Rescue Me!

Rescue skills are very important in the diving world, mostly because unfortunately you never know when you're going to need them.  Even more unfortunately, I've had to use mine more than once, and I'm forever grateful to my instructors going along, and my students, that I've had good training and even better opportunity to brush up my skills.  I love teaching rescue, even if invariable the courses end up with me being injured somehow - broken toes are not uncommon.  But don't for one minute think that diving is unsafe - diving, like with any other sport, is only as unsafe as the person doing it, and if you trust your buddy there should be no reason to worry.  One member of staff said to me yesterday that his instructor, when he was starting his open water course, asked why he was scared to dive?  "Because diving is dangerous", my friend replied.  His instructor calmly pointed out that more people die in their beds than they do anywhere else in the world, and yet no one is afraid to go to sleep at night...

Week Four in Utila - Nobody Told Me This Was a Working Holiday!

I've abandoned the Spanish because I've started trying to speak it when drunk which doesn't impress the locals believe me!! Well, this week has been super-busy to say the least!! My first week as a Dive Master Trainee is over, and according to my mentor, I'm flying through, yay! So far I've done my swim test, 4 exams, assisted on an Open Water course and a Rescue Diver course, demonstrated 20 skills underwater to a class and had a medical - all in one week!!

Just another day at the office...

My typical day at the moment consists of getting up at 5.30am to be at the dive shop for just after 6am. If I'm on a 7.30am boat, I have to greet the resort divers and get all their equipment ready, then set up the boat with first aid, oxygen etc. I'm getting to know all the boat captains, and one of them asked me out to dinner last week - unfortunately he's about 40, married with kids, but that's Utila for you!! Yesterday for example, I was in the shop at 6.30am, getting equipment ready for 9 Open Water students. Was in the boat at 7.30am, did two dives before 10am, then back to the centre, taking photos and certifying the students who were all really chuffed (most of them didn't speak English as they were Switzerland so I had to translate the course for them into German as we were going along...), teaching them how to rinse their equipment properly and put it away, debriefing with the instructor, paperwork, then setting up equipment for 9 Rescue Diver students, back in the water at 11.30am, out of the water at 4.45pm, in a Decompression Theory class at 5pm, out at 6.15pm, into a Staff Meeting at 6.30pm, out at 7.30pm, then sat down with my mentor for an hour - it never stops!!!

Can't complain though, I'm very lucky. This is an amazing experience and I've really discovered a passion for something that previously I thought was just a hobby. I don't mind getting up at stupid o'clock in the morning because I'm itching to get into the water (and itching generally - damn sandflies!).

Am loving assisting on the Rescue course at the moment as I get to fuck people up!! I have to drown in varying degrees of panic, and all the big blokes keep coming for me because they assume that, as a girl, I won't put up much of a fight - MWAH HAH HAH!!! Yesterday I sat on one underwater, ripped out 3 regulators, broke a mask and 2 fins!!! My points score is way higher than all the other DMTs!! It's payback time - I'm introducing my new technique of alligator rolling today, can't wait!! Let's see them try and hold me then!!

Who doesn't love a good rescue!