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Dive Qualifications: PADI OWSI, Jedi Diving since: 2004 From: New Hampshire Favorite Upper Keys Dive Site: Snapper and Capt. Tom’s Ledge Favorite Diving Activity: Treasure hunting. (Legal locations only) Favorite Keys Restaurant: Sharing the experience of that first breath underwater with a new diver, or technical dive into a cave/wreck, or just floating aimlessly with the underwater windLor-e-lei at sunset Favorite Keys Hangout: In Joe’s spot, in a hammock under the Tiki picnic area, or Brett and Toni’s couch. « View All Staff

Steve Babin

I had fantasized of breathing underwater from my first contact with the sea; I was raised two hundred yards from the Atlantic on the coast of Massachusetts. Snorkeling was all I did for years having apprehension, maybe from the stories of military style training. Years went by and I would always stop in dive shops I saw while traveling. The sport seemed exclusive and at times unwelcoming. I was enamored with the idea, tools, treasures and lifestyle of the SCUBA diver. I had some friends that dove but they were not committed to the sport. I met my first professional diver in 1986 and he had suffered a career ending accident that he recounted with sadness and clearly missed the work. His story may have fueled my misunderstanding of diving. The ocean and idea of breathing underwater kept calling me and finally I made a commitment in 2004 to get the training. I never imagined that I would become so committed to the sport. I certainly had some unrealistic ideas of the difficulty and dangers of the sport. I first trained in dark, cold water with poor visibility and I remember questioning my decision. But, I was encouraged to dive the Florida Keys by the person who would become a close friend and diving companion. It was some of the best advice I have ever received. In the beginning I was still dealing with the perceived dangers of diving and wanted to know everything there was to know about diving. I read historical accounts of a diving salvage operation that ended several divers’ lives and thought this was normal. This was the week before my advanced open water training. I was consumed with the dangers of going deep. In hindsight it is comical but as an early student it was real for me. I shared the story with my instructor and he realized my misunderstanding of the kind of diving that I was reading about and what I was actually doing. I really added a lot to his work load. During the week of my advanced I really started to see the underwater world and the beauty that lies beneath. I have several entries in my log book with exclamation points, “WOWS” and the like. Snapper ledge was an early favorite. I then wanted to get everyone I knew into diving. The accessibility of Scuba Diving was revealed to me by several PADI professionals they changed my perception of diving. I invited my sisters, brothers, friends, cousins, nieces and nephews. The first to take me up on the offer was one nephew. He spent a week in the Keys with me, a group of divers and his instructor. I will always fondly recall his answer to the question so how do you like diving? “I believe I have a whole new perspective on life” he was twelve at the time.

My experience in my Dive Master training and subsequent assisting in training has helped me learn to see ways I can improve my diving and make diving more accessible to others. Instructing is a gift and I enjoy the constant learning and teaching that comes with it. The greatest gift is when a diver I was supervising comments that their diving is more enjoyable and they fell more confident. Diving has made me closer to my family and introduced me to some of the finest people on this planet.

My understanding of the aquatic realm and the planet as a whole has been increased through diving.