I'm finally getting into the swing of my new job! The first few weeks it was new and exciting. The subsequent weeks were really stressful and frustrating. There is SO MUCH to learn on this boat. I do everything from teach diving to pump the sewage. Most of it is more complicated than any other boat I've worked on, and usually involves a lot more heavy lifting and muscles than I'm used to using. It's definitely a boat designed for guys and I struggled for a few weeks trying to fit in and not get my ass handed to me by everything.
But the last two trips I've done, I really felt better about everything. It's getting easier, everything is making a lot more sense and I'm even getting stronger. The last two trips I've really found my groove!
I got off of the boat yesterday, and that trip was the best one I've had yet. I had my first Open Water course! That's your beginning dive course, for those not up on the PADI lingo. I had four students in the pool and out on the boat. Luckily I wasn't thrown into the classroom teaching yet, I'm much more confident teaching in the water than out of it! One of my students was quite the handful. She was from California and around my parents's age (so 39, right Mom?). But holy cow, she could talk. We would be doing a briefing about how to use a compass and she'd be asking about whalesharks! I'd be explaining our skills for the next dive and she'd butt in, asking if I thought she was properly weighted! The whole course was an exercise in herding cats. But it was mostly one cat in particular... In the end the whole group did very well, all of them got certified and three out of the four went on to do the Adventure course (a night dive, a deep dive and a photography dive).
I usually don't get a chance to take photos, since most of the dives I'm teaching (read: herding cats). BUT I've discovered a clever loophole. One of the dives in the Advanced course and the Adventure course is a photography dive, so if my students want me to guide them, I bring along my camera as well! Its a teaching tool, I swear. :)
This is a cheeky little moon wrasse that wanted to be best friends.
This guy is called Wally and he like chasing divers, long walks on the beach and putting his lips in your outstretched hand and dragging you around in the water. He's about 4ft/1.5m long!
Cute little Hawksbill turtle!
Nemo!
On day three of the trip, crew wake up time is 5:30. It's rough, but when you're looking at this as you're setting up the back deck, it's not so bad...
Now, you might think that working as a dive instructor now, doing 8+ dives a week, I would be sick and tired of being underwater. NOT TRUE. Last week, during my days off the weather was amazing, so I booked a fun day on a dive boat! Me and Mike went out on Quicksilver, a boat out of Port Douglas, which is about an hour north of Cairns. Neither of us had been to the reefs that far north, so it was a good adventure. Since I booked on through my new job (awesome staff rates!) we were on standby, so we didn't know what we could get up to until we got there. As luck would have it, there were two spaces in the dive group so we got to go fo free! The funny part was that we had to do a guided dive with a divemaster! I'm an instructor, Mike's a divemaster (doing his instructor course this week) and we had to follow around a little group. It was nice in the end, though. We stuck to the back of the group and ignored the problems the other divers were having! It was my day off! I didn't have to deal with anyone's mask issues! And I didn't have to navigate, because we were following around a group! Too easy.
Underwater selfies!
A true Nemo!
Open wide! Flowery cod showing off his chompers!
That's about all that's new and exciting at the moment! Stay tuned though... hopefully I'll be making post-Australia travel plans in the next few weeks and let you know what's next in my globetrotting life!
Love and fishes!
