Chuck Botts'
Ego Website

SCUBA Diving

My SCUBA Diving Adventures

Way back in the winter of 1982/83, Gwen and I spent a week on the island of Grand Cayman. On our last day there we rented snorkeling gear and hopped on our mopeds up to Seven Mile Beach where I "discovered" a fascinating new world. After spending hours floating above these newfound wonders I vowed that someday I'd find a way to get down there and swim with them. Time, tide and money stood in the way 'til the summer of '93, when I met Marc & Anne Lewis, a couple of PADI instructors in Maryland, who taught me all I needed in order to fulfill my dream.

After my certification dives in the local quarry, Millbrook, run by The Dive Shop in Virginia, my first dive trip was to Cozumel. This trip confirmed that I was meant to be a warm water diver.

I hope you will join me in a tour of my diving "career". Click on the list above for photos, captions and stories as appropriate to each trip. Enjoy.

P.S. Photo Gear (for anyone interested)

On the Grand Turk trip I borrowed a Sea & Sea Motor Marine 35 with YS-50 flash. As a novice diver and inexperienced with the change in perceived distance I was not very happy with the high number of out-of-focus shots. So I invested some big bucks and all subsequent trips were shot with a Pentax PZ-10 camera (auto focus, of course) and 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens in an Ikelite housing and A150 flash.

Most identification of the pictures was done with the aid of the wonderful books by Paul Humann. If I have erred in any way please advise and I will correct.