What inspired you to start diving?

[TheCanuck]

My dad took up diving in 05. I would go with him to the LDS and pick up gear and bring in his tanks to get filled up. Out of curiosity I took him up on an offer to try it out under supervision of a divemaster from the LDS in a local college's pool. I liked the experience and had fun but was already involved in other bank account draining hobbies. The prices on ammo are insane but I digress.

Anyways, in 07 my dad passed away on a dive and that upset me alot. I thought about it for a long time and decided I wanted to dive the spot where he passed one day.

In 08 I went on a cruise with some diver friends of mine who are OW certified. I couldn't go on dives with them and I missed on some good diving in Honduras and Cozumel. Being that everyone of them was talking about how awesome it was to dive, that I'd give it a try. I did a Discover Scuba dive in Grand Cayman and once again in Cozumel and I was hooked.

I got certified in May and am just back from another cruise with the same friends, this time we dived together in St Thomas, St Lucia and St Kitts and had a blast. It only cimented my desire to see more of what's underwater and now I want to get more certifications. Being a huge WWII history nut, diving wrecks is high on my list of things to do. There's a Nitrox cert class next tuesday and I'm thinking I'll probably go.

I have yet to dive where my dad had his accident because it currently exceeds my qualifications as a diver, but I will someday for sure. In the mean, I try to load my diver's log and get more experience in the warmer southern waters.

 

[gcbryan]

It's hard to say actually but there was a show on TV when I was a kid, "Flipper", and scuba was involved. There was Jacques Cousteau and his films as well. I didn't actually get around to doing it until years later on vacation in Kauai where I loved to snorkel so I tried scuba (no cert).

I got certified locally (PNW) a few years later.

I think when there are interesting shows on TV involving scuba when you are a kid it does plant a seed if you are prone to these kinds of activities in the first place.

I'm sure the first time I really thought about flying a private plane was watching the show "Sky King" as a kid.

Learning to rock climb was just happenstance. A friend was doing it so there probably is no rhyme nor reason to why people do things!

 

[DiveMom1]

I too was first inspired by books, magazines and TV. Books like 20,000 leagues.. Moby Dick... shows like Flipper, Sea Hunt and my all time hero Jacques Cousteau . I used to sleep with National Geo under my pillow and colored and painted the ocean on my bedroom wall at 7. Considering my mother didn't make me wash it off it was worth the whoooopin'

In the 80's I had the chance of a LIFETIME to join a Cetation Research Team in BC for a couple of months. I decided it was just plain stupid to be the only person in the group that couldn't scuba dive. I took private lessons [a disaster] and the team got me set up pretty well by the end of the trip.

Except for the birth of my kids it is still the highlight of my life! I'm glad to say my kids started in the ocean at just a few months.. and by the time they were 3-4 I had to work to keep up with them on the reefs. Now they all scuba dive and can hardly remember a time when they didn't.

 

[rwgodfrey]

Neither me nor any of my family spent any time around the water. We rarely went to the beach and never spent time on the lake.

My daughter is a senior in high school this year. For awhile she had been saying that she wanted to major in marine biology or some related field.

During this past summer, I had this thought that 1) being scuba certified might look good on her college applications, and 2) it would be a good idea to find out NOW if she would like diving. It would have been bad for her to plan college around that major and then find out that she just couldn't handle being under the water.

So in a space of about 2 hours from having this thought (irrational as it may have been), I had signed her, my son (a senior in college), and myself up for OW classes.

Four months later, my son and I are diving every chance we get, my daughter has stopped diving and has changed her major to Chemistry.

 

[DCBC]

Mike Nelson

Me too. Imagine a TV show setting someone's career into motion?! Weird.

The first episode was called "Sixty Feet Below." Imagine, WOW! I can see why he needed a set of doubles.

 

[dkktsunami]

Kids gave wife scuba lessons for Xmas and I was "urged" to go along. It has become a pleasant addiction for one of us ..............

 

[RJP]

Kids gave wife scuba lessons for Xmas and I was "urged" to go along. It has become a pleasant addiction for one of us ..............

I'm guessing that would be the "one of you" who has nearly 1,000 SB posts?

 

[DennisS]

When I was a teenager, the mens adventure magazines of the 60s, True, Argosy, always had stories about the treasure being found off of Florida. Cousteau's series was on the television. I wanted to treasure hunt and see the reefs. I moved to Florida and became a diver as soon as I got out of the military. My life has pretty much been centered on the ocean since then.

 

[AfterDark]

SEA HUNT! Then when I started 8th grade, my mech. drawing teacher made the mistake of telling me he was a scuba instructor! Man did he regret that for the rest of the year! I bugged him 7 ways to Sunday to accept me into a scuba class! At that time 16 was the min. age, I was 14 he kept saying no, I kept coming back with new reasons why he should say yes. I brought a note in from my parents saying it was cool with them and they wanted me to learn (they wanted me to SHUTUP about it!) At the end of the year, a long one for him. He told me that next year the 1st class would start in March and if I still wanted to learn I could sign up for it!! That summer I lived in the water! Practicing the swimming quals over and over and free diving every chance I got fresh, salt water didn't matter. I started the class in March finished in May. He held off giving me a c-card until I turned 16. In the mean time he filled my new 72 steel tank and took me diving. He also introduced me to the Bay State Frogmen, those are the guys who really taught me to dive. Tough men that did not suffer fools gladly. If I messed up they told me and taught me how to fix it. I'm convinced those 1st few years gave me the foundation to dive smart and safe for all these years.

 

[Rick Murchison]

...I want to know what you saw, heard, or what it was exactly that planted the seed in your mind to become a diver...

Tasty fresh fish.

Rick