Hello everyone,
Monday night I returned from the Red Sea with my Open Water Certification
Iguana Don has been calling his instructor Genghis Khan, so I think he may be closely related to my instructor, Attila.
The man was wonderful. He had me do things no longer required by PADI, but said that if I want a certification from him, I would do it and beg for more. He also had me repeat what I already done in January, his attitude being if he certifies me, he has to stand up for it and will only do that on his own knowledge and not on some other intructor's say-so.
He put me through a sort of boot camp until he was sure that I was happy under water, and after that, the rest was cake.
My first dive after certification was a night dive, and I immediately fell in love with it. The atmosphere is so unique, and all these lionfish and seasnakes were swimming after us because of the lights and I wished I could share that moment with each and every one of you, because it was all so beautiful.
I saw more different kinds of fish than I can list (no sharks though :-((( and no napoleons) and my FIRST DOLPHIN
The other good part was a dive with two CMAS ** divers. They swam into everyone else, floundered on the bottom ruining the vis, hung on to the coral (breaking it off) and onto other divers to steady themselves and generally made nuisances of themselves. I do NOT have the idea that I know everything, I have only gone a few steps on the path, but Attila would have beaten me with an air hose had I behaved like that The lady diver grabbed hold of some coral to steady herself and did not see the stonefish about 5 centimeters from her hand....
I learned from this that it stands and falls not with the certifying agency, but with the quality of the instructor, the willingness of the student to recognize his limitations, overcome them and increase his knowledge.
It was an awesome and fantastic and challenging time and I can't wait to get back....AOWD here I come!
gozu-now-OWD-mutti
Monday night I returned from the Red Sea with my Open Water Certification
Iguana Don has been calling his instructor Genghis Khan, so I think he may be closely related to my instructor, Attila.
The man was wonderful. He had me do things no longer required by PADI, but said that if I want a certification from him, I would do it and beg for more. He also had me repeat what I already done in January, his attitude being if he certifies me, he has to stand up for it and will only do that on his own knowledge and not on some other intructor's say-so.
He put me through a sort of boot camp until he was sure that I was happy under water, and after that, the rest was cake.
My first dive after certification was a night dive, and I immediately fell in love with it. The atmosphere is so unique, and all these lionfish and seasnakes were swimming after us because of the lights and I wished I could share that moment with each and every one of you, because it was all so beautiful.
I saw more different kinds of fish than I can list (no sharks though :-((( and no napoleons) and my FIRST DOLPHIN
The other good part was a dive with two CMAS ** divers. They swam into everyone else, floundered on the bottom ruining the vis, hung on to the coral (breaking it off) and onto other divers to steady themselves and generally made nuisances of themselves. I do NOT have the idea that I know everything, I have only gone a few steps on the path, but Attila would have beaten me with an air hose had I behaved like that
The lady diver grabbed hold of some coral to steady herself and did not see the stonefish about 5 centimeters from her hand....I learned from this that it stands and falls not with the certifying agency, but with the quality of the instructor, the willingness of the student to recognize his limitations, overcome them and increase his knowledge.
It was an awesome and fantastic and challenging time and I can't wait to get back....AOWD here I come!
gozu-now-OWD-mutti
