What inspired you to start diving?

[billamp]

My better half and I were on our 35th wedding anniversary trip and cruise to Hawaii and we wanted to do some snorkeling. (Being avid desert dwelling fish in AZ) We snorkeled at Molokini, Hanauma Bay, Kona Bay, and Poipu. After we got back to Phoenix we were talking about how great it was but wouldn't it be better to be able to stay under longer! Did a try scuba at one LDS and on the way home stopped at their other store and signed up for the OW class. Now we're finishing up our expert class and moving on to dive master.

 

[boomx5]

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.

That's kinda what got me interested also. My dad also did a little bit of diving when I was a kid. So, when I hit 15 I got a job to pay for my lessons since my parents wouldn't. My original instructor was a guy by the name of Dave Walls who owned a little shop called Scuba Sports in Citrus Heights California. He was actually a great instructor and we did our open water dives in Folsom Lake and Fort Bragg.

 

[mtldiver]

Sea Hunt for sure but I had to wait till my kids were out of college to start. Thanks Lee for the Sea Hunt tune. It brought back alot of memories. And thanks to Eric for the Freedom Plate. I'm almost set up.

 

[abies]

Well this is my second try at diving my first was about 17yr ago when I was 14 for a school trip to the coast (Edge water fortune), but I didn't keep diving afterwards with no money, no way to get to water, and no partner I did the training, got about 10 dives in with the DM and the trip and that was the end of that. Fast forward to this summer and my wifes boss who is an istructor offer to teach any one intersted as a work class. My wife who loves the water but never wanted to try diving decided to give it a go, so we took the class and here I am re-certified (in my opinion) and ready to dive, we only got a few dives in between our cert dives and here ankle surgery, but Hawaii is coming in a few months.

Now as to acctually answer the question, I just love being in the water, swimming, playing what ever.

Ben

 

[dwhthediver]

could not agree more with those that said Sea Hunt, Flipper, Jacque Cousteau specials that is what got my interest up, always wanted to try, kept going by the shop where I teach and would say to anyone in the car, I am going to do that one day, well one day came 8 years ago on a Cancun vacation when I did a DSD dive, and I was hooked!! Even though the local quarry is not anything like the carribean it is still fun

 

[ligersandtions]

My husband and I had been saving up to buy a house about a year and a half ago. We were most of the way though escrow when everything fell apart....we got our down payment back and realized we had a bunch of money and nothing to spend it on (of course, saving it wasn't an option....it was burning a hole in our pockets ).

We were getting married and going on our honeymoon to Playa del Carmen less than a month after it all fell through and he suggested getting certified so we could dive while we were in Mexico. I said I had always wanted to try diving (looking back now, I don't know if that was true or if it was always something that I just thought would be cool to do once in a while when you're on tropical vacations).

What inspired me to start diving was having some extra money that had nowhere to go plus a honeymoon....what inspires me to keep diving is totally different. Diving is an absolute obsession/addiction for me -- something I would never have guessed when we got certified.

 

[ScubaSloan]

I grew up in Boston and did not get to the ocean much except on vacation. I had snorkeled breifly and alway found it interesting but didn't have much of an occaision to keep it up. When I moved to Charlotte, my now fiance, whose father is a pilot, had been diving all over the place. I thought hey, scuba diving has always interested me, now I have the time and some spare money, why not? That is what got me into the OW class. What got me hooked was neutral buoyancy (er as close as I got in my check out dives). Nothing too exotic in the quarry but I remember thinking it was like flying, the equivalent of looking at a building from street level (or a sunken bus), but being able to fly over and explore from all angles. Or just sit there floating in space. Awesome. I can't wait to get in the water tomorrow.

 

[dmoore19]

"Twas a dark and dreary night when the captain said to Fritz"

OOps wrong story, Thanks Mike Nelson, sorry it took me so long to start. When I was 54 my wife and I were talking, I said I thought that it would be great, the seed was already planted from Sea Hunt. A couple of months later there was the trip to the LDS, which she researched and found. Then a few weeks after that it was the annual "May Sale" at the LDS, which we attended and I signed up for OW. Now when I go to the LDS, she just shakes her head and says "I don't want to know what it costs". She knows it's her fault! She started it!

 

[dkktsunami]

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

An absolutely good guess.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Sea Hunt.

My dad was an uncertified scuba diver in Hawaii in the 1950's, and when Sea Hunt came on TV (in the 60's?), we'd watch the show together and he told me about his diving. I couldn't wait to try it myself, and at age 18 (in 1976) finally got certified. I'm 51 now.

On one of my first dives after OW in 1976 I rented some extra equipment and took may dad diving (the first time for him in almost 30 years). It is a nice memory.

Best wishes.