Why I became a PADI Divemaster

I have been diving now for five years. 

When I was 14, I did a Discover Scuba Dive in my school pool. I didn’t see much apart from the odd dead bug and grimy tiles on the floor but I was hooked! 

As soon as I took my first breaths underwater, I knew right there and then I wanted to become a diver.

The divemasters and instructors were warm, professional, enthusiastic and the perfect role models. Within the year I achieved my junior open water and the following year my advanced open water. 

I joined my local BSAC Club, Roundhill Sub Aqua, which was when I really started to build up my dives and experience. It was at RSAC where I met Pete and Shelley of Scuba Tech, which gave me the opportunity to do my rescue diver, emergency first response and, of course, my Divemaster training over in sunny Cyprus.

Divemaster was the best course I have ever done and the experience was life changing. This cemented the idea that diving was the perfect job for me.  

At 18, I withdrew my place from university and made the decision to move to Cyprus, so that I could work at Scuba Tech as a DM. 

People often tell me “I’m committing to the wrong job, I’ll never make any decent money out of it and twenty years down the line I’ll regret not getting a degree.” I guess it isn’t the normal profession for a young person to choose straight after leaving school and I understand the point of view,, as nowadays university is the next step for the majority. 

But I wanted to do something different. I never wanted an office job or to be stuck in a job that I would end up hating.  Diving started off as a hobby, but is now my career, it makes me very happy and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else at this point in time.

I became a Divemaster so that I could share my experiences and love of diving directly with other people, my friends and my family. It is my ticket to see the world and travel to places people can only dream of. I get to interact and meet different people from all walks of life, see amazing marine creatures and to ultimately introduce people to the underwater world, so that they too can fall in love with it.

I won’t lie though, some days can be difficult.  It is challenging and the work can both be physically and mentally draining. For example you can get a difficult customer or perhaps you’re overtired due to long and irregular hours and sometimes certain situations can be very stressful. 

However, it may sound cliché, but I wouldn’t change any of it for the world, as it has made me into the diver I am today.  

Last year I took my mum for a try dive and it was one of my most rewarding dives/experiences.  She gained an insight into what I do and why I love it so much. Seeing her face coming up after the dive was priceless!  She was so happy and her grin was enormous. 

Experiences like that definitely make it all worthwhile.