Divemaster

Shark Scuba – Colchester, UK December 2004

When we arrived back in England Theresa started looking on the web and ringing around to see how and where we could train. She managed to find one centre that we could train for a long weekend and be a Divemaster by the end of it. On reflection this did not ring true and on talking to Keith at Shark Scuba it quickly became apparent that this type of training was not a good idea. Keith convinced Theresa and later on Richard that by training with Shark Scuba we could both learn to be really good Divemaster’s and then go on to become Instructors (not that we were even considering this at that time).

So in late September we turned up at Leisure World in Colchester and quickly found out how little we actually knew about diving. Every weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings for the next three (3) months were spent with learning about all the various aspects of diving; teaching; physics; physiology; equipment; environments and of course the PADI standards.

Of course during this time there were also regular visits to Stoney Cove and Guildenburgh for Open Water training for both us and helping with students; we even managed some “leisure” dives during these trips!

Finally at the end of December after some stressful exams we reached our goal and were Divemasters’! We had a few drinks at Xmas and relaxed for the first time in over three months.

January 2005

A real surprise turned up in the e-mails, Richard had won a liveaboard trip to the Red Sea – the Deep South; however it was only a trip for one!! After much soul searching Richard e-mailed back to accept; was he feeling guilty now.