With the year 2014 soon coming to a close, I was reading back on things that took place this past year,.... Many milestones for me. It started off slow with teaching classes that did not require open water dives or going to open water any time soon, as the local water are far too cold. I taught plenty of Open water classroom & pool sessions, "Try Scuba" sessions, Nitrox, Buoyancy & Equipment Technique courses.
-In March I was awarded by SSI with the Platinum 1000 instructor, based upon a points system through SSI. Very nice!
-Once the local waters started to warm, I started diving my rebreather again, after the completion of the first level (MOD1) the Oct. before. My goal was to gain the necessary hours & experience to start my CCR Cave training.
-Once June rolled around & the waters warmed a bit more, I started taking OW students to the Open Water to finish their certifications & teaching various specialties.
- In July/ Aug. I took my CCR to Bonaire. I dove the unit for 3 days until it developed an issue when the electronics flooded (caught on pre-dive checks). Turned out to be a small hole in the Heads Up display cord. My instructor allowed me to use his unit for a couple days to gain more experience. The warm waters really helped me to gain experience without freezing my tushie off.
-On Labor Day, I completed my 1000th dive. That was an absolutely amazing & fun dive. I was with about a dozen good friends, former students & dive buddies. We actually stayed together as a group pretty well until the last 10 min of the dive (everyone in the group was subdivided into buddy teams). After the dive, everyone was treated to lunch & a cake to commemorate the occasion. I had a lot of log book signing to do, but was more than happy to do so.
- Not long ago in Oct. I went down to Cave Country to begin my CCR Cave training for a few days. Parts of it were an exercise in patience,as I was trying to fine tune my configuration to accommodate my rather odd body proportions (short arms). My instructor had me swim Peacock's crossover tunnel back & forth about 3 times, testing my buoyancy control. After the few days, he had to start working with some other students on their Intro to Cave & Full Cave, so I joined another cave diver that had come down. We dove all the usual caves & had a blast. After the last day of diving, whilst filling tanks, I was honored with a gift from a friend, that was one of the Full Cave students, whom I had been helping & mentoring over the past year or so. The gift was a copy of Sheck Exley's "Caverns Measureless to Man". At first I was confused because I already had a copy of the book. I was then told to look inside,.... It was signed by many of the living & top cave diving pioneers. Wow!.... I will admit, though, the signatures & notes that meant the most to me were the ones from my Instructor, my cave diving buddy for the week & the friend who presented it to me. I was totally taken by surprise.
What a year of Milestones! They will stay with me for a lifetime.... What stories I'll have to tell my Nieces & Nephews.
2015- What will it bring? What goals for next year.
-One of my goals for next year is to earn my Dive Control Specialist Instructor rating, to eventually get to Instructor Trainer within a couple of years.
- I am also wanting to get my foot in the door to teaching technical diving, by earning an instructor rating in Advanced Nitrox & Decompression Procedures, Intro to tech & maybe Cavern Instructor. I do have an interest in eventually becoming a Full Cave instructor. I need much more experience before that happens, as I have not had enough "Oh
" moments, yet.
-Perhaps eventually, if I can get the hours & experience, I may even look at instructing CCR MOD1 on the Hollis Prism2 rebreather.
These are just goals,... I may not make all of them, but it gives me something to work towards. In the mean time, I will continue teaching Open Water & specialties & just keep on diving because I find such tranquility & peace anytime I am underwater, even in the pool.
So,.... Please share your accomplishments,... however great or small, they are all important!:cool2:
What goals do you have for the next year? I love to read about other diver's goals & dreams,.. that is what keeps the sport alive.
-In March I was awarded by SSI with the Platinum 1000 instructor, based upon a points system through SSI. Very nice!
-Once the local waters started to warm, I started diving my rebreather again, after the completion of the first level (MOD1) the Oct. before. My goal was to gain the necessary hours & experience to start my CCR Cave training.
-Once June rolled around & the waters warmed a bit more, I started taking OW students to the Open Water to finish their certifications & teaching various specialties.
- In July/ Aug. I took my CCR to Bonaire. I dove the unit for 3 days until it developed an issue when the electronics flooded (caught on pre-dive checks). Turned out to be a small hole in the Heads Up display cord. My instructor allowed me to use his unit for a couple days to gain more experience. The warm waters really helped me to gain experience without freezing my tushie off.
-On Labor Day, I completed my 1000th dive. That was an absolutely amazing & fun dive. I was with about a dozen good friends, former students & dive buddies. We actually stayed together as a group pretty well until the last 10 min of the dive (everyone in the group was subdivided into buddy teams). After the dive, everyone was treated to lunch & a cake to commemorate the occasion. I had a lot of log book signing to do, but was more than happy to do so.
- Not long ago in Oct. I went down to Cave Country to begin my CCR Cave training for a few days. Parts of it were an exercise in patience,as I was trying to fine tune my configuration to accommodate my rather odd body proportions (short arms). My instructor had me swim Peacock's crossover tunnel back & forth about 3 times, testing my buoyancy control. After the few days, he had to start working with some other students on their Intro to Cave & Full Cave, so I joined another cave diver that had come down. We dove all the usual caves & had a blast. After the last day of diving, whilst filling tanks, I was honored with a gift from a friend, that was one of the Full Cave students, whom I had been helping & mentoring over the past year or so. The gift was a copy of Sheck Exley's "Caverns Measureless to Man". At first I was confused because I already had a copy of the book. I was then told to look inside,.... It was signed by many of the living & top cave diving pioneers. Wow!.... I will admit, though, the signatures & notes that meant the most to me were the ones from my Instructor, my cave diving buddy for the week & the friend who presented it to me. I was totally taken by surprise.
What a year of Milestones! They will stay with me for a lifetime.... What stories I'll have to tell my Nieces & Nephews.
2015- What will it bring? What goals for next year.
-One of my goals for next year is to earn my Dive Control Specialist Instructor rating, to eventually get to Instructor Trainer within a couple of years.
- I am also wanting to get my foot in the door to teaching technical diving, by earning an instructor rating in Advanced Nitrox & Decompression Procedures, Intro to tech & maybe Cavern Instructor. I do have an interest in eventually becoming a Full Cave instructor. I need much more experience before that happens, as I have not had enough "Oh
" moments, yet.-Perhaps eventually, if I can get the hours & experience, I may even look at instructing CCR MOD1 on the Hollis Prism2 rebreather.
These are just goals,... I may not make all of them, but it gives me something to work towards. In the mean time, I will continue teaching Open Water & specialties & just keep on diving because I find such tranquility & peace anytime I am underwater, even in the pool.
So,.... Please share your accomplishments,... however great or small, they are all important!:cool2:
What goals do you have for the next year? I love to read about other diver's goals & dreams,.. that is what keeps the sport alive.
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