I'm a Rescue Diver!! Now what?!

[nat]

Hurrah, hurrah! Got certified as a rescue diver today...finally I can stop chewing my nails and dreading any of the staff members in the LDS going anywhere near the water, for fear they may jump in and suddenly become a panicked and then unresponsive diver!!

So, my next question relates to what now... My Instructor has suggested doing a DM internship: Staggered course fees, free dives and working there at the weekends.

What is the opinion on DM internships like this... am I moving too fast? Not sure whether I'm going to miss out on enjoying the fun dives just for me or to just jump straight in (so to speak)

Nat
Tower extraordinaire :-)

[Papa Bear]

Save me! I am not underwater and I am drying up!

[littleleemur]

Congrats!

[littleleemur]

BTW the dives aren't really free.

You're paying for the DM course + you'll be schelpping tanks and rinsing "previously loved" wetsuits for the next 6 months

[seasnake]

Congrats from me too, that is a great accomplishment. A very responsible thing for you to do, taking your rescue certification ...

Yeh, DM Internship = work for free, but then again, if you love the sport and love being around it, it is a great way to learn and be involved. It can be very rewarding too.

[lottie]

Congrats on getting your Rescue cert.

[lars2923]

It is a good thing to get rescue certified. I wish we all could be rescue certified.
DM is a good thing to.. If at a minimum the knowledge you will gain by it.
I say go for it.

[nat]

Thanks everyone

Papa Bear, I could not live with myself if I didn't assist you, so I am throwing you a life saving BCD and shouting "Diver, diver, partially inflate your BCD and jump in".

I had an open water student ask me the other day about safety on entering the water. I sat him down and said tell me why, for safety, when entering the water from a boat we hold our masks and regs in place and hold our SPG and touch fastener in the other whilst rolling backwards. He went on to explain all of the reasons for quite some time.... At the end I just shook my head and said "no, no, no...because if you rolled forward you'd hit the deck".

Haha (well, I laughed - he just looked confused)... Maybe I should just stick to diving for fun, but I think I am going to start my DM course.

Thanks for the advice and support!

N

[amtrosie]

Get some experience! The best teacher is experience. It can not be replaced, or sped up. To enter into a leadership program (and cert.) with minimal experience shortchanges every one, especially yourself.

It would be my advise to seek advanced courses, and not the PADI bouyancy plus crap either. Do the wreck, deep, etc. type courses. They will expose you to different aspects of diving and expand your horizons.

The other thing about leadership courses, they start to take away from the total joy of diving. Dive for fun for a while, before you become a slave to the sport.

[Papa Bear]

Get some experience! The best teacher is experience. It can not be replaced, or sped up. To enter into a leadership program (and cert.) with minimal experience shortchanges every one, especially yourself.

It would be my advise to seek advanced courses, and not the PADI bouyancy plus crap either. Do the wreck, deep, etc. type courses. They will expose you to different aspects of diving and expand your horizons.

The other thing about leadership courses, they start to take away from the total joy of diving. Dive for fun for a while, before you become a slave to the sport.

Very well put! Ditto!