Romeo High Goes Down Under

We were happy to be invited out to Romeo High School today to share a little DISCOVER Scuba with swimming, diving, and lifeguard students!

Sally (lower left), from Romeo High, organized this great day for us and her students. Although they're backgrounds in the water varied, it was important to Sally to show everyone that there's even more yet available to them underwater in addition to traditional swim classes. The success was evident with such a strong and interested turnout!

As Pam and Dave of Great Lakes Dive Center welcomed the students and gave them proper pre-dive instrutions, the rest of us readied all the sets of equipment...

Then our crew was ready to go. From Left, Bob, Dave (owner of Great Lakes Dive Center), Gary, Bob, Keith, and Joe (me).

Candice (left), and Kendal agreed to be my picture subjects in between some games of catch with our underwater torpedo... This happens to be their 3rd time in the water today, and this time they just had to get out their own fins to really take advantage of more underwater time.

This looks like a great place for... oh yeah, a game of "rocks, paper, scissors." I see paper coming out on the right, and unfortunately it looks like scissors on the left!

Most everyone went head-over-heals with at least one underwater somersault...

Thanks to Sally, Romeo High School, and especially the students for being such great SCUBA students today! We had lots of fun, and we're looking forward to seeing all of our new friends out on the open water some day as fully certified divers!

(more pictures here)

Divemaster COMPLETE!

Instructor Development materials began to arrive yesterday, I've started my reading, and this post is just a notice to my dedicated 300+ visitors ;-) that my go-to page for scuba is changing! From Divemaster to Instructor!

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The Divemaster Diary page served dutifully in helping me, my students and curious onlookers over almost the last 6 months, but its time to evolve has come!

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Since official instructor training begins in only 2 weeks, I'm going to get my platform for sharing my professional ventures ready. I plan to have my students' pictures, class information and other resources available!

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Check back soon... I'm looking forward to sharing the next chapter in my adventures in scuba with everyone, email me if you happen to be interested in coming along with me! ;-)

See the Sea!

"Under the Sea" is the best new movie to come out on the greatness of the underwater world in the stunning IMAX format!

This is a highly anticipated movie that is sure to bring awareness to the wonders of the rest of the 2/3's of our world. Warner Brothers did a great job on this movie and has resources available on the film's website for educators.

Take a visit by the film website for more, or email me before February 13th to join in the party planned for divers and non-divers alike to enjoy and share this sure-to-be-great movie!

January is Perfect for Diving!

Who says you can't have fun with diving when its only 14 degrees!? They must not have been with us and all the eager divers on Saturday!

Jim (upper-left) welcomes another class to the water here... My focus for the day was on one of our entry-level Discover Scuba classes, so I don't have a final number on total divers but I think we had about 15+!

This weekend I dusted off my old digital camera, found its ominous set of attachments, chargers, and memory cards and washed out it's underwater housing and Voila! I had my own lesson for the day, to relearn the nuances of the camera and the extreme variables of the elusive perfect underwater camera shot. (It's time for a Digital Underwater Photography brush-up, I think! ;-)

There were Discover divers, new Open Water divers, Scuba Review classes, snorkeling instruction and interested friends and family looking on.

My focus on fun for the day were these two intrepid adventurers! Ashley & Chuck! I can attest to Ashley's spirit with her determination to equalize her ears while decending into the depths of the high-diving area of the pool. Chuck joins her here for a celebration shot for the successful traverse down that deep end transition...

After getting aquainted with the deep end, Ashley & Chuck enjoyed watching the activities of the other instructors and students.

After a long holiday month, it was nice to meet up with fellow scuba professionals-in-training, Frank (pictured here, left), and Keith. We've all decided to continue our training in the Instructor Development Program which starts in February. It was nice to take some time out and discuss our shared group attack plan on our months ahead!

I know its just January, but just remember, from here on out the weather just gets warmer, there's more sun every day, and the water gets more comfy! See you here next week!

(more pics for the day here)

Emergency First Responder Training

The classroom is running out of space as the popular Emergency First Responder training filled up the shop this morning! It's a comprehensive class of CPR, AED and First Aid sessions. The class was filled with students from a wide range of backgrounds, mostly a wide array of diving backgrounds but some not. Every student present had to demonstrate ALL the skills! (Even if we have to use extra space to get one-on-one experience).

Although I happen to be secretly absent in most of my reporting, Pam, owner of GLDC snaps a surprise photo of me in training... Not sure why, but someone felt like I needed a real test today and put me to work with a custom AED training scenario that included "Battery Low"! Was I a pawn in a game or just a lucky recipient of thorough training?? Either way, the end result is the same: Confidence from Training!

Very informative class and well worth only one day of training to have the confidence to help fellow divers on the boat or non-divers on land!

Grand Day at the Pool!

Grand was the adjective of the day!... not just in our marathon skills diving day, but in the weather! Just yards from this little blue pool were the accumulating inches of heavy-Michigan snow! Just enough chill in the outdoor view to enfuse us with the energy to enjoy the small parcel of warm indoor aquatic realestate.

Frank, fellow divemaster (left), watches as Sophia signals "OK" upon a successful giant-stride entry. Rebecca (right) looks on with experienced eyes after having passed this skills test moments before...

After her successful demonstration of skills, Sophia was all smiles knowing that she'd properly performed all that was required of her for first Open Water Diver license certificate.

It was only fitting to soak the hours of practice away in the nearby hot tub!

Rebecca and Sophia did extremely well, and I have only request. I'm hoping that they'll come back and tell me about their dives that we've so diligently been preparing for! Another great class under my wing, another group of friends, and more dive buddies for our future dives!

More OWD Training

Its 8:30 in the morning, its Saturday, the shop's OPEN!, and it's time for SCUBA!...

Soon enough it was 8:30, and my Open Water Diving student came in with a confident smile. The master instructor today, Jim, took us both back into the classroom and the three of us introduced ourselves. Our student for the day, Nina, was taking her class to go diving with a friend of hers. This was going to be the first time for me to teach the classroom material for an entire Open Water Diver class, so Jim started and I jumped in and took turns explaining different material. Nina was very comfortable with the material so was a great student for me to work with. She worked in the medical field so many things were familiar to her.

Then we all packed up the gear for the afternoon in the pool...

Ironically, I also saw one of the students (Jerry, middle) at the pool again for a dry suit diving class already! I just saw him a few weeks ago in his first OWD class... he's obviously taking a liking to the water!

We had Nina set up in her gear in no time, but it was a long few hours of practice in the pool. With this being the second time through an OWD pool session, I was getting quite comfortable in remembering the demonstration-quality skills I needed to know. We were a small group so our discussions were social and grew long, but Jim kept pushing us along to keep the show on the road. At the end of the day, Nina was quite comfortable in her skills, and I had another class under my belt! This is starting to get easier and more fun every time!