Like many of you, I grew up watching Sea Hunt, Flipper and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. I knew from the first time I ever saw these shows that scuba diving was what I wanted to do someday. For some reason or another, though, I kept putting it off and putting it off, even with dive shops in close proximity of my home.
After my mom passed away, however, I decided it was time. I had just done a short feature story on a local scuba instructor that offered private lessons and I was nearly persuaded, until I saw how expensive private instruction was. Then, I covered our state swim meet for our paper and one of the local swimming coaches told me she taught scuba and invited me to a Discover Scuba day they were having at their local pool. I jumped at the opportunity, and when I took my first breath from the regulator...you could not have wiped the smile off my face with a beach towel! My only regret is that I didn't get certified when I was in college (or even before that). :diver:
