Why Scuba Cat Diving?

At home in the UK:  SEPT 2011,

Ivan

I had decided that I wanted to take my Scuba Diving to the next level but really had no idea of what that meant, so I hit the internet I found myself on the website looking at a flow chart.  I had Advanced Open Water and wanted to go further, I chose my target level which was Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) or Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT) depending on time and costs involved, first I contacted my local Dive Centre and did my Rescue Diver.

The real problem came with finding the dive centre to do my Internship :

• What was it going too cost?
• Where would I do it?
• What level of training would I get?

So I started contacting Dive centres across the globe, trying to get the information I needed, I visited the Dive Show in Birmingham hit all the stalls met some interesting people got contacts and sent more E-mails, did more research, checked out one dive centre called Scuba Cat Diving,

I hit trip advisor and it came up with a 5.

By now replies were coming back yes, yes we can do your IDC;

the ones that said come have fun and become an instructor got binned, yes I wanted to enjoy the course but “Fun” was not my main priority, I wanted professionalism and high level of training.

Finally I narrowed my search to about 10 centres across the world, weighed the pros ‘n’ cons and reduced it to 5.

Now anybody that has looked in to this will tell you that cost is a big part of making a choice, Value for money by the time I got to 5 places to choose from I had numbers swimming round my head, my poor dive buddy and my partner had both helped crunch numbers trying to make sense of it all.

• fees xxxx AUS$
• Accommodation xxx THB
• Course fees xxx THB
• Materials xxx THB
• ETC ETC ETC

Heads hurt, numbers became meaningless and just a bunch of zeros with strange letters after them….. I had as they say had enough, I sent out 1 email to the 5 places on my short list….. My head hurts how much is it going to cost me for everything excluding flights and living expenses??? 4 came back pretty much restating what had been sent out originally blah blah + blah blah but 1  came back with a simple answer,

It will cost you X amount in THB that’s approximately £xxxx gbp .

I was trying to find somewhere to learn, I sent 5 e-mails asking one question, I got 1 back that actually gave me the answer I needed, If I am going to learn then I need to have information presented to me in the simplest form in a manner that I can understand only 1 Dive Centre actually answered the question I asked in the manner that I asked for and that was Scuba Cat Diving.

The Decision was made………

Recently, introduced a revised Divemaster Course programme to better prepare the next generation of dive professionals.

As the first step from Recreational diving to Professional level diving, the Divemaster course is the foundation for a career in diving and one step away from becoming an Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI). The course is a combination of knowledge development, practical application and water skills development. The changes in the divemaster course are subtle but make a big difference – lets have a look at some of the changes and how it affects our future dive leaders.

Knowledge development

Knowledge and understanding of diving related topics is hugely important for any Dive Professional. A divemaster is expected to make decisions using sound judgement and act how a “prudent divemaster” is expected to act. These are ambiguous terms but it does emphasize the importance of having a good foundation of knowledge and skills to be able to apply in diving related activities. Good decisions are based on a persons knowledge and experiences and the changes in the divemaster course are aimed at giving a newly certified divemaster a better foundation to draw upon.

The new divemaster manual is now a more streamlined manual, which has incorporated several topics from the Encyclopaedia of Recreational Diving to provide a complete knowledge base in a single, easy-to-read manual. Topics such as Physics, Physiology and Dive Theory are presented in an easy-to-understand manner. For additional in-depth information, the Encyclopaedia is of course still included. For those that want to spend less time in the classroom whilst in Thailand there is the option to complete all the Divemaster knowledge on E learning and also practice the Dive Theory on line in preparation for your exams.

Practical Application

This portion of the course consists out of several components. The changes in the new course are aimed at better preparing a candidate to actual diving circumstances and providing them with a broader dive experience.

