Scuba diving for me has been a wonderful diversion and an escape. I've been to some very wonderful places and have had the privilege to dive with some of the finest people in the world (my family included). When I came to NYC, I was faced with a diving dilemma, "where can I dive and work as a PADI professional?" So I did what anyone would do to find a scuba diving shop, I Googled them!
My first 'hit' was at Pan Aqua dive shop on the west side of Manhattan, the same side of the island I am on. I sent them a couple of emails with no response, which seemed odd, but I understand busy. I had been to the shop before and knew that the equipment I brought with me was lined up exactly with what they were selling, so it seemed to be a very good fit. After not hearing from them after a couple emails, I thought I'd stop by. So I did, introduced myself, let the folks know that all I wanted to do was help with classes and that I'd pay my own way if I had a chance to dive. I was told, to my utter shock, that they didn't need or want any help, that they had plenty. So I walked out the door never to return and sent an email to the folks at Empire Divers.
It took about 10 minutes for my phone to ring. Cliff and Debbie wanted me to come in to the shop and meet me and talk about what I wanted and discuss how I could help them. Yeah, I went that afternoon. I was in the pool a couple of days later doing a Scuba Review. That was early in the summer in 2011. By the end of the summer, I was going out to their open water classes at Dutch Springs and helping out there. When the outdoor diving season ended, I stayed busy at least 2 days a month in the pool and was helping out in the dive shop one or two times per week.
I guess it was January when I was at the pool with Cliff and he approached me to let me know that he needed an instructor and he thought I could be a fantastic instructor. (One of the instructors that I worked with at Dutch from Empire, Joi Petrik, moved to Hawai'i.) I told him that I was flattered and that he was probably right, but that I honestly couldn't afford it. At that point, right there, Cliff offered to pay for the Instructor Development Course and the Instructor Examination if I worked for him for a while. Naturally, I told him I would think about it. Yeah, that thought process didn't take too long and the next day we were looking at IDC options.
The choice we made was to use Course Director Steve Scigliano at Swim and Scuba in Rockville Center because Steve was able to put together an IDC that went for 5 consecutive days in February, which worked perfectly for my schedule. During the IDC, Cliff even did his IDC Staff Instructor course, so we had an opportunity to 'reverse commute' every day to Long Island. The IDC was grueling and intense. The days were about 10 hours a piece on site, plus the commute, plus 3-4 hours of homework each night. I felt like I was back in college (and actually paying attention)! I capped my IDC experience by going to Nassau (on miles and points) for a long weekend and doing some diving with Stuart's Cove. Perfect way to decompress after a long week, that's for sure!
I then went to work in the shop as an Assistant Instructor. I was teaching classes and meeting folks and having fun until it was time for the Instructor Examination.
The IE was held in Allentown, PA (the open water portions were done at Dutch Springs). I went out on Friday evening and stayed in Allentown at a Hilton Garden Inn that was wonderful. I did my best to get a good night's sleep, as the IE began bright and early on Saturday morning at 7:00. As my father taught me, 15 minutes before is on time, so I showed up at the hotel where the academic portion of the IDC was being held at 6:45. Lots of people were taught the same lesson, apparently, and I ended up in the front of the room!
The first part of the IE is academic. You take a series of tests that center on standards and procedures, equipment, the dive environment, physiology, physics, and decompression theory. You have to score 75% or better on each section of the exam, or you have to retake that section the next day and, if you can't get the requisite 75%, you have to schedule to do that portion at another IE. So there's some pressure there to not fail, and that's OK. When one of the examiners asked us candidates if we were nervous, most of us said we were. Then he asked why. I, naturally, blurted out "Physics". Sure enough, I had to retake the Physics test on Sunday morning! But I did fantastic on the rest of the exams!
The next portion of the exam was an oral presentation. OK, it didn't really matter what topic I was given. The IDC prepared me with the presentation format and the required elements. And I speak in public for a living. This wasn't hard at all. 3.8 out of 5 because I didn't use props and didn't cover something that I didn't think was all that important. Needed a 3.5, on to the pool.
