Where was your first OW dive?

[piffle]

Bonne Terre Mine in Missouri. I thought it would be cave of some sort, but it was more of an underground ampitheater with 100+ vis. It was awesome.

 

[charlesg3]

Cozumel, Mex as a "discover scuba" sort of setup. That got me interested a couple of years ago... but only now am I actually getting certified.

 

[fisheyeview]

Benwood Wreck in Key Largo. 1977. Been back over 300 times.

 

[Matt S.]

Cove 1, Alki Beach, Seattle.

salty's, seattle wa - Google Maps

But it was in December, and it was hailing on the class.

 

[Divingdispatcher]

...but when I learned to dive, 25 years ago, we did ALL our work in the ocean. There wasn't any pool work.

We met at the park near the zoo in Honolulu, and did our "book" work sitting on the grass. Then got geared up and for the second part of each class, waded into the ocean and did skills training in 4-6' of water off Waikiki Beach.

We did our checkout dives, in Haunama Bay marine park, out the other side of the Diamond Head, and it was there, that we each completed a 30' free ascent to the surface.

For the final dive, I was buddied up with one of the girls in the class, and as we went into the water, she grabbed my hand. The farther from the beach we went, and the deeper we got, the tighter her grip got! I finally moved her hand up to my wrist, and soon her grip was so tight that my hand was turning blue from lack of blood. When we got out past the reef, and the instuctor turned to us, to do the ascent, I quickly peeled her hand off my arm and slapped it in his hand, and they went to the surface. I hung there on the bottom and rubbed my hand to get the circulation going again, and waited my turn to surface. Took my regulator second stage out at his motion, looked up and swam slowly to the surface. It was the longest 45 second of my life!

So I guess my first OW experience was the first day of class, and they were all OW after that....

That would have been awesome. Studying in the grass and then walking out into the ocean. My bookwork was taught in my instructors basement and pool work was done in his indoor heated pool. Which was nice except when you needed to go to the bathroom and had to walk from pool house to the bathroom in another building in mid April in West Virginia. Nothing like being soaking wet in an 80 degree pool then walking into 50 degree wind. Brrr

 

[pelagic_by_nature]

The plane wreck at Fantasy Island, Roatan Honduras. A little over 3 weeks ago. I'm hooked.

 

[kathydee]

Did 6 DSD's in Tulemben Bali (coudn't stop ;-) - then showed for a very easy first pool session & "first OW" dive in Padang Bai Bali (blue lagoon).

Best suprise was when a tourist submarine can chugging by - none of us (including the instructor) had any idea that there was a sub in the area?

 

[diving_emtp]

Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri - 1986 SSI

 

[chrisjg04]

Molasses Reef - Key Largo

 

[eeeediver]

Seacrest Cove 1, Alki Beach, Seattle. It was in June, the water was 50F, and the viz was about 5ft. I loved it. Cove 2 is better, I've gone back for over 150 dives there. The night dives are the best there, with the Seattle skyline as a backdrop.

http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/USA_West/Washington/Seacrest/index.htm