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It's not often we run PADI Divemaster Courses in a short space of time, we generally offer internships to ensure that the candidates get as much 'real world' experience as possible before heading out on their diving careers. However, this option doesn't always work for people in which case we come up with personalised and flexible schedules for those wanting to take the leap and 'Go Pro'.
Due to this, we thought we'd keep a weekly diary of what's going on for anyone that is tempted to do it themselves in the future and wants to know what is involved.
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Like all of our courses (other than the internship), the Divemaster started for Solan and Marjorie quite a while back with some good old E-learning which means that they don't need to do a huge amount of theory in person and can mainly concentrate on the fun stuff. That being said, day one starts with a PADI Presentation and filling in some paperwork as all you divers will be used to. To make this slightly less painful, we treated them to a few traybakes from our friends at the Birsay Bay Tearooms just down the road as well as some hot chocolate.
Day 2 started at the Churchill Barriers with a shakedown dive to get rid of those winter cobwebs and get comfortable being in the water again whilst exploring the WW1 Blockship SS Numidian . Once an overweighting problem had been solved, by taking a couple of KG's off the guys, it was a solid start and just great being back underwater. Planned for the end of the dive, instructor Rob pretended to become unresponsive to see how much Solan and Marjorie remembered from their rescue training. Rob was safely surfaced and towed back to shore by the team whilst being dekitted, little bit sloppy but again a good starting point for the rest of the course. After this a quick break for more hot chocolate and a team debrief with everyone pointing out good and bad points for themselves and others to try and ensure a psychologically safe space as required for good dive teams.
The afternoon was spent on the timed tired diver tow before the first take at the PADI Skill Circuit, where divers have to perform certain skills to demonstration quality. Attempting the skills for the first time in 6 degrees water isn't the easiest but it was a really strong foundation by both Solan and Marjorie with the mask removal and freeflowing regulator being especially impressive. A bit of practice is needed to ensure we can smash these skills whilst neutrally buoyant, but full of confidence that this'll be no problem for either of them.
Solan demonstrating regulator freeflow
Not the greatest camerawork which I apologise for, but our inhouse camera star was busy keeping warm on the shore by performing a beach clean. In about 2 hours she managed to fill up 5 bin bags worth of mainly fishing materials and ropes as well as find a number of plastic containers. Even though it isn't always the smoothest footage when it's Rob behind the camera, we think video is a really useful tool for debriefs in Professional Diving as we quite often feel different to how we look.
Satisfying but depressing days work from Margot!
The weekend off from the course, before we get back to it in water tomorrow with a busy week of skills and drills as well as some Dives Against Debris to try our best to protect this underwater world that is so important to us all (as PADI Professionals we have a real responsibility to protect). We'll pop another diary entry up in a couple of days to keep you all updated, in the meantime, stay safe and happy bubbles.
If becoming a PADI professional sounds like a good lifestyle choice to you then you can check out our Divemaster Internship, or if you'd rather a bespoke shorter package like these guys just drop us a message!