Who or What Inspired You to Dive?

[molksmith]

God I would love to get that Aqua Gum...Do you remember that stuff...

D

 

[Desa]

Hey There Folks,
With all the threads about Books, and Greatest Divers, I thought I would pose this question. What got you into Diving?
For me it was seeing those Cousteau shows when I was a little kid in the seventies.
And then pretending with a snorkel and mask in my local swimming hole.
Then I became like most of us interested in Marine Biology, I have a cousin that is a MB. And if Music would have never stolen my heart I would have pursued Marine Biology or Oceanography. In some ways getting certified and get addicted and consumed with Diving, Marine Life, Reading about these subjects is one way of
re-connecting with my earliest dreams and also discovering something totally connected to my life now.
I am curious for all of you how did it happen for you?

Fom me, I moved from Indiana to Florida in January when I was 15. The first person I met and became friends with was a guy my age who dove.

Long story made short: we took his gear, his brothers gear and off to a loca strip pit. Its funny now because his brother was about 240 pounds and Brook just strapped his weight belt on me, gave me some pointers (like don't hold your breath) and said lets go. When I did the giant stride I had so much weight on that I went straight to the bottom at about 30 ft. Brook had to come down and get me, gotta remember, there was no such thing as a "BC" in those days. We adjusted the weight belt and kept diving...I didn't get certified until they started making this silly rule ( )that you had to have a c-card in order to get air. That was a lot of dives ago.

 

[Stirling]

I grew up sailing and living by the ocean in Latin America (in Rio and then Honduras and Mexico), but I didn't get to be seriously interested in diving until I was in college and started working on my degree in archaeology. I did a lot of work on the use and distribution of marine molluscs in the Maya Lowlands (southern Mexico down to Honduras, basically, on both coasts), and was planning to continue that work in graduate school - my focus was on the archaeology and locating ancient trade routes, but a big part of it was studying the marine life the Olmec and Maya ate or used or traded for other things, etc. So I was skin diving mostly off of beaches and without SCUBA (after all, the ancient Olmec and Maya didn't have SCUBA, either), looking for certain species of molluscs (and some other species that turned up in archaeological sites or carvings), trying to determine their natural habitats and ranges, figuring out how they were captured or harvested, what they were used for, etc.

I got certified so I could dive deeper and stay longer, and because I was thinking about a career in underwater archaeology and marine biology (wanting to cover the whole subject of how ancient people in the Americas lived off the sea), but it never really worked out, and I ended up in law school.

But if anybody has a question about distinguishing artifacts made from the shells of Spondylus princeps (Pacific coast) and Spondylus americanus (Caribbean), or who was in the market for their shells about 1500 years ago, just ask!

 

[Giggi]

I got into diving for a few reasons:

-I wanted to go somewhere warm for our 10th anniversary, but hate the idea of just lying around on a beach, shopping, and drinking (definitely not a cruise ship person)
-I wanted to do something together with hubby
-Since I work at the community college that is affiliated with my LDS, classes for both of us were free
-I have been a swimmer since about the time I learned to walk
-Jacques Cousteau, National Geographic, and The Discovery Channel

 

[dbg40]

My mom died when I was a kid and I spent most of my time living with my aunt because my dad was army brass and was moved alot. My aunts neighbors, Steve and Judy took me under their wing,and it was Steve that tought me about diving. I dove for years without a c card and only got one when it became difficult to do so without one. Later, I entered the Air borne, then the Rangers and enjoyed being able to dive in places I otherwise may never have seen. To this day, diving is the most Quieting and peaceful time I know, I guess thats why I dive alone most of the time. It was nice to remember all of this ,thanks for asking.

 

[darcy]

I grew up in Panama City Beach Florida being the designated boat "watcher" for all of my spearfishing buddies. When I went off to the University of Florida I saw that they offered Scuba Diving for CREDIT, are you kidding? It took me about 2 seconds to make that decision. They also offered AOW. 2 whole semesters of diving and check out dives in the Keys, bliss.

 

[salimbag]

I just read "The Silent World." It's wonderful, a real must read. If you'd problems finding it in the past, National Geographic has been re-printing "classics." I saw it at the book store over the weekend and it's easy to find on Amazon.

Don't stop there. The Living Sea is even better!

 

[Doc]

I am quite surprised that no-one here has mentioned "The Deep" (other than one fleeting reference).

Who could forget Jacqueline Bisset? The both of them... If you remember that classic image of her doing a shore exit in that white t-shirt.

That's what did it for me!

http://www.swinginchicks.com/jacqueline_bisset.htm for a rather "Austin Powers-esque" hot babes of the 60's webpage.


Or... was it the movie I watched them film at the East end of Cayman (no joke!): http://www.allthingszombie.com/movies/shockwaves.php

Either one.

 

[bug]

I pretty much grew up in a pool. I have always (until I got older) had one in my backyard ever since I could remember. So I naturally love the water and the feeling of being weightless. I also remember ever since I was about 8 that I always wanted to ride my bike in the pool. I don't know why. It was just something that I tried to do. Clearly I wasn't very successful.

Well one day when I was about 10 or so my uncle brought over two sets of scuba equiptment to our pool. He took us all for turns exploring the deepend of the pool (maybe 8 or 10 feet). Ever since then I knew that I wanted to scuba dive.

I didn't actually start until I got to college when it was offered as a gym class.

 

[Easy Rider]

I saw "Open Water".