After several months of preparation Paula and I made it to Open Water Dive Instructor status following our SSI Instructor Evaluation in the Haven on Monday the 2nd February. 

Today we received our official documentation from no other than Simon Doughty the General Manager of Scuba Schools International (SSI), Australasia.

Our fellow colleagues at Terrigal Dive Centre were also on hand to congratulate us.

A special thanks to Fran Graham for organising the presentation.

We enjoyed our dive instructor course in Melbourne under the expert guidance of John Allsop from Dive Experience.

It was a great opportunity to learn and practice our skills in a different environment. Up until now all of our recreational and professional dive training had been conducted at Terrigal Dive by the diving virtuoso Les Graham.

Of course Les was close at hand during our instructor evaluation to ensure we did not get off too easily: he makes a very credible effort as a distressed and drowning diver. Paula and I kept a close watch on him during our above and below water demonstrations. He has a habit of playing the role of a disappearing diver; the very last thing we wanted to contend with during our evaluation.

Anyone contemplating a career as a dive leader could not do better than seeking instruction through Scuba Schools International. I particularly gained a great deal of self awareness and now have a greater appreciation of the responsibility of being a dive leader and mentor.

It’s taken us more than 30 years to get to this point and we both don’t know why we did not become instructors long before now. Paula and I are happy to share our instructor experience with anyone considering this career path.

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