I learned to SCUBA in 1999, taught at Bamboo Reef in San Francisco, with sea trials in Monterey. Soon after my initial training, I did a boat trip with Dive Monterey a small boat that does beginner trips on Mondays. Had a good trip, though I lost my weight belt striding in for the 2nd dive. I don't recommend Diver Dan's Wet Pleasure in Santa Clara. They seemed to me very arrogant, and while I understand that lost equipment is the resposibility of the renter, the fact is that during the weekend, after renting me an old and faded weightbelt, they replaced all their weightbelts with new ones, and didn't give me even a small break on price. Much better is Splash Aquatics, only a few stores down from Diver Dan's.

The whole goal of my SCUBA training, after many years of being afraid to try (though I really liked snorkeling), was a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Training was in March, and between then and November, I did dives in Hawaii and Point Lobos. The Hawaii dives were done with Reef Trekkers, a small outfit based in Honolulu. They picked me up at my hotel and drove to a boat that we shared with another company's group. Our group was small, only three divers and our guide, Andre. I spent some of the time doing the PADI Buoyancy Check course, in conjunction with dives to YO-257, a wreck in 90' of water, and Turtle Alley, with lava tubes and turtles. Reef Trekkers wasn't bad, but the guide handled a lot of the wildlife with his hands. Point Lobos is a California State Park just south of Carmel. One of their coves is a diving only cove, and though perhaps only 20-30 ft deep at the most, and for us, not particularly great visibility, there was a lot of life, and an interesting experience.

The highlight of that year was the trip to Lizard Island and the Great Barrier Reef. While it rained every day of our week there, the stuff underwater was great, though the lack of sunlight diminished the colors.

Since then, have done a few more dives in Monterey and shelled out big bucks for equipment.