Have you ever scuba dived?

I am PADI certified and enjoyed it very much (except for the time I had a reverse squeeze), but it’s an expensive hobby so I now just snorkel.

I have done it quite a few times, mainly because I was unlucky with the law. When I was 12 years old I spent a few months training and learning, I took my test and passed and was given my license. About a month later my license was revoked, the law changed and now you needed to be 16 years old to scuba dive. I waited patiently and the same thing happened, except this time after I got my license it was changed to 18.

I finally got my license at age 18, and started going on dives. When you learn it is always in shallow water or swimming pools, so it was a fair time until I went on my first dive.

The experience was great, and I can’t recommend it enough. It totally changes your mind of what the ocean is like, almost like opening up a new world.

Advice, be very careful. It is very dangerous and there is more than one way of killing your self. The man who instructed me and helped me get my license ended up dead. He went down alone to explore a shipwreck and never came back up.

Learn about: currents, things you can get stuck in, poisonous things, nitrogen in the blood and the bends, temperature, and be generally cautious.

Make sure you learn properly and have all the permissions you need, there is lots of information to learn, including special sign language and a whole lot more.

Never scuba dived but I’ve snorkeled in the Dominican Republic and it was amazing. I chased a school of squid, saw a clown fish, several sharks, and watched jelly fish go by. The water is so clear you can see forever.

I have a few times and loved it, I highly recommend it.

If you are apprehensive, you can try Snuba diving first. I did it in Elat Israel
and in the Florida Keys. It was great.

I haven’t scubaed, but I’m an avid snorkeler. I’ve snorkeled in Tortola, Belize, Jamaica, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, in swimming pools, lol. My husband taught me to snorkel. I am slightly claustrophobic and it took me a few times to learn to relax and go with the flow. It is an amazing emotional feeling to me. Surreal. It is one of those things I’m glad I learned to do before I die.

I went to 2 weeks of SUBA classes and took written, pool and ocean tests to get certified. I liked SCUBA diving but I only did it a few times because the equipment is not cheap and it was hard to get a good buddy to do it with.

I finally got certified in the Truck Lagoon. I tried to do my open water in Catalina but the water was to cold and I had a crappy instructor.
Most beautiful place for me was probably the Bahamas or Little Cayman.
My advice is to start in warmer water. Just lugging the stuff around can be exhausting. Adding freezing to death to the mix will make it not near as fun. Clear, warm water down to about 50 feet is the funnest for me. I am not afraid of critters, loved diving with sharks, but I tend to freak out when I get into that dark abyss where you can’t see either the top or the bottom.