Who or what or how did you get into diving??

[AandA]

I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to swimming…..I didn’t learn to swim until I was ten.   My Mom does not swim, and is still a bit scared of the water!  I watched the reruns of Sea Hunt.  But the real spark was seeing the Jacques Cousteau series on television.  Then a year later “Minnesota School of Diving” started a shop (sadly it didn’t last long) up in Bemidji where I lived.  I bugged my Mom and Dad until I was able to get a pair of fins, mask and snorkel.    Wow.  Snorkeling was great.  But of course who wants ta stay at the surface.  Diving down to look at stuff is pretty cool  8) 8).  Then of course the “Give a mouse a cookie” concept was in play : .  I wanted SCUBA lessons!!!!!   I used to go to the college pool each Saturday during the winter and practice with my fins and mask.  My Dad finally relented and said that he and my mother would agree to lessons, but only AFTER I could prove to him that I was ready.  His idea of ready was to throw my fins, snorkel and mask into the pool along with two big rubber coated brick-like things into the deep end.  The brick weighed about five pounds each.   The idea was that I would have to dive into the pool and try to find the gear, put it on, get the bricks and come back to the surface on one breath.  Needles to say this was not something Ic ould do on the first try.  Well this was just the right kind of challenge.  By spring I was able to do it reliably without a problem.   My parents set me up with lessons through MSD, and I got my first C-card, NASDS.  My Mom in later years told me that she was TERRIFIED each time she saw me submerge, remember she could not swim.   I owe my folks BIG for my life-long love of this sport.  Who in their right mind back in the early seventies would have allowed, yet alone challenged and supported a ten year olds dream to become a SCUBA diver.   Cousteau might have given me a spark, but what REALLY got me into SCUBA was the challenge and support of my parents!
Thanks Mom and Dad ;D ;D