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5th July 2007 - Ok, This is the beginning of writing what could be a long haul. I started my DM Internship 6 weeks ago now on 19th May 2007, since then I have been at the pool every week and at Blue Lagoon nearly every week.
Why am I doing it some of you may ask? If you speak to Jo she would probably say I was obsessed with diving (not far from the truth I suppose) but also I know what it was like to learn and as part of my full time Job I teach people to run businesses so why not pass that skill on to my hobby (obsession). So I intend to qualify as an instructor and then see where the water takes me!!
First Hurdle to cross was where to do my DM as I was going to start with Go Dive in Derby, I had the crewpac and was about to start the course when I moved Jobs from Derby to Wakefield, I thought the commute to do a bit of diving my prove challenging so I went on the hunt for a dive centre closer to home (Barnsley). I personally visited every dive centre I could find within a 40 minute dive, I did speak to them on the phone first but I was unconvinced as to what was said over the phone in some places so I went face to face. If you are looking for a course I would highly recommend it as there are some centres and people that just don't "feel" right for what you want to do. There were no "Bad" centres that I found just they didn't fit my criteria.
In the end I picked South Yorkshire Diving Academy in Wath near Manvers they were very friendly there pool and OW sessions fitted around my work, and they had what looked like quite a good social side (Lots more on that later). After working with them now since May I can highly recommend them to anyone looking for a dive centre in this neck of the woods. They have been stunning in their tuition of myself as a DM but also I have had very close dealings with all the students and how they work with them and I cannot fault ANY of their team. I have had dealings with a couple of other dive centres before here and much prefer being here (I'm not slating any others they each had there own student base and Market, but I much prefer here).
Having just completed all my DM exams and am half way through perfecting my Skills I don't think I am doing to bad but I still have a fait way to go to be "Instructor" level but It will get there.
The Social side of diving!! As I said earlier SYDA looked like having a good social side to the operation which I was looking for as I run a Restaurant and Pub I wanted a different kind of life other than finish work and go to the pub for a pint (bit of a busman's holiday). At SYDA we (Jo & I) think nothing of stopping by the centre at anytime (whether to buy something or not) and get greeted with "Stick kettle on lets have a brew" and a 5 min pop in turned into an hour long visit!!
They run a pretty busy schedule of trips as well every couple of months St Abbs, Farne Islands, Red Sea Live aboards (and there only the ones I booked on!!) all planned with military precision and at a cost that you couldn't beat yourself going to places that they KNOW are good and won't let them down!!
September 2007 - Well After several months of Skills training, Open water students and that notorius Stamina test, I finally completed my Divemaster Internship as well as the medical (Not as fat as I thought I was!!). Now its full steam ahead with training towards Open Water Instructor in July 2008!!
