success!

I am an Instructor!!! It’s incredible, at last, all of this - everything I have worked for has come into fruition and I have made me dream come true! There have been tears, laughs and everything in between. I have been tried and tested and things have nearly come apart a couple of times but my strength and determination has kept my intentions for myself on track. Its Easter sunday, and unlike many of my friends back home who are camping, fishing, partying and having fun... I sat the day in class completing exams and presentations. This is one easter I will not forgot for some time to come. It has been a very emotional and stressful two days of the IE.

Before I go into that, lets take it back a few days and re-cap on the week. We finished up with our final requirements for the IDC which was a lovely relief. We all passed and were being put forward for the IE. The next 4 days we spent it completing our speciality instructor courses. I had initially chosen to do the oxygen provider course upon suggestion, however once in the course, it didn’t feel right and I wasn’t sure that it was something that I wanted to go on to do. To really get the message that it was not something that was aligning with me, I got this severe pain in my stomach. Then I knew, this was not something that I was meant to be doing right now. I get pretty strong feelings if things are right, and this severe jab in my stomach was that feeling. Thankfully, the drift diver course which I wanted to do most was back on (it was not looking like it was possible, hence the oxygen provider course). I am so pleased I would be able to do this.

The next day a dhoni was hired to take us out for deep and UW photography dives. When I saw this dhoni arrive at the jetty, I thought it must have needed some assistance from the island. It didn’t appear to be the most... reliable.... looking boat... I had a little bit of doubt instilled in me and I decided not to take any valuables just in case! Once we loaded up and set up our equipment, we made quite a joke about it, and were able to have a laugh which made everything a little bit lighter. We had a wonderful deep dive experience. I spotted a honeycomb moray eel which was really cool & on the photography dive we saw 9 eagle rays! Just amazing.

The following day when we did the drift dive speciality, the first dive there was no current but on the second there was which was great and we saw two giant marble stingrays and a gorgeous hawksbill turtle. I nearly ran into the guy who was right in front of my face on the wall which I was drifting along, such a pleasant surprise! These two dives marked my 100th and 101st dives in total for me which is quite an achievement and also the prerequisite for the IE so it was a good day! No nude diving to mark my 100th dive though! Incredible that about 92 of those has been racked up in 10 weeks - so thats more dives per week than days in the week! Very cool.

This week, I also finally made it to the local island one evening this week for a coconut juice. And with the new arrival of apprentices, came an evening of drums singing and dancing - it is so great to watch. Followed by a late night stake out for the left over seafood and then a plate of desserts with “good luck” decorated in chocolate sauce around the plate! I love my pals. So thoughtful.

Soo, Yesterday was day one and we were prepared a day prior with an outline of what to expect and a schedule for the two days. Saturday was intended to be the theory day of exams and presentations, so I had spent Friday night and Saturday morning preparing for this. Come Saturday morning, 9 am start became an 11am start to which we just sat around for 2 hours. We were then told by the examiner that we would be spending the day doing our water skills and presentations and Sunday we would do our exams and classroom presentations. Not only this, but we had 1 hour to eat lunch and prepare all of our Confined & Open water presentations in & out of the water, do a skill circuit and also rescue exercise 7! We all freaked out and I nearly lost my shit. For a ‘no suprises’ two days - this was a pretty shocking suprise! I was angry and I was upset. I got to my room, plugged in my earphones and listened to Chet’s soothing voice while I tried to prepare my presentations. I kept making mistakes, mixing up confined to open and stressing about not having any time to practice these presentations nor the skills to ensure they were perfect before the examination. I managed to write some stuff down and then we all met in the living room to have a quick debrief before we walked together to the dive centre. I asked a couple of questions to help assist me with my presentation and was given an unkind response to which, being already in such a distressed state, did not help me. I got up and walked away. I then went to my room and broke down in tears. I was so upset at how the day had unravelled and I was so concerned I would not be able to perform under such pressure - most of which I was putting on myself. After again listening to some music, trying to meditate and pull myself together, I splashed water on myself and walked outside to where a few of the guys were waiting for me to walk together. We walked to the dive centre all very frustrated at what had been heaped upon us and trying to offer each other support.

First we prepared our equipment and then we went into a small classroom where we gave our briefings. During this time when the examiner turned off the air-conditioning, so now we were all hot and bothered! I couldn’t get the distressed look of my face no mater how hard I tried. We then went into the water where we did our Open water presentations, things went pretty well. We then did the rescue exercise which again went well and then onto confined water presentations. We then completed the skill circuit and our briefings. Upon completion, we were given our grades which I got a 4.8/5 4.8/5 and 22/25 which I was pleased with - I passed! In the evening I was so exhausted and emotionally drained it was hard not to fall into a heap as soon as I got home. I pumped some music and had a long hot shower to wash away the day. I met the guys for dinner and we were meeting a little later on to go through our classroom presentations for the next day. I managed to pull mine together with a couple of quick practices before falling into a deep sleep.

This morning we started with the dive theory exam which I was most concerned about. Once completed we then did our knowledge review presentations and the standards exam. It was such a relief to find out that we passed everything once all completed. Such a weigh off my shoulders. The examiner then checked over a couple of pages in our paperwork in front of the whole class before we finished. In doing so, he spoke aloud of the people who would be making monetary donations to project AWARE. He came to mine and noted I had not opted to make a donation and made a comment about me not caring for the environment. I don’t care whether he made this comment as a joke or not, however my personal financial position - or lack there of, has no  correlation with my care for the environment. I replied and said I would be happy to volunteer my time for any cause as required. I am was pissed off. How bitter sweet I was now feeling. We then all went down to the beach to get photos together. After getting photos together it was a geniuses idea to get one more photo together to which he jumped in front of me flicked a pile of sand into my mouth, all over my face and down my shirt. Great. Thanks. Hot and sticky and sand all through my clothes. Those bitter sweet feelings continued.

After all the funny business was over, I went back to my room got straight in the shower and jumped into bed with my laptop, curled up and listened to music. What a perfect way to celebrate, curled up in bed! At 6.30pm we are meeting at the staff jetty for a sunset cruise to celebrate our achievements... so i’ll pick up from here next time

Thank you for all your support in helping me achieve this great milestone in my life. Without the shoulders to lean on, the wise advice, the encouraging words and strength that you give me, this would have been a much harder or even non existent experience.

Support your friends, your family and even strangers in any good that they do. A kind word, a smile or hand of support may be all they need to push them over the line in what ever they do. Don’t give up on them. They will have challenges, you will have challenges, but lets support each other and celebrate in each others victories.

With relief and joy,

Kassie

Padi Open Water Scuba Instructor 

Nitrox, UW Digital photography, Deep, Night, Drift Instructor