card fill my tanks for me. It wasn't until a year later after lots of dives that I had one of my dive buddies teach me the tables and certify me. Lucky for me all of our dives were shore dives and we didn't go too deep.

I know now that I could/should have had some serious problems doing the things we did. Now that I'm an Instructor, I would have a heart attack if one of my students did what I used to do. Live and learn, I guess. Anyway, everything turned out for the best and that's my story.:boom: