So why learn to scuba dive. In the case of my current class, to explore and understand the reefs of Costa Rica. Not to shabby I guess. People always come to us to learn to scuba dive for different reasons. It may be a lifelong dream, it may be to share in a partners experiences. That can sometimes be something thats forced unfortunately, as in one of my courses a long time ago when I was trying to persuade an eager husband not to force his wife to dive who, I am not exaggerating here, was a quivering wreck and clearly did not want to be in the water. Don’t ever be that person! Part of the role of an open water instructor is something that is talked about during your PADI IDC but is something you can only gain with experience, and that is to be able to relate to people. Your role can even be extreme as a marriage counsellor or maybe incredible, like helping someone by inspiring them to do what they have only dreamed of doing in the past. Taking the hand of a 10 year old boy who was too nervous to backward roll off a boat, but once underwater and faced with a shark, was calm as a cucumber. Funny that……”It was nothing” I remember him remarking. I don’t believe that, especially after seeing his eyes!!
I remember remarking once as I was leaving university that I would never go into teaching, I think at the time though, my focus was on school teaching, as in maths, english or biology. Imagining blackboard and overhead projectors, dealing with kids that didn’t want to be there. There was no way I was ever going to do that! It wasn’t until about my second year as a scuba instructor that I finally came to the realisation that I was a teacher, Oh my god!! Really? Certainly a different kind of teacher, thats for sure, with the ocean as my classroom, but still a teacher. Kinda cool to think about that now because its actually an incredible amount of fun, especially if you are teaching something that you are passionate about, for me obviously, the ocean.