Remember your first dive?

[kmarks]

August 10th, 2013. Dive 6 in my log book. I had been certified for a month and a half, my wife had just done her open water check out the weekend before. We had our own 3/2 wetsuits, masks, fins, snorkels we sure as hell weren't going to use, and computers. We first had to drive half an hour to the shop to rent the rest of the gear, then another two hours to the quarry where we did our check out dives and planned to do some additional skill practice that day. Barely out of the neighborhood, we nearly hit a dog that was running around in the road, so we stopped to pick her up and help her get home, but she didn't have any tags, so we knocked on every door within two miles (4 of them - this is rural Iowa, after all), then took her to a nearby vet to have them scan for chip. No chip. So we dropped her back off at home, with our own dog who wasn't too happy about this new usurper in our house, printed up flyers with her picture and details about where we found her, put them in mailboxes around the area we picked her up, then made our way to the shop.

We get there with no additional animal encounters, but, plot twist! They are currently training their biggest class yet and they have one regulator available to rent. For two of us. But wait, there is one that just finished a rebuild, you can use it, but it doesn't have a computer on the console. No biggie, I'm going to take the console off anyway and put my AI in it's place, and we're ready to go. Plot twist! Only one BC, too! That's ok, I'll rent the BP/W I've been considering trying out. Plot twist! The last person to wear that harness must have outweighed me by 300 lbs so it takes quite a while to get it adjusted to me, but with our gear in hand, we finally make our way to the second shop, which runs the quarry. They copy our C cards, we get the code for the gate, and after a stop for food, we make our way to the water.

Wife goes in first, no problems. I gear up, inflate the wing, in I go, no problems. We get ready to descend, I release a little air and drop like a rock. It's a cold water quarry and when we checked out in 7 mm with hoods and gloves, I had 14 lbs, so I thought, switching to 10 in a 3/2 seemed reasonable. Nope. Took out 4 lbs. Still too heavy. Took out 3 more. Still too heavy. Took off the entire weight belt. Still heavy, but manageable with no other options. The dive shop owner forgot to point out that, yeah, this back plate? 6 lbs of stainless steel. Oh, and that STA? 4 more. Actual diving was fine, we practiced the skills we went there for, I caught the BP/W bug, and found the dog's owner the next day (she was mad at us because we should have just left the dog alone).

December 12th, 2013. Dive 10. Palancar Gardens, Cozumel. My first real dive. The only thing I wrote in my log book was "12 lbs - Overweighted." But I remember waiting on the dock for the boat to show up as my very nervous wife went back and forth between going and not going, the DM stopping the briefing to make sure she was ok once we were on the boat (she ended up fine), and telling myself to remember to soak it in and recognize how amazing this was while I was experiencing it.

 

[islanddream]

I had to pull out my dive log from Chico's in Puerto Vallarta to read about my first dive on December 27, 2001. Diving in the Pacific Ocean in December is a bit chilly, but what did I know. The instructor put me in a 5mm shortie and 16 pounds of lead. My husband and I were both doing our check out dives to be certified by Chico's Dive Shop. We went to a site called Los Archos. When we went into the water off the boat, just below the surface there were hundreds of thimble jellies and wow did we get stung! The surface water was 73 degrees and at depth (40') it was 72 degrees with 15 feet of viz. Ugh! By the time we were done with our second dive I'm pretty sure I was close to being hypothermic. I was shivering uncontrollably and couldn't warm up. The next day the the instructor put me in a full 7mm with a 3 mm shortie over it. I guess he felt sorry for me My first dive was one to be remembered but not repeated!

P.S. The ocean here in Jupiter, FL, has been cold for the last couple weeks. 63-70 degrees at depth a few days ago. So guess who's not diving???? I'm praying to the warm water gods for nice water on Friday!

 

[Saltyhawg]

First dive after OW cert was Cozumel-Tormentos. At least we had the good sense to hire a private DM for the day. Max depth 64'...SAC 0.761. I remember the exhilaration and a twinge of nervousness. The dive lasted all of 37 minutes. I remember the next day we did Columbia Deep (90') and Shallow. The beauty and diversity of life were amazing and were hooked for life.

If only I could get my wife to dive our freshwater lakes (she only likes high vis ocean dives) we would be a perfect match!

 

[Compressor]

I can't remember my first dive as its been so long ago. I only thing I do remember is when I was on kneeling waiting for my instructor to come by and test my skills. I waited, waited and then waited even more. Viz was maybe 10 feet. I said to myself what would happen if something goes wrong?? He eventually showed up and I did a few things like reg clearing and air sharing.

Boy, I wish I was young again.

 

[MrBigfins]

Discover scuba dive in Puerto adventuras with my son. Wasnt planned, just a spontaneous decision after other plans fell through. Was amazed at how lovely the reef was, saw a turtle, a 3' blowfish, a couple sting Ray's, barracuda, and a brief glimpse of an eagle ray. Now we are both hooked, I'm aow and he has his ow cert. Hitting Dutch for a 3 day weekend next week and 37 days until a 20+ dive trip in Cozumel with EAN certification. Will be financially poorer with this obsession, but rich in experiences.

 

[Jeepster]

I dove the La Ceiba airplane wreck. 20 minutes of the basics on the beach with a divemaster then into the water for a half hour dive. I didn't equalize fully, so my ears were full the next day, but I knew then I wanted to get certified.

 

[Dogbowl]

Spontaneous cruise ship excursion in 2004. DSD. Cozumel. North of town (?). Instructor was originally from Puerto Vallarta. Participants included a solo Japanese girl, myself and my husband. The girl didn’t speak very much English but obviously dived before and had her own matching yellow fins, mask and snorkel. Her bathing suit was also yellow. We watched a DVD, learned to equalize, geared up, crossed the street, and dived from shore. I dived to a whopping depth of 0 feet, and watched the girl and my husband descend deeper to maybe 10-20 feet. The instructor signed to me, “You wanna come down?” I signed back, “No”. I wasn’t ready. Instructor signs back, “OK”. He points out a crab. I see it and smile. Then I get swarmed by a bunch of snorkelers who were probably wondering what this woman was doing scuba diving on the surface.

 

[Marie13]

First dive after OW. Gilboa Quarry in Ohio. Fall Meet and Greet of the Great Lakes Wrecking Crew. I was scared sh*tless. I was all over the place. The training platforms weren’t the nice ones on the bottom like at my home quarry. They were suspended 10ft off the bottom. That scared me more. Huge catfish. I remember cursing it from above and hoping it stayed on the bottom. It did.

The leader of the group, an older fellow, had told the folks I was diving with to take me over the schoolbus, where all the fish come out, expecting to get fed. No one told me this. All these fish came out of nowhere straight at me. I went vertical and put my arm up instinctively to shield my face! They went by me as we had no fish food. I remember how solid the thuds were of the fish hitting my legs.

 

[flyboy08]

What was the question again?

I remember my class, I do not recall my first dive, but I was in college in Florida and I'm sure it was the Keys or possible Ponce deLeon springs....a mind is a terrible thing to waste!

 

[BalekFekete]

I remember it like it was yesterday ... probably because for all intent purposes it was.

The Mrs. and I concluded our certification dives over a weekend in early June at Dutch Springs. Saturday was a day of three dives, the first of which started poorly for my wife as she had trouble equalizing with a thick hood on. After ditching the hood all was well and we proceeded through the morning two dives completing all the skills with relative ease. The third dive in the early afternoon was pure misery as everyone was REALLY cold even above that first thermocline.

Upon coming back the next morning, the final dive with our instructor was a pure pleasure given it was nothing but a guided tour of the more basic attractions without any skill tests remaining to perform. We surfaced, had our log books signed, and voila, we're certified divers. My wife and I look at each other inquisitively with the "dare we?" gleem in our eyes. Channeling my best impression of Tom Cruise from Risky Business and say "What the ****." I take a pair of tanks up, fill them, and my wife and I plan out our first dive as certified divers together.

We planned to take the same initial route of our 4th cert. dive, but instead of heading to a small sunken boat at 40' we'd head off towards the center of the quarry to 55' and the submerged school bus. Everything was great, we're having the time of our lives just the two of us, dare I say marvelling at the other students that were on the platforms as we passed by (I'll admit it...I puffed my chest out just a tad ). But...unfortunately, as we followed the navigation line down towards the bus, the cold took it's toll on the wifey. About half way there, she stops, signals me that the cold is too much, and we turn the dive around. While we weren't able to accomplish the ultimate goal, I was thrilled that not only did we get down on our own, followed our plan, but also had the understanding how to adapt to conditions we couldn't have known and keep ourselves safe throughout.

Now I've got the diving bug hardcore and find myself daily either thinking on how I can complete my gear setup, or how I can figure out when our next dive will be. The wife isn't quite there yet, but I'm sure with another set of warmer dives, she'll get there. Can't wait to see where this new joint hobby takes us over the next decade or three!