What got you into diving?

[scagrotto]

My parents took me on my first trip to the Caribbean when I was about 11 or 12. I spent most of the week snorkeling right in front of the place we stayed, probably with gear borrowed from the owners. Did my first dive that week, too. Perhaps 30 minutes at about 30' or so with my father.

How could I not be a diver after that?

 

[Omisson]

Underwater archaeology... In Ireland.... Viking longships....


Dan-O

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[NAM001]

Sea hunt

 

[oldogre]

I snorkelled for years and fancied try dive, but was on tamsulosin ( which is a no-no for diving).At 76 I came off it and my Doctor cleared me, and so as they say the rest is history.

 

[poomero]

Thanks for all the stories about how you started.

 

[muteki]

Arthur C. Clarke.

He wrote a trilogy about his experiences diving the Great Barrier Reef and Ceylon aka Sri Lanka. I was traveling Australia while reading Reefs of Taprobane (where he dove wrecks and found ancient ruins in Sri Lanka), and it inspired me to learn to dive when I hit Cairns. It was meant to be -- I'm in love. I did 59 dives in the 6 months after that class!

 

[industrious95]

When I was a kid, we used to watch a TV show about 2 kids with a pet dolphin called "Flipper." After seeing that show, I wanted to be just like the kids in the cast.

My grandparents had a house by the beach, and I was in the surf with a snorkel, mask and fins when I was 8 years old. As soon as I could afford to take the class, I did.

 

[ReefGuy]

Grew up on the gulf, Grandfather was a guide fisherman on Charlotte Harbor, so I've always had an interest. When I started keeping my salt water aquariums, though, I had to take the plunge.

 

[drbill]

Spent part of my early childhood living on the beaches in northern Florida. Later, I was a high school swim team member back in the early 60s. We were introduced to SCUBA by an upperclassman and the rest is history. Nudges from the likes of Mike Nelson/Zale Parry and JY Cousteau helped. My college degree was in applied math and biology focusing on marine ecology and biogeography. I didn't dive often until 1969 when I moved to Catalina Island (and discovered that the pinnacle rock in the water outside my bio lab was "Mike Nelson Rock..." the pinnacle one sees as the credits roll at the end of "Sea Hunt." Been living on the island pretty much ever since and because it is surrounded by water, what else would I do?

 

[lemke]

A book my parents gave me when I was four, "You will live under the sea", and of course every episode of Jacques Cousteau. My mom was a marine biologist when I lived in Hawaii, and her co-workers asked if she would let them take me diving. Thirty six years later... still diving.

My mom worked on Coconut Island in the middle of Kaneohe Bay on Oahu. My best friend from school's dad was the director of the institute at the time, who's family all lived on the island. During the weekends, we had free reign of the place... call me lucky.