All of our lives we are educated by our parents, teachers, and role models of many types. Then sometimes we get the opportunity to teach one of our teachers something and what an amazing gift that is!
I have recently had the great pleasure of teaching my father to scuba dive and for me there can be no greater accomplishment. To be able to pass on the knowledge that I have, to no doubt my greatest influence, is a blessing of the highest degree.
So almost a year after taking my dad on an introductory dive, we found ourselves at Mile Marker 14 (Olowalu) getting geared up and to my surprise, my Dad set up his equipment on his own. I hadn’t even gotten to the briefing orgone through the set-up with him since the previous year, and yet there he was with his gear correctly set up and ready to go. Well done, Dad!
When we got going with the underwater skills, everything was going really well until…guess which skill? The mask skill, of course! But you know as goofy as it looked, he didn’t have major issues with it. He just had the snorkel tucked in under the strap which wouldn’t allow a good seal around his face. It was quite a sight and my favorite part was how calm my dad stayed while the water kept coming in -it was great. That had to be the calmest open water diver with a continuous mask flood of all time. I was a very proud son.
With exception of a little work on the tables, the book work went off without a hitch and I got to certify my Dad as an Open Water Diver. And now, just like with most of the new divers I certify, there is already talk of Advanced, Rescue, and possibly Divemaster. Woo Hoo! And so it goes: we live, we learn, and we teach. What an experience it all is!!!
Aloha, Zac
