Yippee! :dazzler1:
Finished a couple of days ago after around 6 months. I went the internship route, which I would thoroughly recommend. It is hard work, it requires commitment but it is rewarding on many levels.
My final exercise was leading certified divers. It all went smoothly and at the end of the boat dive, the divers I was leading thanked me for the dive and said they'd really enjoyed it. That made me feel great - you know, it's one thing doing the course but to actually feel you are supporting people is great.
Some thoughts on some aspects of the course:
- gear exchange was challenging; I did it quite early on but achieving it was a significant confident boost
- mapping was much more fun than I thought it would be - I got really into it
- it's hard to remember to slow the skills down for demonstration when you do them automatically - I still need to work on that
- leading divers gives you a new sense of confidence but responsibility too. When you do it, you concentrate on them and safety and you really forget about your own diving.
- you can get a lot of pleasure from seeing other people succeed in their goals, particularly going with students from the start through to their final OW dives.
- 800m snorkel swim feels like it is never ending! But it does eventually end
And what next? I am going to develop and consolidate my experience and maybe in some months think about AI. I'm not in a hurry and it's still about for me becoming a better diver and developing my skills.
I have taken a lot of support from those on this board in the last 6 months and here's hoping I can put something back in.
Oh, and when I get my number from PADI, I'll be mooching over to the instructor to instructor forum if they'll have me!!
Finished a couple of days ago after around 6 months. I went the internship route, which I would thoroughly recommend. It is hard work, it requires commitment but it is rewarding on many levels.
My final exercise was leading certified divers. It all went smoothly and at the end of the boat dive, the divers I was leading thanked me for the dive and said they'd really enjoyed it. That made me feel great - you know, it's one thing doing the course but to actually feel you are supporting people is great.
Some thoughts on some aspects of the course:
- gear exchange was challenging; I did it quite early on but achieving it was a significant confident boost
- mapping was much more fun than I thought it would be - I got really into it
- it's hard to remember to slow the skills down for demonstration when you do them automatically - I still need to work on that
- leading divers gives you a new sense of confidence but responsibility too. When you do it, you concentrate on them and safety and you really forget about your own diving.
- you can get a lot of pleasure from seeing other people succeed in their goals, particularly going with students from the start through to their final OW dives.
- 800m snorkel swim feels like it is never ending! But it does eventually end
And what next? I am going to develop and consolidate my experience and maybe in some months think about AI. I'm not in a hurry and it's still about for me becoming a better diver and developing my skills.
I have taken a lot of support from those on this board in the last 6 months and here's hoping I can put something back in.
Oh, and when I get my number from PADI, I'll be mooching over to the instructor to instructor forum if they'll have me!!
Why? To see how I've moved on and to recall the great feeling when I became a DM. I'm an instructor now, since July. There were plenty "woo hoo"s that day, I can tell you!