I arrived at the pool and I was the only one from my IDC there that day (the other two guys, Dennis and Bob, did all of this on Friday because Bob is Orthodox and Dennis is just a better man than I to volunteer to spend his Friday with Bob), so I was behind the 8 ball a little bit. I didn't have anybody to help with equipment set up and double checks. As I was finishing up my preparations, the staff told me to hurry up and get ready and go join a group. I did not complete my checks, but they assured me that I would be OK. So I put my scuba unit on and swam out to join the other group. As we descended, I put my regulator in my mouth and took a breath. Off an empty tank.
Needless to say, the Instructor Examiner was not one bit happy. He said, rightly, that he could fail me right at that moment. Until I let him know that I was not given the time to perform my predive checks by the staff who was hurrying me. He told me to get out of the pool, swap my tank, and join another group. I got another chance. But I was not one bit happy about it, as the tank was one of ours from Empire and should have been full (because we filled them when we inspected them about 6 weeks prior, but they were used for a couple of classes) and the staff shouldn't have been so insistent that I hurry. No matter, it was still my fault for using an empty tank. Will never happen again.
I ended up doing the skill circuit (5 skills the examiner chooses for you) flawlessly and ended up with a 4.2 out of 5.0 on my confined water. Then it was back to the hotel to study physics while the rest of the candidates went to dinner and the casino. That was just fine with me. After a day like that, I was in no mood for hooting it up at a casino!
I got a decent night's sleep, was ready for the physics make up, and got to Dutch Springs in plenty of time to reconnect with Dennis and Bob and a couple of other "old guys". It was awesome sharing this experience with men my own age (and a couple even older than me!). We began with a rescue exercise (everyone has to perform a rescue of an unresponsive diver at the surface), taking turns as rescuer, victim, and equipment handler. I think I did alright, 4.8 out of 5.0 because I didn't take my mask off immediately. Then it was to the platform.
We were assigned skills that we had to work with our 'class' on performing. Mine were easy (regulator recovery and partial mask clearing), and I did fine. One of the guys had the Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent (CESA) and picked me to do it with. Thanks. So as we started up, the Examiner told me to take a breath. I did, we went back down to the platform and started up again. I took a breath about 5 feet from the surface, but the 'instructor' did just fine. The Examiner, however, told me that he needed to see me do one flawlessly before I could pass. So, when everybody got to the surface, he and I headed back to the platform so that I could perform a flawless CESA. Done.
We debriefed the dives, I got a 4.8 out of 5.0, and the Instructor Examiner extended his hand and said to me, "Congratulations, Mr. Instructor." Wow.
I became a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor on June 3, 2012.
I certified my first open water divers on June 10, 2012 and, during the summer, was lucky to certify a total of 30 Open Water divers, 3 Advanced Open Water divers, 3 Rescue divers (one being my daughter, Katie :)!), 1 Peak Performance specialty diver, and certified 2 people in Emergency First Response. I spent 10 weekends at Dutch Springs during the summer of 2012. I had some wonderful times with some wonderful people.
I started "Team Fun", consisting of people that I've been lucky enough to certify. We have team meetings and I'm putting together a bunch of ideas for things we can do. Keeping people connected is very important in diving, but using diving as a connection point for folks is also a very good thing to do. And because I believe that diving isn't really diving if you're not doing and sharing it with other people and I also believe that diving is, fundamentally, fun. And when I'm teaching, I do my best to help people concentrate on the fun aspects of the sport/activity.
I became a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer on November 30, 2012 with specialty certifications in Deep, Boat, Underwater Naturalist, Underwater Navigator (hahaha), and Multilevel Diving.
I am looking forward to spending some time in the classroom and the pool this winter. Right now, I don't have any vacations planned to dive destinations this spring, and that's OK. I'll have fun with our customers!
Diving catch up... done.
