Buddy Ayers taught himself to scuba dive as a young teenager in Texas. He started working offshore in 1961. During the 1970's, Buddy became the secretary for the newly formed divers' union. As a result of his union activity, he was blackballed in the Gulf of Mexico and ended up spending four years in the North Sea. He stayed there until the contracts ran out and he went to work in Mexico. He returned to the Gulf in the 1990's as an independent contractor and now works as a consultant.