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

[Magelk]

This was a pretty popular topic over on scubaboard so I thought it might work here too. Plus I've been off work a few weeks and I'm bored out of my skull.

Here's my boring story,
20 years ago,1986, we're sitting around the barracks at Ft. Lewis slamming down a bunch of beer. (ME,nooo,>) Someone gets to talking about what he was going to do after he got out of the army. It's pretty common to hear soldiers talking about the huge piles of money they were going to make after they finished their time. Anyway, he had said he was going to be an underwater welder. Sounded ok to me, so 3 of us started checking out possibilities,bought a dive magazine or something, and we discovered there actually were schools for commercial diving and your school cash from the military would apply. At the bottom of the ad it said, "must have open water certification" or something to that effect. So we go down to the nearest dive shop and sign up. It was the coolest thing I ever experienced. We dove a little around puget sound and then were sent to Korea for a year. That temporarily ended the diving. Then my 2 buddies both get out and I have no dive buddies. So I fell away, did a few dives in Grand Cayman in 95, (honeymoon :-[) and then fell away again. So about one year ago, a friend loans me "The Last Dive" and I can't get diving out of my head. Took a refresher and have made about 14 dives since. Including a few in cozumel a few weeks ago.

OK so there's my exciting dive life, lets hear yours!!

[decoeric]

I was snorkeling in St Thomas in 1996, in 50' feet of water over a wreck and there were divers below me swimming around and through the wreck. I was thinking to myself how much cooler that was than what I was doing. I was in St Thomas in March, I came home and was a Certified Diver 3 months later. Learning to dive was the best thing that I ever did. It is something that everyone should exprience even if it is just in a pool...

[plmnwater]

I had the opportunity to go to Grand Cayman, and figured I couldn't go down there without getting underneath the water to see all the cool stuff up close.

[Mark Y]

In high-school, a friend of mine took diving classes (he went to some summer prep-school for marine biology and needed the certification).  Then he went on to ice dive, that's when I thought, 'Man, ain't that the sh!t'.  From then on I wanted to be certified.  A few years later, relating this to my broski, we dared each other into cerification.  And I love ice-diving...  ;D, and that alone proves I'm certified!

[ranger979]

I've wanted to dive for as long as I can remember.  However, it was in '79 that I finally did anything about it.  I was in the Army and was sent to Panama for a few weeks right after they signed the Panama Canal Treaty, returning the Canal back over to the Panamains.  Right off base there is a ship in shallow waters that you can dive. 

I would have loved to dive it but wasn't certified and didn't have any opportunity while down there so after getting back to Savannah, GA. a few buddies and I got certified.

Unfortunately, I was reassigned further inland to Fort Bragg, NC shortly after that and didn't have easy access to the ocean so I ending up waiting until last year before I started diving again.  Back then I never even considered inland diving.

Tim

[MNLakeDiver]

I have always been a swimmer. I was on the swim team, a lifegard,lead boyscout snorkaling trips, and recently found out I had been a free diver
any way my wife and I were on vacation and she wanted to lay in the sun and relax. I do not do well with direct sunlite for long and keep bugging her. untill she said to go away and find anything else to do but bug her. thats when I found out about the PADI descover scuba class. So I did that and 2 OW dives then came back to MN and finnished up

[LKunze]

I somehow became obsessed with wanting to dive as a teenager.  I was always into swimming and snorkeling.  I had the opportunity to take the PADI OW class back in 1987 at a local state college and I passed the written exam and pool test but never was able to take the open water portion.  I lived in an area with no decent diveable lakes within reasonable distance.  I didn't end up getting back into diving and getting certified until 4 years ago.  Now I usually get in about 60 to 70 dives per year locally and in Wisconsin between Spring and Fall.  I have yet to dive in saltwater but that will change in July when I go to the Bahamas.

[aristoff]

For years we lived near a dive shop in Long Lake, I would go into the shop to look at the gear and talk about the training.  after many years looking and not leaping I took the training last year.

I started out with the idea of only purchasing my reg. and wetsuit, well that lasted for a month before I purchased everything that I would need.

I have yet to dive saltwater, but that will change this June with a dive to San Diego (anyone with recommendations for dive operators).  I can only say that this is the most rewarding sport I have found.

thanks to all on this board who have given their opinion when asked. ;D

[shamre]

I grew up watching cousteau on TV and was in awe of the things they did and saw while diving. I also would watch any shows i could in regards to pirates, sunken treasure and such and was fascinated by Mel Fisher and the gold he found on the Atocha. I always wanted to be a diver and it wasn't until i was in my early twenties that i finally became certified. It was well worth it and i try to dive as much as i can. I was certified by Smith Diving after trying one of their "Try scuba" pool sessions.

[dbarlow]

like many who have replied to this thread I too always wanted to dive, I have a brother who is 10 years older that me, he got certified in the late 70's and had all the equiptment, I would sit in the basement of our house hooking up his reg and tank and breath. He would be a little upset when he would come home and his rig was set up and his tank was empty. I would ride my bike to Mick's scuba, Northwest divers, and superfrogs in Moorhead and look at all the cool stuff.  But as I entered my teens my brother got a job, moved away and took all his stuff with him, I started Water skiing and became obsessed with that and all my money went to ski equiptment and gas. 

Then about two years ago my wife and I took a vacation to Cozumel and I talked her into taking a discovory scuba course, we got certified the next winter and did our open water in May and I have done 30 dives and compleeted my AOW in the last year.

The Master Craft ski boat is now for sale, and I have two sets of scuba euiptment.

Doug