After
completing my Divemaster course I was going to start an epic journey around the
world. As with most people, they want to work while on their travels and what
better way to do it than on a dive boat with the sun beaming down on your face.
I
had the pleasure of helping out on boats going out to the Great Barrier Reef
for a short period and for 3 months worked in a backpackers resort in Fiji!
With a great dive team and a daily itinerary that included 3 dives with either
certified divers, new divers or assisting on courses, there was never a dull
moment.
Life
was not just about filling tanks, diving and working the shop – I made some
great friends from the staff at the resort and also the many people travelling
through who came to dive, drink and party or just chill out in the sunshine.
What
I can say is that some of my finest memories that came from my trip were as a
result of being a PADI Divemaster.
Below
is the full story of how I followed my dream of diving.
I
was a twelve year old boy sitting beside the pool on the island of Aruba. I saw
piles of silver aluminium canisters, funny bendy snorkels and waistcoats with
pockets, zips and pipes, which I had no idea what they were for. Before I knew
it, a couple of guys in “Dive Team” shirts had sorted the piles of strange kit
into what I could only describe as rocket packs!
With
the dive team collecting people from around the pool, I watched them be briefed
and put on their gear, and after a few more instructions they all dropped beneath
the pool surface. They all turned into fuzzy outlines because of the ripples
caused by their bubbles hitting the surface. Quickly grabbing my goggles, I
jumped into the water to check out what was going on. And there they were,
sitting in a horseshoe around the instructor… breathing underwater!! From that
moment I was intrigued beyond belief!
As
it was near my birthday, my dad decided to buy me a Discover Scuba Diving
course (DSD) while we were on holiday. It is essentially a taster session into
breathing underwater and flying like a bird through the blue. After
mirroring the process I had witnessed previously, I was briefed and soon after
breathing underwater for the first time! It turns out that it's called a Scuba
Unit and not a rocket pack! Who knew!
We
then went out to open water the following day and after a short boat ride and another
briefing, I took my first giant stride off the back of the boat! With trust in
my equipment and instructor, I walked out as if trying to walk on water. But with
the scuba gear on that was never going to happen, so I dropped in gracefully,
falling below the surface with a million bubbles rushing past my face. This
alone was exciting for me!
The
instructor got me to the bottom of the ocean and it literally was a whole new
world! Fish everywhere, corals both soft and hard, and dancing rays of sunshine
flittering through the calm surface of the water. My biggest memory of the dive
was being given a big, empty, American milk bottle whilst underwater. Before I
knew it, I was engulfed with Sergeant Major fish - white, yellow and black flashed
in front of my face and even my Dad said afterwards that he couldn't see me for
fish. Now, this was no piranha frenzy that you see in the movies, this was tons
of fish understanding that there may be food in the bottle and they were trying
to get at it - I was merely in the way of their meal! With
all my limbs still in tact, we ended the dive and got back on the boat. I was
buzzing and knew that this wouldn't be the last time I donned a set of scuba
equipment.
From
that day on, any holiday that gave me an opportunity to dive I took it, but
through laziness I took considerably long to get my open water certification. I
remember a few years later in a dive in the Bahamas, I saw the certified divers
going off in one direction but the DSD's were being called in another
direction. I explained to the divemaster I had done this before in the hope
that I could go with the certified divers, and after telling him I'd done
around nine dives before, he didn't say “go for it” like I hoped. Instead he shouted
“How many!?” And “but you're still not certified!?”. Still, it was another
great dive.
From
there on I knew I wanted to get certified and not just stop there, I wanted to
go on and learn more about this amazing sport and teach others so they can
enjoy it as much as I do. Not long after, my Mum had brought me my first mask,
set of fins and a pair of booties, and I was on my way to Koh Tao, Thailand, completing
my PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water courses! Heaven! It was at this point I
gained my first real experience of living life as a professional diver. Board
shorts was the office attire, and the Ocean was the office.
Once
back home in the UK, I found myself at Orca Scuba Diving Academy looking to do
my rescue course - the next step on my route to being a PADI Pro! With my mum
doing her open water course at the same time, we learnt in the 6m deep pool (ideal
for training) and we made the journey to Guildenburgh Lake, Peterborough, to
complete our courses. Stories of that weekend still live on today, both about
the silly coloured wetsuits but also from the meal out that night! By Sunday
afternoon I was a certified PADI Rescue Diver and mum a PADI Open Water Diver.
