Location: Mountain Point, Virgin Gorda
When we started the Divemaster Course a few days ago, Ash once said this would be one of the most fun diving courses we might ever take. While waiting to swim to the rock, many of us really questioned that statement. Let’s set the scene: 8 am, about three catamarans in a line away from our boat sat a large rock semi-submerged in the ocean tide. Our instructors told us DMTs that in order to complete the swim test that morning, we had to complete four laps. To the rock and back, they said. It’s only 50 meters, they said.
Sitting in the water waiting for the swim to start, the rock was very obviously more than 50 meters away. Dread set in, but Sydnei remained confident that we could complete our swim in under 6 minutes. We set off for what would become a painful morning. Painful is the word of the day; we discovered a new stinging organism on the swim. Typically this is an exciting scientific discovery, but alas, on a day that was already painful enough, it only slowed us down.
Did you know that Mere Cat is Sail Sides dive boat? This means that every other diving boat in our flotilla comes to our boat to assemble gear, dive, and disassemble gear. There are pros and cons to this privilege. As Divemaster Trainees, people such as myself get hands-on experience, working with people, and talking. However, our boat was intense.
After our swim, we entered our first rotation day, where close to 50 people came through our boat—many at the same time. We split our DMTs into groups, with four people per group (save for a cute little 3-person group), and split off with different instructors to handle different divemaster-related tasks.
One of the rotation activities was hands-on with open water students. A DMT would be paired up with an instructor and would assist them in the water. There, DMTs would assist with demonstrations, setups, and with easing consciousnesses.
A second rotation had DMTs learning to complete skills at a demonstration level. We were graded on these skills, and the pressure was on. The skills had to have a level of precision that shocked us DMTs for a day four activity.
The last rotation had us assembling and disassembling gear at a demonstration level. After being in the water all day, a gear setup out of the water was a refreshing twist.
While all the boats came and gone, our DMTs Shlepped gear back and forth for the majority of the day. After all the hard work that our crew put in today, a tasty dessert of kids was a nice evening treat. After a recall of Jiff peanut butter a few days before the start of session one, our glorious leader, Mike, found a solution. Probably from his secret stash, he produced a jar of Kids. Peanut Kids has been a world-renowned peanut brand, putting a smile on peanut butter lovers since 1924. Luckily for us, we managed to get our hands on 3, 5-pound tubs of Kids. Tonight, as a victory celebration, the DMTs partook in one of the said jars finishing it entirely.
While our stomachs were “satisfied,” many dreaded the loss of one of our three boat relics. The Kids will be missed.
Aidan