Introduction

My community of choice is the scuba diving community connected to the dive shop, Pacific Watersports, in Aloha, OR. Each person in this community is connected through this shop. It is the location in which we all met. Some of us have taken and continue to take classes at the shop, shome of us are instructors at the shop, and a few of us work at the shop. What we all have in common is the love for scuba diving.

This passion is the only boundary set. No need to pass a social test, just the basic open water certification test to ensure safe diving. We encourage anyone who is willing to take the step into the water and putting on the mask, to give scuba diving a try. It even took me a few dives to get past my fear of what is under the sea, but I have passed my open water certification and love diving.

Within the community of scuba divers, especially the one I am connected to through Pacific Watersports, we are people that are always “…caring about the people who live there…”(Portney and Berry 2001 quoted in Letki, 2008 quoted in “Social Capital 2012). Whether it is during the individual or group dives, or a situation outside of scuba diving, everyone is always there for one another no matter what. We are like family to one another which gives us a great sense of bonding and feeling of being connected and what I believe to be strong social capital.

The map below shows how this connection is made between each individual. The colors representing various experience and skill levels while the thickness of the lines show our connections outside of scuba diving such as being in a relationship or being a blood relative. Some of us have only had one dive with each other and some of us live with each other, but together as a community, no matter the direct connection, we all feel as if we are family.