As I write I am sat (read lounging) on a clifftop besieged by sunshine, and thankfully a slight breeze, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. My UK diving tour has come to a distinct end.
Getting to such sunny climes as a scholar travelling alone can prove difficult . You learn to amuse yourself on long journeys and traverse railway stations, bus stations and airports with a luggage load fit for Victoria Beckham. My trip out to Sharm was dotted with three random acts of kindness, which make being a lone traveller quite heartwarming at times:
1: While standing on the platform in Newcastle railway station a woman approaches me and asks – “would you like a drink or anything?” I am thinking, oops, she thinks she knows me, awkward…. “it’s just you have so much luggage you won’t be able to manage into the café very easily alone.” I nearly hugged her. I should have.
2: While navigating my luggage trolley into the ladies toilets at Heathrow without trying to take out a small child in the process I am left with the usual conundrum: is it OK to leave my bags just outside the door of the cubicle? Voila random kind stranger number 2! “I’ll watch your bags for you dear.” I have to point out that she looked very trustworthy, and in hindsight nobody would be going anywhere fast with those bags. You give me a 23kg allowance per bag and I will use every last milligram of it.
3: Whilst spread out most contently across my 3 seats on the EgyptAir flight to Sharm, act of kindness number 3 materialises. I am stirred by the airhost placing a blanket over me and tucking me in. I fell asleep pretty swiftly after that.
I arrived into Sharm in the early morning. Sharm was once just a beach, “there was nothing here”, Guy Haywood, manager of the Red Sea College, recounted to me. 20 years on Sharm is a full-on tourist destination with hotels, bars, restaurants, dive centres and banana-boats in abundance. The boom is due to a combination of incredible reefs and a weather forecast that may as well run on repeat: sun sun sun. Guy now manages one of the best-regarded, busiest and successful dive centres not only in Egypt, but also throughout the world. Indeed the Red Sea College has won Dive Centre of the Year 5 years running.
I had given myself a two day acclimitisation period (you take a Scottish girl to the desert and you have to expect some difficulties) before the seriousness of my visit to Sharm was to ensue. After I had worked on my freckle count for 2 days, without success, it was time to let the world of PADI wash over me…
Guy Haywood had extended an extremely generous offer to me – the opportunity to complete my PADI Instructor Development Couse (IDC). I am by no means the first scholar to be hosted by the Red Sea College – Guy has offered substantial training to many scholars over the years. Training a scholar to be a PADI professional is a considerable offer: it takes weeks to train a diver to a professional level and throughout training kit, materials, boats, air fills etc are required and used extensively. What is more, staff expertise is crucial. The Red Sea College delivers welcoming, cheerful and upbeat staff – all of whom still have a clear passion for diving and a profound knowledge of all things diving related. Over the duration of the IDC every member of staff offered help, encouragement and advice.
Completing my IDC with The Red Sea College will without doubt shape the remainder of my scholarship year – and the rest of my diving career. Before being awarded the scholarship I had been a Divemaster for nearly 4 years. I had not progressed to becoming an instructor because I simply did not have the means to do so. As such, the opportunity to become an instructor through a dive centre as well renowned and professional as the Red Sea College was an unequaled opportunity for me. I find it especially heartwarming that The Red Sea College has proffered such amazing opportunities to me, and to a number of scholars in the past, and in doing so has changed all of our diving prospects very much for the better.
PADI also provided considerable support throughout my IDC, IE and beyond. By kindly gifting me the PADI e-learning IDC package I could enter the IDC with refreshed dive knowledge. And thank goodness. The IDC leaves little time for revising dive theory, it is a course designed to teach you how to teach. It doesn’t review all the dive knowledge you have learned throughout your previous training. Hence you should be “ready” for the IDC.
Fortunately there was a “steady” stage on offer: IDC prep. Course Director Alex McNellan, owner of Rec and Tec in St Albans, delivered a thorough prep course. Fellow candidate Jocky and I were most appreciative of these 3 “steady” days, during which Alex made us decidedly more prepared for the “go”.
At the “go” stage Simon – a rather hilarious Irishman who is hoping to become a Staff Instructor, joined us. Alex delivered a comprehensive IDC, with Simon’s input being much appreciated along the way. The IDC lasted for 8 days. Days spent in the classroom being crafted into brand new and sparkling PADI instructors were interspersed with our confined and open water training dives.
Together, Jocky and I learned how to present information to students; how to spot and rectify problems both above and below water; how to demonstrate skills most efficiently, and how to conduct PADI courses in an effective manner. There was a lot to take in and a lot of effort was required, but Jocky was a great fellow candidate and we managed to pull each other through.
Come the IE I was undeniably anxious. Approximately 40 candidates from various centres around Sharm were joined in mass anxiety. Our examiners were lighthearted and welcoming, but that did nothing to quell my fear. As I’m sure everyone does, I hate exams, most specifically written exams. Thus, the written exams – or tick the right box exams as they would more correctly be described – were the worst part of the whole IE experience for me. Thankfully this was the first part, and I managed to pass it (to my utter relief) and continue onto the practical in-water sections of the exam. As Jocky and I both traversed the trying experience that is the IE, successfully passing each section en route, we became ever closer to becoming PADI OWSI. When we each stood up after giving our final briefings, our triumph was secured via a firm handshake from Chris.
It was only upon entering into the in-water sections of the IE that Jocky and I came to realise just how well Alex and Simon had prepared us. Undoubtedly they had trained us to a standard far above what was expected from us, and we were both most appreciative for this.
So how do you celebrate such an achievement? Well, somebody decided baking a cake the size of a small country would be a good idea. And it was:
Having been diving for 5 years I have met, worked with, dived with, become friends with…… a number of different dive instructors. I always enjoy watching an instructor work. Each instructor has a specific manner and approach to teaching diving. I’m sure everyone can remember their first dive instructor, and the approach they took with you. It can certainly have a huge bearing on your overall opinion of diving. PADI has a slick and extremely effective and efficient structure to their courses. Instructors follow this structure during teaching, ensuring all standards are met and that mastery is achieved by their students. Yet, from my diving experiences to date, I know this structure does not prevent PADI instructors from delivering courses individual to them. Passions, charisma and principles, all specific to each instructor, are often what make a diving experience so memorable. I look forward to teaching people to dive, and delivering a course individual to me.
