What made you get into SCUBA?

[peter]

Fear of hearing this word while i was in the water.I was always left in the boat line fishing as all my friends went diving. After aboot 200 times of seeing everybody that went down had come back up i finaly got the courage to give it ago. Now i find i cant get enough of the toothy little bugger's. Am trying to make up for aboot 10 yrs of lost dive time.

 

[FinMeister]

This is fun. Hadn't thought about how I got started in a long time.

Many (many!) years ago a friend asked me to help repair his boat dock. Part of the work had to be done underwater. My friend had an old double hose Navy scuba rig and he showed me how to use it. So I strapped it on and went down. Aside from the fact that my ears hurt -- my friend's 'orientation' didn't give me a clue about equalizing or breath-holding -- the uw sensation was great. Lots of fish, etc. I was hooked -- no pun intended.

Shortly afterward I enrolled in a scuba course, where I learned how lucky I was that I hadn't blown out an ear or a lung.

Warren

 

[svs3]

those are the reasons I started diving. A little a confusing. Let me explain.

Jaws - When I was nine I saw JAWS for the first time on my way to Hawaii. Seeing that movie and taking that trip at that time iginited in me a lifelong love of the sea.

NASA - I really began to get interested in diving around the age of sixteen when it became clear to me that for a variety of reasons I would not become an astronaut. My initial attraction to diving was because the underwater environment is the most alien on earth. And I if I couldn't "explore" space I would just have to "explore" the next best thing. Now it's not so alien just beautiful and awe inspiring.

Oh yeah, being a certified gearhead, I think the gear's kinda of cool to.

Sam

 

[Mitch]

I have heard that when "Jaws", then "The Deep" came out, it actually hurt the diving industry for good while afterwards. Folks were afraid to get in the water as a result of "Jaws" and thought diving was dangerous as a result of "The Deep". I know the "The Deep" has it completely wrong in one spot. If someone would have shot to the surface in the manner that Jackie Bisset's character did in the opening, they would have been dead before they hit the surface. However, that is Hollywood for you.

I do get asked by non-divers if I am ever worried about sharks and I just bust up laughing. They do not believe it when I tell them that it is very rare that you see a shark and when you do, it is hard to get close to it.

 

[sea nmf]

While growing up, my mother always told me that I would drown if I went swimming without her watching me. I was terrified of the water.

At 19 years old, I moved to Hawaii. The water was beautiful and my brother visited me and taught me to snorkle. (There were medical reasons at the time that the DR. said I should not SCUBA).

Moved back to the Seattle area at 24 years old. My father had a cabin on Hood Canal. I simply wanted to see what was under the surface. The water is so full of algae bloom that you could not see from anything from surface snorkling.

So, I simply decided to take SCUBA. Now, each and everytime I am around salt water, I want to get in. I think I was some sort of sea creature in a prior life . . . .

 

[Kane(adian)]

Too many laps around the local pool snorkeling got boring, so after a few years, I just recently completed my OW. Love the water, love to swim, just hate having to come up for air, and always wanted to go DEEPER than I could hold my breth to.

 

[Natasha]

Mitch,
Just three weeks ago I dove the Rhone in the British Virgin Islands.
That's the wreck they used in the movie The Deep.
Great Dive.
:sunny:

 

[greg somers]

What a load of crap about the moray though...didn't know that then...They're just like puppies if treated right.
Hey neil...Typical CA...probably called "Cage Divers are us"
Heheh...and Jbd....you did see me as a stripper..and you tipped me with a tenspot...heheheh (you can do marvels when you shave your chest) :whoa:
Cheers Ears,
There can be only one,
The Gasman

 

[Louie]

a) Fixation with colourful fish

b) Took a trip to the Cook Islands a couple years ago and after some wonderful outings on the various incredible places complete with snorkeling, I realised there was more to life than 3 metres.

 

[Tavi]

In 1994 I went snorkeling while in the Bahamas.I didn't care for it much(the Sea was rough that day and the sights weren't that great).
On part of that same trip I walked by a dive shop in Key West.They had a sign out front for Certification in 3 days. I thought that would be really cool to do. After a few days I forgot about it (but I think the seed was planted).
6 Years later (fall of 2000), while on vacation in Grand Bahama, there was a free intro to scuba in the pool at the resort we were staying at. I thought I would just go down and watch. I watched and listened for all of a minute before I wanted to be a part of what was going on. After the pool session was a shallow reef dive for those that were interested. $75, I wasn't going to do that either til my wife said go ahead if you want. We were vacationing with 2 other couples and none of us wanted to do anything that would interfere with our Vacation "Together" But, I was also real tired of hearing, "I don't know, what do you want to do?" "Oh I don't care, what do you want to do?" After the shallow reef dive I was hooked, I was amazed at what was down there, and how cool it was to be there. I gladly shelled out more $$ and time to get my certification.
Since then my wife and son have gotten certified also. Now I just wish she didn't mind cold water Diving. I'm [red]not[/red] getting wet often enough, and there is a lot to see near home.

Mitch, sure you can get close to sharks. and yes you can see them often. although This is close enough for me.

Tavi