Divemaster trainee Tram – Week 2 with The Business of Diving
Chapter 7 of the divemaster manual has this sentence: “Being a PADI divemaster trainee, you are in the transformation business”. Hahaha, it couldn’t ring a louder bell to me. Here I thought I was special, not doing the divemaster to start a career in diving, but in the end PADI knows best. LOL, it’s all about the love of diving and personal transformation.
Speaking of the business of diving, I have temporarily taken over Two Fish Divers’ Instagram account, so please go check it out and follow for awesome pics and updates.
Regarding the daily schedule, I quite like it. It’s a good combination of variety and stability at the same time, as well as physical work and brain work.
Every morning, around 6.30am we start loading the boats with air tanks and equipment boxes. The boys can carry 2 tanks at a time, but so far I can only do one, though hoping to graduate to 2 by the end of this Divemaster trainee. Fingers crossed.
We go for the morning dives at 8am. This is where the schedule differs on a daily basis. You could be assisting an instructor on a DSD or OW course, or even a rescue course (and get to play the victim to be rescued), practicing diving skills so they are perfect enough to be “demonstration level, guiding certified divers as the person in charge, and sometimes, just going for a fun dive yourself. The afternoon consists of either instruction dives or studying theory, or working on some required projects, such as Project Aware for the environment. We also help planning for the next day schedule and logistics.
I think the first few days, the other guests viewed me and treated me like one of their fellow travelers. It’s only been the past few days, that I can see myself and other people recognizing me as part of the staff. It’s an interesting shift in the making.
As a matter of facts, yesterday was my first solo guiding of an OW certified diver. I had to readjust his weight a couple of times and also had a slight heart beat skip, wondering which way we were supposed to go once we hit the wall, collected myself and found my way… and everything went super smooth during the dive!
Dinner is at 7pm, served buffet style and all the guests and students from all over the world, divemasters and instructors mingle around a hearty local fare and communal tables as they share diving and travel stories. This is also what diving is about…
Oh, and also I haven’t worn shoes in 2 weeks …
That’s all about week 2 of divemaster trainee Tram! “The Business of Diving”.
Tram
IG @tchoo_tchoo
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