When did you get bitten by the bug?

[Sas]

I got OW certified in February this year and was pretty hooked from about a month later when I had startled settling down and being comfortable in the water. Since April I have dived every weekend and am now starting to do midweek night dives after work. But yea, long drives to sites, it's freezing (I got certified at the end of summer ), the water conditions are often rough, viz is often poor and I am now poor too after all the money I have spent on gear but yea I just love it still! As soon as I finish my last dive for the weekend I am already thinking about the next one and I start counting down the days. 5 to go before the next one...

 

[The Kraken]

Must've been when I was about 5 years old and got a "View-Master" for Christmas. It came with several reels of underwater shots. Even showed a couple of divers. Right then and there I knew I had to be there.

And that feeling was confirmed after I saw Walt Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and my first episode of "Sea Hunt".

the K

 

[bowlofpetunias]

:blinking:I'm not obsessedask anyone who knows me :blinking: but don't ask my dive group They call me Mrs Readytodiveanytimeanywhere

Got bit by the bug snorkeling Cuasao in 97 the moment I saw that brilliant electric blue fish! I reached out but couldn't get to it.
Got certified in 98 in Sydney and found they had great blue fish too.
Came back to Oz in 99 with a camera to get pictures of the blue fish and I have been chasing them ever since.

When did I realize I was obsessed? When I got sick and my biggest fear was that I might not be able to dive

 

[aquanex]

20 years ago in Maui - Molokini Crater, Hawaii (1988). I had to get past the first ten seconds where my brain was screaming that I shouldn't be here ...and I have never been the same since! I went on to become a PADI instructor, taught for a number of years and have logged almost 2,000 dives since that fateful day. I can never get enough ocean and diving.

 

[divingdesigns.com]

I got certified in 2000. I got the bug during my open water certification in Monterey, CA. We went on a "tour" dive in between the skill testing and that's when it hit me.

 

[SoCalSwami]

Molokini Crater, Hawaii

The waters there must be contagious, because it happened to me too!

After 20 years of resort diving, I found myself on the backwall of Molokini in March of '07 (Tuesday, 13th) and experienced a life altering epiphany. Wow, I really like diving; I mean I REALLY love diving; I should be diving ALL THE TIME!

My head nearly exploded on the boat ride back from the crater thinking of all the new and marvelous dives waiting for me in my own backyard (San Diego). I even setup some long term goals about my new found love that I work on when ever possible.

My only regret in this odyssey was not feeling the bite sooner.

 

[SkipperJohn]

1957, first time had on a mask and snorkel (I was 9 years old), Cross Bay Blvd. Bridge, on the flats, saw horseshoe crabs, eels, etc.
Compound that with SEAHUNT- I was hooked...

In 1957 (well, a few years later) I was fishing for flounder on that bridge! And when I got a little older I was crabbing off the pilings (that and the railroad bridge!)

back to our regularly scheduled program...
I completed my OW cert a few weeks ago and just got my PADI card last week. Since then I have been converting all my Amex points to mileage and planning my next trip for the express purpose of diving. Also, my Infiniti, which i swore I would NEVER deface with stickers, now has dive stickers from my local shop and the shop I used in Aruba. I feel my heart racing at the prospect of buying my BC and other gear and spend at least an hour or 2 every few days on e-bay where I so far bought a light, slate, knife, whistle and fins.
but the real proof... I am and always have been a fishing nut. Since I got back from Aruba I took the boat out only once for fishing and was thinking more about diving than catching fish!

but to be honest I think the bug was always in me. I planned my vacations around aquariums and snorkeling. I love the water & marine life.

 

[DiverLS]

I got hooked the first time my instructor strapped a tank to my back and I took the regulator in my mouth. He said he could see my smile across the pool. I took in one breath and said "WOW"

That was in 89 as a Senior in College. Now I have one of those "responsible" jobs that curtails my diving. YUCK. I want to get wet so bad but I'll have to wait a few weeks.

 

[ruready7]

I always liked the water and enjoyed water skiing and knee boarding. Was going to get cert back in 1999 when at Ft Bragg but orders changed that. Got my C-card earlier this year and loving every minute of it. My dive buddy and I get excited if the viz is better than 3ft. That is bad...lol

 

[EDGE245277]

When I was 8 years old I went snorkeling in the Bahamas and I was so mad that I could only stay down for a breath hold. No one in my family dives so I did not get certified untill I was 16. Still none of my friends or family are certified at 31 they just do not know what they are missing.