Without realising I was helping out and doing tasks of a divemaster that day,
Gary (the owner of Orca) convinced it was his sales tactics, knew I wanted to
do my divemaster course. And so I went along with it and signed up for the next
stage towards being a PADI Pro. I won't go into details of my divemaster
course as this article will quickly turn into a novel, but in short, there was
plenty of diving, theory to learn and instructors to assist.
The
timing of completing my divemaster course meant that I had qualified just
before I started my epic journey around the world. Although I started in a
martial arts academy in China, then continued on a tour through South East
Asia, my first real chance to dive was in Sydney. It was a great feeling that when
you meet other dive professionals, there is almost an immediate link. They wanted
to hear my stories and asked about UK diving and I was keen to quash the
rumours about dark cold waters with no visibility! Anyone who has tried diving
off the coast of the UK will agree this is not the case.
After
some time of constantly moving around, I finally managed to find a spot where I
could set up base for a short while and search for what I was after - a job
working with dive boats going out to the Great Barrier Reef. Port Douglas was indeed
that place and there were plenty of boats to get work on. It was such a good
feeling standing on the back of the dive boat with certified divers, as well as
DSD students and snorkelers all jumping off the back of a huge catamaran,
watching over the calm seas and amazing sunshine beaming down. People would say
to me "you have the best job in the world!" or "what I would do
to have this as my office!". It was such a huge boost for me as I spent so
long being that person, asking those questions and wondering “why can’t I do
this?”.
Sadly,
my time is Oz was nowhere near as long as I would have liked, but I looked
forward to my next stop in New Zealand. One thing I did know about this part of
my trip was that I was going to do very little scuba diving, but I still
managed to dive for crayfish off the coast of Tatapouri. Let's just say they
were much quicker than me underwater, and it was lucky I had the guides with me,
or everyone would have gone hungry that night!
However,
Fiji was the place I was most excited for regarding diving and work
opportunities. There are over 300 Fijian islands with hotels, backpacker
resorts and of course, white sandy beaches with beautiful clear blue waters. I
was on the main island for 48 hours before a backpackers dive resort replied to
my email regarding work. I was on a boat the next day, to what would be my home
for the next 3 months.
I
had managed to get a few people I met on the mainland to come over to Mana
Island to dive and teach some of the backpackers. It's a huge topic of
conversation in somewhere like Fiji as people are either there to dive or keen
to try it. One if the guys I met, “Geordie Andy”, decided to do his open water
course and loved it so much he stayed and finished his advanced open water,
rescue diver and divemaster courses. He then started working with us and I even
left him there once I had moved on! My dive team out there was great, a real
mixed bunch of people and nationalities - Roberto and Henry were there for most
of my time and we had a blast!!
Our
day-to-day routine would look something like this:
615am:
Wake up and have breakfast on the deck overlooking the blue sea. Organise kit
and tanks for the first dive of the day.
7am:
Make sure all the divers were present and briefed.
730am:
First dive.
9am:
Back from dive one and prepare for dive two, while waiting for the daily boat
to bring the next group of guests. Try to establish if it would be a party
night or an early one.
1030am:
Second dive.
12noon:
Lunch and prep for the third dive.
4pm:
Back from third dive and rinse kit. Attempt to master my backflips on the beach
and playing beach football.
6pm:
Shower and change for dinner. For some reason we thought that we’d try and fit
in as locals and wear a sarong - it certainly felt comfy and breezy!
Life
was never all the same though, sometimes I would be either filling tanks,
briefing new guests, working in the dive shop or taking DSD’s and assisting the
instructors on courses, but no matter what, no two dives were ever the same!
The diving was great, with such a huge assortment of life that lives under the
sea but also the joy that you get from people who dive with you – a guy even proposed
to his girlfriend during a dive!
Since
returning back to the UK, I have been able to complete my Open Water Instructor
course and now I am a Master Scuba Diver Trainer at Orca Scuba Diving Academy
and I love it! We get such a variety of students, from school students to
couples before a holiday, and people who are just keen to give it a try. Admittedly
diving is not for everyone, but the people who come away talking about how much
they enjoyed a session greatly outweighs the people who decide it might not be for
them.
In
my time as an instructor, I have found a little patience, helpful tips and
confident actions all help in growing a persons appetite for this amazing
sport. If you ever see me around the shop, feel free to ask me more about
diving, my trip or this article and I hope to see you all in the water soon!
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