We were at Disney World in April'96 when I discovered a guest could dive in the EPCOT Living Seas Aquarium.  Always wanting to SCUBA, I set a goal that when we returned I would have the qualifications to do this!

As the master procrastinator I am, I waited untill a few weeks before the trip (following year) to begin my certification, and still needed my open water checkouts at our departure.  I was referred to Pro Dive in Ft. Lauderdale (visiting my aunt was part of the trip) to complete my trining.

The only description I have is "INCREDIBLE"!  To become part of the weightless, completely alien and beautiful world that lies all around us... 

Despite 8 to 10' waves (and one day of being "blown out" completely) I did manage to complete the training.

I must admit that my ocean dives were much cooler than the Disney, which was more like, well, a big fish tank, but it was awesome to achieve what I set out to do, and I know I was a diver to stay...

After watching me have so much fun, my wife decided she would give it a shot, and the following year we both dove "the tank" at Disney World (Can you tell how much she  likes WDW?).   Many dives later, I still found it quite enjoyable, and even dove the Living Seas a third time on another trip from NY.  Nothing beats the look on peoples faces when they discover that YES, we CAN see you from the other side of the glass!

The funny thing is, to this day, Chris will only with great reluctance go swimming in the ocean, or any large body of water that's not chlorinated for that matter.   She says,"diving is different...  under water I feel like part of the environment, but while on the surface I feel like a wounded fish!"

Go figure! 

The north eastern US is far from "tropical paradise", so I'm lucky to get into warm water every couple years on holiday...

To keep from drying out in the mean time, I do hit the east coast Atlantic once in a while, but mostly do fresh water diving in the finger lakes, eastern great lakes, and St. Lawrence river.  My favorite is the latter; considered pretty advanced due to current and hazards, this massive river draining Lake Ontario can reach 70 degrees F by late summer,  has no thermocline at depth, and vis can reach 40 to 50 feet. 

Did I mention that no thermalcline means the water temp is the same at 140' as at 14'? :c)  There's nothing quite like the joy of only donning a 3/2 wetsuit to explore 100 year old wooden wrecks in deep freshwater!

I've only owned an underwater camera since '02 (a very nice x-mas & B-day present) , so there isn't much in the way of freshwater pictures prior to that (always borrowed a camera for the tropics).  Unfortunately,light is a huge problem at the deeper FW wreck sites; I still need a decent flash, but for now I try to make due with a UK lightcannon HID dive light and DIY strobe arm.