There are several workshops where students role-play scenarios in a controlled environment and respond to problems during divemaster-conducted activities. This experience is very valuable. When a divemaster finishes with the course, he/she will have already seen what can go wrong in real life scenarios. This is closing the practical gap between the Divemaster programme and the Instructor Development Course (IDC).   Several practical skills have been included to provide a divemaster with broader experiences. Examples are Search & Recovery skills and Deep diving skills.

This additional training will make a student a more experienced diver and as the first step from recreational level to professional level, experience is a key element for success. The changes in the Divemaster course are mainly aimed at providing students with more experience. Like the Rescue course, a divemaster will already have a stronger base in terms of experience to draw upon and in our opinion be better equipped to deal with real-life scenarios, whether they’re responding to problems or making good decisions based on sound judgement.

I suppose at this point I realized what a debt of gratitude I owed to my colleagues from Scuba Cat.  All the late night chat about releasing Nitrogen from our body or how to treat someone with shock had paid off.  The classroom hours with Christophe had been difficult, yet we were sure that our time hadn’t been wasted. In the saloon downstairs some people were being given good news. For others you could see disappointment.

"Waiting........"

When Jim called us down, call it fate or luck but the other group of ScubaCat 4 were being told their results at the same time. We would learn our fate at the same time.

And then the tears started – before we even knew how we had done as a group. All my own self interest was secondary as I found myself looking across at my colleagues.

Mikko smiling – that’s one. Corey passed – two. Alban being told in French by Christophe – as Jim did not speak French – three in. Gerd smiling as he shook hands, we had four out of four so far. Bruce was in tears – but had a huge smile. 5 down three to go. I was next – 6 in, and look at Christian and Alfredo. They were on cloud 9. We had done it. All 8 had passed. Hugs, smiles and tears as we shared in our individual and group feelings.

Out the corner of my eye I saw Bruce go over to shake hands with Christophe after he was given his OWSI certificate.  Much later over a coffee – and it WAS coffee he shared what he had said.

8 individuals turned up in Patong two weeks ago sharing a dream. Scuba Cat Diving made it reality for every one of us. And they added that this was as much their moment to share as ours.

"The life..........."

We had passed and become what we dreamed of becoming – Instructors.  The next few days were spent becoming Specialist Instructors, although I think the socializing was just as important. Hugs from ALL the ScubaCat  team every day.\

By the time we left to head home, the group were deciding what to do next and we’ve gone our separate ways.  Perhaps one day they will have this medium to tell their story.

"New Instructors"

For Bruce and I we are now living our dream. Dive Instructors in Fujairah, near Dubai. We couldn’t settle back in Scotland and we took an offer to run a 5* Center as our first job. Look up adventuredivers.ae to see what we are doing. Are we loving it – YES. Would we change anything – NO. Do we have the best office in the world – YOU bet we do.

"New Life"

This is a little of my journey with ScubaCat. I cannot say how much the support we had, – and still have from them has helped. Bruce wrote to and commended them, look for the “Certificate of Excellence” on the wall. Its not the only one, but it shows that the ScubaCat way IS THE BEST WAY. They don’t teach you how to be a Dive Instructor. They help you become a GOOD Dive Instructor and there is a huge difference.  Some IDCs teach you how to pass the IE. ScubaCat teach give you the knowledge, the skills and the abilities to pass the IE well. And that’s the ScubaCat way.

"Thanks Bruce"

Sarah, Christophe,  Christoph, Gerry, Andreas – and ALL the team are there when YOU need THEM. Their skills are to bring the best out in YOU. Platinum Course Director is the highest accolade – Scuba Cat Diving has many awards. If you want to be a Course Director follow the way that they do it at Scuba Cat Diving.

If you want to be an Open Water Scuba Instructor and  run a small dive center – speak to Sarah. She runs a Dive Center with the IDC centre.

"Scuba Cat Diving"

As Bruce said to – ” – The way the world learns to dive, Scuba Cat Diving– The way should encourage ALL centers to work”

Thanks again Ceri for sharing this with us………………