Whew!!! I just finished my Rescue class and boy am I tired. Saving people requires a lot more energy than I thought. I consider myself to be in pretty good physical condition but after today I know I need to workout even more.
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I have said many times “I saw Jaws at a very influential age”. Growing up, I had a fascination with critters in the water but I had no interest in joining them. It started with tadpoles. We had a ditch that ran along the front of our house, and it was there that I first discovered them wiggling around. I would go out looking for them every season, patiently watching through the algae for them to emerge. My mom took me salmon fishing, I caught my first big catch at the age of 9. I was fine as long as I was on the boat. As a teen, I would go to the river during the summer. I was usually afraid to go in to the water once I saw that the “rocks” at the bottom were moving. We would also go to the Oregon Coast and I was told “watch out for the jelly fish, they can sting you”. I played in the ocean only once or twice always fearing what might be touching me.
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Working at Maui Dreams has made a huge impact on my life… probably more than I know but will find out as the weeks pass without being around my dive family!
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About the IDC, what can I say? You learn so much about yourself and where you are in the dive world when you go through it – it’s truly amazing. During these two weeks of daily, intensive training, I had the one of the most fun, stressful, crazy, and growing periods of my life. I met a lot of really cool people and got “knowed up” by some very excellent instructors. We endured a lot of struggles, misinterpretations of training standards, and huge learning curves, but in the end you know what they call me? INSTRUCTOR!!
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Living on Maui and working at Maui Dreams really has been like a dream for me, and not just for the reasons you might think.
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I admit it, I am such a nudi geek. The greatest joys I’ve had underwater have been seeing a new slithery slug friend. I almost ALWAYS have my camera with me because (of course) if you see something cool, you have to brag with pictures on facebook!!!
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The cry rang out across Keawakapu beach in the early morning hours just before the sun crested Haleakala. Nervous sunbathers looked on as a group of scuba divers struggled in the water and quickly carried one of their fellow divers on to shore, abandoning their gear and beginning CPR on their lifeless friend. One of the divers ran to the parking lot and returned with emergency oxygen which he added to the rescue efforts. A sunbather ran over to the wetsuit-clad group and asked if she could help them by calling 911. “Didn’t you hear our cries?!” one of the divers asked, “We said to call for pizza!”
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Because I am the newest staff member at Maui Dreams, I was surprised when I was asked to write about the 11th Annual Underwater Pumpkin Carving Event. Rachel, said “just be yourself, you don’t have to make it like an advertisement for Maui Dreams!”
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Throughout my diving career I have learned again and again that “diving is a humbling sport”. Teaching SCUBA Instructors provides many more opportunities to prove this mantra. While teaching the recent Instructor Development Course, the dive gods smacked me again.
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Okay, so I’m also the one who bestowed that title upon myself, but thankfully, many of my divers seem to agree! This morning I went scooter diving with a co-worker and it made me think about my experiences on a scooter and the store’s history with them.
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Woooooo Hooooo! What a blast it was to do my first guided dive as a PADI Divemaster! I had the privilege of taking a really fun and up-beat couple out to see the caves at Makena Landing. Almost immediately, as we approach the wire coral rock, bammm!!!! Here they are, FIVE spotted eagle rays! So we HAD to stop and watch them for a bit and then we continued to the first cave. As we approached the entrance, who should show up for an encore, but the five eagle rays again. They came up within 15 feet of us (on a day with 70 feet of vis) and just displayed their underwater acrobatics for all of us once again, how amazing.
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It had been a great day at work. My two students (John and Barbara) and I had just finished the 2nd dive of our PADI National Geographic specialty, and as the conditions were ideal that day, both dives had been great. The three of us were slowly swimming back in and talking about what we’d seen. What we didn’t realize was that it was the PREVIOUS class I had taught them-Rescue Diver-that was about to become important.
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