Abi's Deep Dive

My scuba diving journey started when I was at school. I did my Open Water course and loved it! I then didn’t get to dive again until Ben and I went diving together in Greece. I was so excited to explore with him.

It took a long time for me to then redo my qualification, I completed the closed water and theory sections of my Open Water again in North Devon, open water dives in Greece and fell in love with scuba all over again. Every time I could go on holiday, I would book at least one days diving and over a few years completed my Advanced Open Water and then my Stress and Rescue with a fabulous Instructor in Cape Verde. It definitely took me out of my comfort zone, I was away on my own and I put a lot of pressure on myself to pass immediately, I had a few tears because I was so stressed about it, but my instructor was brilliant and it was just me taking that course so I don’t have to perform in front of anyone else which made it a bit easier. The weather on the last day was rough, the sea was choppy and she offered to delay the dive but I’d spent too much time worrying about not being able to do it and psyching myself up so we pushed on, and despite it being very hard work physically I passed and had such a sense of achievement. Thank you Fanny Myberg!!!

I felt so much safer in the water after taking that course, it’s a real step up from the Advanced, and gives you lots more skills and awareness of what can go wrong and how you can cope in those situations. I had caught the bug, and all I wanted to do next was find an opportunity to do more diving and see how it could be a bigger part of my life. I started saving, and looking for opportunities to live abroad for a little while and do lots of diving and I came across volunteering opportunities and GVI. My plan was to wait for Ben to finish Uni then head off on my own little adventure. You know the next bit. So, fast forward to the job offer…..a condition of that was that I would complete my PADI Divemaster which is the first professional scuba diving qualification. I readily accepted! I had seen people complete their DM when I was a volunteer, and although I knew it would be tough, I needed this challenge, and was determined to succeed. Photos of my 2022 trip.

The DM course is made up of the theory section, water skills, and dive skills. You must pass all of the sections to qualify, and once you have qualified you are considered a diving professional and can lead dives, teach some courses and assist instructors. The base was too busy when I first got here for me to start. I was learning the job, and we had a full house of participants. Almost all volunteers take courses while they are here, as well as studying the science and monitoring the reef so it keeps the staff busy. I started my DM in November and am now over 60 percent completed. Theory is complete: 9 chapters of information with a knowledge review at the end of each one, and then a final exam with two sections each with 60 questions. This was so interesting as not only did I revise some things I had learnt on previous courses, I built on that knowledge. I was studying decompression and came across the name Professor Haldane. He had come up with the theory of decompression and developed guidelines around what cause decompression sickness and how you could reduce your chance of getting it. It triggered a memory that my dad had known a Professor Haldane. I messaged Dad and asks if it was the same man. It turns out the Haldanean model created at the beginning of the 1900’s was created by the father of the man my Dad knew well!! It felt so exciting to think that his son had taught my Dad and now I was learning theory from him that is still relevant today! The day of the exam fast approaching I revised furiously going back over learning objectives and the questions in the knowledge reviews, I was so nervous!! My colleagues are all Divemaster or Instructors so failing was not an option. I passed 😊

So, onto the practical stuff. Water skills are all marked out of 5. You have a timed diver tow, a 400m open water swim with no kit, and an 800m open water swim in fins, mask and snorkel. The final challenge is the equipment exchange, also known as the stress test. On this you have to exchange your mask, fins and BCD with a buddy whilst maintaining neutral buoyancy (and breathing!) Your score depends on the time taken to complete the task or in the case of the treadwater and the equipment exchange your ease of completing the task, so not touching the bottom, dropping your hands or showing other signs of struggle during your time treading water, and not touching the bottom or the surface and making things look easy underwater during the equipment exchange. You’re also supposed to look like you’re having fun! The weather here recently has been far from ideal, and we have had a lot of days where the port has been shut as it wasn’t safe to take boats out or scuba dive so I wasn’t looking forward to any of these in choppy conditions.. Top marks in the 400m means swimming it in under 6 minutes, I was happy with my time of 10.25 which scored me a 3. In 800m and the tow I got 4. Treading water was a breeze so Ellie had me keep my arms up for the last 5 minutes, and I scored a 5, and then it was time for the equipment exchange. The clue is in the name “stress test”, you have 5 minutes to plan with your buddy how you are going to both breathe as well as remove your BCD, (which is where your tank is and how you breathe underwater). I showed all the signs of stress you are told to look out for as a DM: Being quiet on the boat, fiddling with my kit, breathing quickly and looking serious. Kayla who is my instructor for this course as well as being my colleague, was amazing and did her best to put me at ease. I really look up to her as a scientist and diver, and really really don’t want to let her down by failing any of these skills. Laura my buddy for the dive was also great, I gave her my plan and we got underwater, took things slowly and got it done. I don’t think I looked like I was having fun, but, I scored a 4!!!!

I had agreed to practise some of the skill circuit on the dive and so this came next. You have to demonstrate all of the skills that an open water student would learn, going really slowly and looking comfortable as well as maintaining neutral buoyancy for all of them. There are more than 20. I started with mask remove and replace. You remove your mask giving sign language tips, open your eyes so you can demonstrate clearly to students, and then you replace your mask and clear it. I managed to swim towards my pretend students the whole time because I fidget! And didn’t have the best buoyancy control either. Kayla gave me some underwater advice and I tried again. I got really frustrated that I couldn’t get it, I tried another skill but again needed pointers and then I lost it. I cancelled the practise and asked if we could just swim for the rest of the dive. I swam along, with my buddy Laura, crying into my mask. I give myself such a hard time, when rationally I know if I’d watched anyone else I’d be so supportive of how much they had achieved. Honestly, I got myself in a right pickle. Thankfully we had a while more underwater. I gave myself a little talking to and relaxed, and reminded myself why I was putting myself though this pressure. I love being underwater and I think because I’ve had so few dives since I’ve been back in Mexico it’s felt like the only dives I have done have been to tick boxes so I’d forgotten the point for a minute. I surfaced looking like I’d half drowned for the afternoon, fat eyelids and a snotty nose, but it gave me back some perspective. I think it’s going to take me some work to not give myself such a hard time, but I’m going to do my best to smile through at least some of the skills, and then complete the rescue scenario, and the mapping of a dive site to complete the course.

I loved scubadiving the first time I tried it, and I am grateful for the instructors I have met, and the opportunities I have created for myself. I am facing a new challenge and am finding it tough, but I know I can do it even if takes some time. So although I’ll probably always be the serious one who takes this stuff to heart, I will try harder to relax, be kind to myself and enjoy the process. I’ll keep you posted!!

Sent from my iPhone