Hang on a minute, am I a PADI Open Water Instructor now??? (OWSI)
How did that happen???
Well that’s a story I’m happy to tell,
I always had an interest in learning to dive and on my honeymoon I completed my PADI Open Water Diver Course and to be honest I thought that would probably be as far as my journey would go, I had a qualification and I could dive when I went on holiday, I didn’t need anything else, or so I thought.
Skip on a couple of years and a friend of mine told me he had started diving in the UK, immediately i was interested, maybe me diving didn’t have to be something I just did on holiday, maybe I could pack the car up and go diving in the UK for the weekend, why not, I loved diving and all of a sudden it was more available to me.
I was introduced to a man called Paul and a dive school called Bespoke Scuba Diving. To say I was excited was an understatement.
Paul put together a package for me, (just 18 courses :-) ) it was surprisingly reasonable and Paul was happy for me to pay it off monthly so it was a win win.
I worked through these courses over the next 2 years or so, from DrySuit, to Master Scuba Diver and pretty much everything in between.
After becoming a master scuba diver I didn’t want the journey to end then either so I became a PADI Divemaster.
Paul and the team at Bespoke didn’t just teach me scuba diving, they taught me many other skills such as First Aid, Emergency First Response, Care for Children, Emergency O2 provider. These are things I’ve always wanted to learn, so much so that I became an instructor in each of them so I could teach others.
But that’s not all I can also teach now, I AM a PADI Open Water Scuba instructor , well after doing Divemaster I didn’t want to stop there and Paul was more than confident I could complete my IDC under his guidance, I definitely wasn’t, but he was.
It wasnt easy, I struggled and at times but Paul always managed to push me on, with support mentorship and leadership. He wanted me to suceed! He believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. So with his help, and also a lot of help from Matt and Natalie I passed my Instructors exam in July
I can’t believe how far I’ve come, I’ve dived around the world, I’ve learned things I never thought I would and I now have the ability to teach others.
Is this where I’m going to end my diving journey??? I don’t think so
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