This week I’m hunkering down at Captain Slate’s Atlantis Dive Center among a mountain of scuba books and manuals.  I’m taking the big professional plunge and becoming an Open Water Scuba Instructor!

Long time OW-USS supporter, Captain Spencer Slate owns the Florida Key’s longest running scuba, snorkel and glass bottom boat tour company, in business now for over 34 years.  In addition to managing a very busy dive operation, Slate and his excellent staff have donated their time to train me as a SDI/TDI Instructor. This will be my first certification from SDI/TDI and I’m already enjoying learning about the perspective they bring to the diving industry.

The certification course involves lots of reading, graded mock lectures, rescue scenarios, testing, and time to build proficiency and confidence teaching in the classroom, pool and open water. There are also lectures running the gamut from education theory through risk management to profitability and branding. It’s a big course, and I’m looking forward to the challenge!  I have always loved teaching others who are passionate, and am super excited to take my diving to the next level.

A special thank you also goes out to the instructors who have coached me to this stage in my diving. I’ll be borrowing heavily from your example the next few days!

And thank you to you for following along with the adventure. As always, feel free to leave questions or comments below in the blog, on Facebook, or Twitter.

Now, back to the books!