Ever wondered what actually goes on during a PADI course? Sure, you see the glossy photos of happy divers giving perfect OK signals, but there's so much more to the story. If you are considering becoming a dive instructor, read ahead, because I will tell you as it is!
My morning reality
After my 6am coffee, while my students are still in bed I'm at the dive center, juggling equipment checks while trying not to spill my second coffee on the student paperwork. This morning, I'm mentally rehearsing how to explain to my Open Water students that clearing your mask as you are drifting is pretty much the same than doing it in the pool.
My morning checklist looks something like this:
Try to decipher my own handwriting from yesterday's notes
Prepare backup plans A through Z because the ocean loves proving me wrong
Make sure I have "the blue mask" that one of my students really love like a magic talisman, while it is the same than the black one he tried before that.
Pool training: my daily workout
Let me tell you about pool sessions - they're basically underwater theater where I'm the director, safety supervisor, and sometimes even comic relief.
The stuff they don't tell you in instructor training:
You'll develop ninja-like reflexes dodging underwater snot rockets
Your facial expressions will get an Olympic-worthy workout as you try to convey "please don't grab my regulator" without speaking
You'll master the art of simultaneous translation between "proper dive signal" and "whatever that hand movement was supposed to mean"
You will be able to do all the course skills in your sleep, quite literally.
Open water confessions
Here's where it gets real. You know those perfect skill demonstrations you see in training videos? Well, it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes, the ocean has its way of reminding you who is the boss down there (and that is not you).
Some of the things that happen during those Open Water training dives:
The challenge of keeping a straight face when someone points excitedly at a rock, thinking it's a fish
The moment you panic for 2 seconds when you add 1 and 1 and 1 and figure out you are missing a student (she is right behind you but a little above)
The joy of watching students fall in love with diving, mixed with the terror of watching them chase after that "cute" lionfish
Becoming a master at politely saying "please don't touch that" in 12 different languages
The paperwork chronicles
Nobody tells you in instructor training that you'll become best friends with your waterproof slate and develop carpal tunnel from filling out logbooks. My evening routine now includes decoding my underwater hieroglyphics and trying to remember if that squiggle means "excellent buoyancy" or "needs work on entries."
Why I wouldn't change it for anything
But here's the thing - every time I see a student's face light up after their first successful dive, or watch someone go from "I can't do this" to "when can we go again?" - that's when I remember why I love this job. Even with the 6 AM wake-ups, the paperwork, and the occasional underwater comedy show.
The unwritten instructor code
We have this unspoken agreement in the dive industry - no matter how chaotic things get behind the scenes, we keep our cool. Whether we're secretly swimming after a drifting fin or trying to explain why we shouldn't pet the "cute" lionfish, we maintain our composure. Most of the time, anyway. One of my teachers told me once: "what matters in diving is to look cool", and when my students look at me like I am an underwater Jedi with bionic eyes and perfect buoyancy, I feel it!
If you are ready to become a dive instructor, you will be bound by the secret code too!
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