Why I Love Teaching Scuba Diving

In 2008 I quit a perfectly good and well-paying job to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor here in Phuket. It was a decision that was made with some apprehension however it is a choice that I have never regretted.

I have been fortunate enough to progress through the PADI ranks and now made it to the highest PADI instructor rating, the PADI Master Instructor.

Being a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor or PADI Master Instructor opens up a world of different job opportunities in a vast range of countries and environments and allows you to meet people from a vast range of nationalities.

I can teach a wide number of scuba diving activities from beginners to PADI Assistant Instructors. Also, a wide range of specialties include PADI Deep, PADI Wreck and PADI Night Diver and further education courses like the PADI Rescue course and the PADI Go Pro course of Divemaster and Assistant Instructor.

However, my passion and real love is the beginner courses of those learning to scuba dive such as the PADI Discover Scuba Diving and the PADI Open Water Course.

Watching students take their first underwater breaths is an amazing experience. There is an awesome combination of fear, excitement and amazement. Observing students overcoming their initial apprehension and be able to conquer that as well as being rewarded with the amazing sights that the underwater world can provide is as worthwhile as any job can be. A single day with the PADI Discover Scuba Diving and you can provide a student with a life long affiliation with the sea and memories that will last a lifetime. How many jobs can provide a person with that job satisfaction?

Being able to guide students from the initial nervousness to be confident scuba divers fills me with a satisfaction equal and proportional to what the student is experiencing. I believe that the harder both the student and I need to work the more rewarding the outcome is for both parties. A three day PADI Open Water course definitely provides this on so many different levels.

I smile in amazement with PADI Open Water students when they often comment after doing skills in the swimming pool as being one of the most amazing activities they have every done. I often reply “but there are no fish here” “wait until tomorrow”. Often out first training day is at Racha Yai Island. This is a great diving site in respects to training with some nice fish species but not the best in the area. The same PADI Open Water students of are ecstatic and say that it is the greatest thing they have ever done. Again they get the reply “wait until tomorrow, this is just a training day”. We often do Phi Phi as our last day. The marine life at Phi Phi is stunning by most scuba divers expectations and looking at these PADI Open Water students after the dive there is priceless. I know that they have seen something very special and I was the first to see it and more so help create it.

Because with PADI Open Water students you have shared and possible started an awesome underwater addiction these student are not just customers but become long time friends. I don’t think anyone ever forgets their PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. I know I still remember mine fondly as the person that introduced me to the magic of the underwater world.

I am sure I will be involved in this industry for many more years to come and not matter what level I reach or my role in the industry I am sure that you will still see me out in the water teaching my two favorite courses, the PADI Discover Scuba Diving and the PADI Open Water Course. Hopefully I will see you scuba diving in Phuket as well.