What got you into diving?

[rsh110]

A friend moved to big pine key florida a few years back and one day while visiting, I went snorkling. I saw some really cool fishes swimming around underneath me. That was it iwas hooked. I decided that I wanted to swim with the fishes and scuba was the best way to do it. After 3 years and many snorkling/kayaking adventures in the keys, I finally took the plunge this past fall when job and finances allowed me to get certified and buy my own equipment. Oh and did i mention my tub was too shallow!

[rubber chicken]

A couple of years ago, I sold my house and everything I owned to fund a trip around the world. I realised that I didn't want to see the GBR through a glass-bottomed boat so I visited my LDS - which, up until then, I was totally unaware of- who talked me into an OW course. 5 minutes into my first pool dive amongst the cornplasters and detritus of the local municipal swimming pool and I was hooked. The rest is history... etc,etc.

[Tigerbeach]

I watched Jacques, and Mike, and Flipper, of course.

I thought skin and scuba diving represented the coolest form of freedom possible.

[DrBill]

Of course watching the early Cousteau documentaries was an inspiration. Little did I know that years later I'd be doing some work for him, and his son Jean-Michel. I tried breathing off my first SCUBA tank in 1961 but lived in the Midwest so there wasn't a lot of diving to be done except during summer and most of what I did do was to vacuum the bottoms and deep diving wells in swimming pools. It wasn't until I moved here to Catalina in 1969 that I was able to merge my interests in marine ecology and diving