PADI Instructor, the good life!

By admin on January 7, 2012 in Diving in Bali

As the days roll on and my training as a PADI Instructor progress, things just keep getting better and better!

I’ve now completed 4 open water courses with a wide variety of students causing me to adjust and experiment with different teaching methods to cope with the slight variation of student’s strengths and weaknesses. I’ve just kick started another open water course today and have the upmost confidence that my student will leave, like all the rest of my students, a confident open water scuba diver with an enhanced appreciation for the underwater world!

I’ve also had the pleasure of conducting a Coral Reef Conservation speciality. This is a speciality course open to anyone, certified diver or not and showcases coral reef information, assessments and facts on the health of our worldwide reefs, how to identify and monitor damaged or stressed reefs and of course what we can do to help. The course was a great opportunity to express my concerns about the future of our reefs and ocean while also enforcing and motivating the class to do their part in any and every way possible. I had new to the BSB team, marine biologist and OWSI Neils sitting in of the presentation which was great. He was able to offer some more in depth coral reef knowledge and we both shared different stories about the ocean and the everyday struggles it is facing to enhance and strengthen the course and it’s values. Neils will also be conducting the new Eco Internship program at Blue Season which you can find out more about at http://www.baliocean.com/en/bali_eco_internship.blueseason. Check it out!!!

Finally, 2 days ago I conducted a deep speciality with two interns out in Nusa Penida. We spent the whole day out on the BSB boat surrounded by the crystal blue ocean and the stunning island landscape of Nusa Penida. The sun was shining and the water was warm with excellent visibility, what more could you ask for… We had an added bonus to the course when Master Instructor Yasu who was supervising the course, told us that conditions were ideal and we could go to the Bat Cave!!! I heard about this place when I first came out to Penida but never had the chance to actually check it out. 5 months later I finally got my chance and let me tell you, after all the anticipation and hype, it did not disappoint! It required a nice open swim through with just enough sunlight piercing through that the ascent into the bat cave was easily identifiable. It went from complete silence underwater to chirping bats flying overhead. There was a large hole in the rock which allowed the sun to penetrate through and give us a great view of the inner cave. This place was majestic and to make the experience even better, as we came back out from the cave, a turtle sped right past us. One of the other interns said the same thing I was thinking as we surfaced and that was that this was possibly the best dive we had out here in Bali.

So far, after my early experiences as an instructor, I’ve confirmed that the beauty of teaching is you never stop learning. The certain satisfaction you get from teaching someone something they previously didn’t know is extremely rewarding and of course every day and every course is a new adventure. In the diving world, you never stop meeting new people and continually learn about new and exciting places. The possibilities are truly endless!!!