Becoming a Scuba Diver

In Becoming a Scuba Diver, Conrad Blickenstorfer invites you to accompany him on the journey through his first 250 dives. Starting with the first breath underwater, to learning scuba gear, and the initial certification dives, Blickenstorfer describes what it means becoming a diver. After initial doubts and frustrations, there are the first dives at Lake Tahoe, then advanced classes and dives in Florida's sinks, caverns and rivers, and finally the magical first ocean dives in Roatan. From there it's on to drift diving in Cozumel, the first liveaboard experience in the Caribbean, the first thrilling encounters with sharks, diving wrecks and kelp, playing with seals, diving with the majestic giant mantas of Socorro, and swimming with whale sharks off Isla Mujeres and in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Between diving experiences and on his way to his first 250 dives, the author contemplates scuba-related topics: altitude diving, dive computers, nitrox, cave diving, rebreathers, nitrogen narcosis, Hollywood's portrayal of scuba, Cousteau's legacy, humorous encounters, and self-analyis as a diver.