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Certified in 68 in Pittsburgh by Don Wright at Hydro Terra, Unlimited (still have my original C-card). Dove til 74 or so...then time, money, school, family, and life took me away from the sport until last year, when a friend convinced me to take a 'fresher course. About 75 dives later, here I am.
Fighting over the Internet is like competing in the Special Olympics.
Even if you win, you still ride home on the ..................................:shortbus:
PS, I only look like my avatar from the shoulders up!
Ceritifed in 1971...dove fairly regularly until around 1988 then took a break to raise the kids (and got hooked on mountain biking in the process). Both sons took up diving last year so naturally "dad" got back to it and one year and almost 100 dives later all three of us are regular divers...great times!
NASDS OW at age 14. Dove every chance I could - which wasn't often as I couldn't drive and no one else in my family dove.
SSI Senior 2 years later. My parents thought it would be a good idea for more training. If I was lucky I got 2-3 days of diving a year.
Attended UC San Diego and dove quite often, too bad I didn't really log any of it. 2 years later transferred to UC Santa Barbara to work the University ambulance. Did a lot of diving there and took the UC 100 hr/12 dive course. That was a great course.
Graduated and got a real job in the San Jose, CA area. Fortunately some of my college friends were near by and I was able to dive several times a year in Monterey. Don't remember exactly when but somewhere along the way I picked up a drysuit (I'm skinny and I freeze).
Changed jobs and moved inland (Fresno) and didn't have a buddy... Took up whitewater rafting...
5 years later I got married and my husband took us to CanCun. I told him he was diving... He had so much fun he got fully certified when we got home and we dove several times a year until I got pregnant. Short hiatus, and then back to diving. Pregnant again and life got too busy.
A dive or two when we went to Maui and hired a babysitter. Then a 6 year hiatus until our 10th anniversary trip to Cozemel. Great trip, but we came back on 9/10/01 and it wasn't appropriate to talk about it. By this time my husband didn't want any more cold water diving and we were busy with kids, whitewater rafting, and a major career change (Airline Captain to Physician Assistant).
Fast forward 9-1/2 years. Boys now 16 and 18, with the oldest trying scuba in a huge temporary pool at the BSA National Jamboree. I thought it would be fun to take the family to San Diego (as close as we could afford to warm water) for some diving. My BSA Venture Crew decided independently they all wanted to learn Scuba, and they needed a Divemaster (or better) to supervise. So... I'm now a Divemaster.
I really think it keeps you young to take a substantial training course at least every 10 years. Most of my crew never followed through on learning scuba, but I'm glad I did with divemaster. For me it's like riding a bike, but then again I've always felt comfortable underwater (even during my first OW dive where the viz was such that my mask was dislodged at least 3 times by my instructors fins - I was following so close).
Do I intend to keep diving? YES, especially with all the money I've just spent. Never went lake diving before the DM course, but have found it intriguing (and wet). Also it's a lot of fun to introduce youth to the sport - I'm helping with a lot of intro dives for scouts.
Met a group of HS kids who dove in '77. They had me read the Navy Dive manual, and tested me on it. Then we snuck into the Portland Cement Quarry in Bethlehem, PA to practice. From there, it was every available moment to dive quarries, NJ shore dives and wrecks. Spearfishing and bugs! Even had a chance when the owner of Sea World Divers in Allentown wanted us to buy shares in Dutch Springs (why didn't I!!).
Started college, had to get certified to buy air. Certified by the late, great Art Clemens, Jr. in '79. Moved to State College, home of the awesome PSU Nittany Divers in '85. Dove my little fins off. Slowed down with Kid 1 in'89. Slowed down more with Kid 2 in '92. Went to black and white in '96 with Kid 3. (disclaimer- I love my family. I just wasn't there for me anymore.)
Along the way, found out disasterous truth about husband- he was ----> a TIDY BOWL DIVER!
Moved to a new house, new town, new people. I knew I couldn't stop. Took kids to pools for babyswim and kid swim, as well as family swim. Got tanks hydroed so i could go out and dream in 8 feet of water, alone. (this is the part where everyone out there is getting a tear in their eye). Heaven was a call from old buddies who came through town, "wanna dive?".
....................
Got kid 1 and 2 certified in '04!
They didn't like it. I snorkelled a LOT, and dove now and then, alone.
...............
Went to Maine vacation in '09. Snorkel offshore. Kid 3 has a blast, so we go to Dutch Springs and snorkel.
Kid 3 gets certified in '10. Instructor is. . . not having him read the Navy dive manual, but is flipping his chart and having him fill in the blanks. Pthhh, but I have a certified diver. Diver? A child. My child. Who is a frighteningly bad diver. We go to Dutch and try to stay safe and shallow to work on the bouyancy. I need to find a good intructor- good with young people, good at teaching SCUBA - safe and simple. We dove a dozen dives, and snorkelled our fins off.
So. . .now an old lady wants to dive again. Kid 3 is off having his own summer. I take some classes. I know my bouyancy has changed, and I want to work on it. When I'm in the water, I'm alive and life is normal. 9 dives in this year. I seek out local clubs, and everyone is nice, but I feel like a shy, chubby old lady, with no buddy.
Getting back in the water again is neccessary. Gear? check.
Yep. NASDS certified in 1972 at 16. Dove a couple years but when my dive buddy and brother in law became my ex bro in law, it sort of ended my diving. Fast forward to 2005 when I got re-certified, and now 400 dives later, I'm still making up for lost time.
"Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong"....Leo Buscaglia
"Where there is shouting there is no true knowledge......Leonardo da Vinci
certified back in the mid-1970's. served as a rescue diver for a while and worked in EMS. Change of career and life kept me from diving for 17 years until i went for a dive on a cruise with my brother and 2 friend who never dove before. Decided that i really liked it could not remember why i stopped diving. Took a refresher and 2 years later with 200+ (on top of the couple of hundred from years back) dives I love it again!
I did my OW cert in 1968 when I lived in Freeport (Bahamas) but left there in '70 and have only snorkelled a few times since. I've just completed the PADI OWD course and will do the open water dives next month in Puerto Vallarta. Then I'm going to Freeport in January for 10 days of diving!
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