Who all here has/had diving parents? a.k.a. it's in the DNA!

[Disneymom]

I was looking over the 'who would you want to dive with?' thread, and saw Big Budd's response, which coincidentally mine was the same as his. Which, in turn, led me to this question - how many of you have/had a parent or parents that were divers?

When I made the decision that I wanted to learn to dive, I shared it with my father, who is now almost 85 and my only living parent. He said he thought that was great, wished me the best with it, and proceeded to tell me that he was a diver. Now this, at my ripe old age of forty-something, came as a complete surprise to me. He's done some great stuff in his lifetime: WWII vet, overcame cancer in the 60's, taught me to water ski when I was in my teens, learned to snow ski at the ripe old age of 72. But this revelation just blew me away. It had never been mentioned!

Turns out, he dove a lot back in the late 1950's - before I was born. He was an active member of a local scuba club, taught diving, dove Lake Erie a LOT (up to 100 ft), went ice diving, and did rescue/recovery diving with local law enforcement.
He quit diving in the very early 60's after he moved to Arizona - apparently my mother didn't like him doing it. He kept all of his photos, articles, and mementos, which he is slowly emailing to me bit by bit.



It's just reinforced my drive and desire, and provided a great inspiration to me. I just wish there was a way to find out if any of his buddies were still around, or if any of their kids or grandkids dive.

[Black-Gorrilla]

my dad used too... but stopped a long long time ago.
one of my friends dives with both his mom and dad (and his dad is a dive master/instructor) even though he does not teach.

[WaterRat]

Ice diving in a wetsuit. Brrrrrrrrrrr. That's an awesome story and picture.

Ron

[TxHockeyGuy]

Both my parents dived and I'm going to get the chance to finally dive with my father next month in Turks and Caicos. He hasn't dove in 20 years but did a lot of diving back in the late 60's up till the late 70's. I did convince him to take a refresher course (up at ScubaToys no less) and apparently he flew through the refresher. That doesn't surprise me a whole lot as I know the training he went through initially. I'm really looking forward to getting to dive with my brother and father on our upcoming vacation, it should be great. Sadly I'll never get the opportunity to dive with my mother as she died a little over 4 years ago.

[MEL-DC Diver]

Similar experience here. My old man dove in the sixties and that was it. A few years ago I took it up and he decided he would get back into it. Now we go on regular trips together. Great father/son time.

[Disneymom]

Originally Posted by WaterRat

Ice diving in a wetsuit. Brrrrrrrrrrr. That's an awesome story and picture.

Ron

yeah, brrrrrr..... thanks, but no. Thanks, Ron!

Originally Posted by MEL-DC Diver

Similar experience here. My old man dove in the sixties and that was it. A few years ago I took it up and he decided he would get back into it. Now we go on regular trips together. Great father/son time.

Originally Posted by TxHockeyGuy

Both my parents dived and I'm going to get the chance to finally dive with my father next month in Turks and Caicos. He hasn't dove in 20 years but did a lot of diving back in the late 60's up till the late 70's. I did convince him to take a refresher course (up at ScubaToys no less) and apparently he flew through the refresher. That doesn't surprise me a whole lot as I know the training he went through initially. I'm really looking forward to getting to dive with my brother and father on our upcoming vacation, it should be great. Sadly I'll never get the opportunity to dive with my mother as she died a little over 4 years ago.

Sorry about your mom.
See, I think that is just cool. (diving w/ dad or mom) I kind of wish I had decided to take this up a long time ago when I was still living in the same state as he. Even up to a few years ago I think he could have dived - he was in good enough physical and mental health until maybe the last few years - starting to slow down a bit. I'll never get to do it, but I love his stories.

[Bigg_Budd]

My dad doesn't dive. But he's my hero, and it would be cool to share the experience with him.

My boys (5 and 3.5) will be divers, and after this weekend, my wife will be a diver. If it wasn't in our blood before, it is now...

[Harshal]

First ever diver in the Family, none of my parents ever dived nor anyone I know in my family ever dived. First person to be certifed as diver, I think my nephew would pick it up from me and then may be my kids one day........lol

[creggur]

Neither of my parents dived, but we were always around the water growing up.. I have every intent of sharing this wonderful sport with my son/daughter when the time comes.... My wifes biological clock has gone off, and we will be adding to the clan hopefully next year..

[BSea]

Originally Posted by Disneymom

I was looking over the 'who would you want to dive with?' thread, and saw Big Budd's response, which coincidentally mine was the same as his. Which, in turn, led me to this question - how many of you have/had a parent or parents that were divers?

When I made the decision that I wanted to learn to dive, I shared it with my father, who is now almost 85 and my only living parent. He said he thought that was great, wished me the best with it, and proceeded to tell me that he was a diver. Now this, at my ripe old age of forty-something, came as a complete surprise to me. He's done some great stuff in his lifetime: WWII vet, overcame cancer in the 60's, taught me to water ski when I was in my teens, learned to snow ski at the ripe old age of 72. But this revelation just blew me away. It had never been mentioned!

Turns out, he dove a lot back in the late 1950's - before I was born. He was an active member of a local scuba club, taught diving, dove Lake Erie a LOT (up to 100 ft), went ice diving, and did rescue/recovery diving with local law enforcement.
He quit diving in the very early 60's after he moved to Arizona - apparently my mother didn't like him doing it. He kept all of his photos, articles, and mementos, which he is slowly emailing to me bit by bit.



It's just reinforced my drive and desire, and provided a great inspiration to me. I just wish there was a way to find out if any of his buddies were still around, or if any of their kids or grandkids dive.

He doesn't have any old gear he want to dispose of does he?