forged version December 23rd 2017
quickly forged to look like December 23rd
Random post, not actually about old games for once (I actually need to post less about old games because it probably gives people the wrong idea about what I do most and where my interests lay).
So, I made PADI DiveMaster. Scuba has been an interesting journey to date. When I started out with Scuba I did not have DiveMaster in mind. In fact I had very little in mind. I had not heard of Bonaire, despite since going there three times in one year and eventually coming to own a villa. Although that’s a story in itself and somewhat motivated by other factors and timing anyway.
Simple fact is, for me, I enjoyed the Open Water class and I wanted to do more diving. The first steps were slow – after diving with relatives I really didn’t do anything in the local lake (no buddies) and I waited until a vacation before diving some more. The vacation is one of the threads that ramped the villa idea up, but more importantly it was the catalyst for my Advanced Open Water class. That vacation made me realize I ought to be getting on with that thing I so much wanted to do.
Since then, I have tried to do one major class each year and that is one of the many factors that brought me to DiveMaster.
My favorite course so far? Advanced. DiveMaster is not really a course – that’s worth pointing out. It’s enjoyable but I can’t compare it to classes. It seems to me that most people point to Rescue as their favorite class. I enjoyed Rescue yes, but for me it’s Advanced. Why? Simple – variety. I don’t think there has been any other class or course that has introduced me to as wide of a range of concepts and types of dive. I like variety and during my Advanced we did a ton of things at three different dive sites (a quarry and two sites from a boat). The broadening of those horizons was exciting.
My favorite specialty? Deep Diver. I think the knowledge learned from it and practical experience gained was valuable. Extremely valuable actually.
What next? Instructor is the next level really. Well, there is Assistant but it’s sort of a stepping stone on the full instructor course. Will I do this? I don’t know. I never envisioned myself as an instructor. I think being a DiveMaster and doing DiveMaster things will help me figure this out. I need to bear in mind I never envisioned myself as going on dive vacations and owning a villa.
In the meantime, one of the things I do know I will do next is more diving. More in the lake and more in the blue water. Actually I do hope to give something new a trial and actually lead some divers over to the villa at some point. I don’t know when I will do this – it’s kind of like taking a week off of work to…work, but I am interested in seeing whether such a service is in demand and whether it might drive the odd booking at the villa.