No rest for the wicked…
… and it seems I must have been bad! Am about 23 days into a mammoth 70 consecutive days of work (with one minor break this weekend). Mondays to Fridays is my main job of educating the Okinawan masses, in the form of teaching debate, drama, and Model United Nations. And then on weekends I am dive instructing, and I’ve got quite a few courses to teach over the next couple of months. Some new students have just signed up for Open Water courses, and other courses have still to finish. My workload is increased a little more as a couple of the courses have gone on longer than I thought (due to students not getting through the workload or weather conditions). I have learnt from it though and for my next courses I am going to write up a contract detailing what the cost of the course includes. If students need more time doing one part of the course for whatever reason, extra costs may be involved.
The good news though is that I have certified another 2 PADI Open Water divers in the past 7 days, with the parents of the family I started to teach (the one I initially found a big challenge). 
The father had no problems and with the mother it was simply a case of her doing the mask skills (mask flood & clear, and mask remove & replace) once and realising there was nothing much to it. I think they have both learnt a lot from the course, and realised that diving is not something to be taken lightly. That seems to be one minor gripe I have with many of the training agencies at the moment - how easy they portray diving to be. About 20-30 years ago, diving was considered a very technical and specialized activity. I mean, what sane person would want to strap a steel tank filled with compressed air onto their backs and jump into the ocean (see left)? But then PADI started to open up the industry and throughout the 80s and 90s it became increasingly popular. A number of other training agencies started up and diving began to be promoted as a pastime for the masses. The problem now seems to be that they are suggesting that absolutely anyone can do diving. While this is true and diving is more accessible than ever before, it must never be forgotten that diving is an extreme activity and does require a certain amount of mental and physical toughness. Not only do you have to carry a steel/aluminium tank on your back when getting in and out of the water, you also may have some weight to carry, as well as they other equipment. It is a physical activity and you need to be in reasonable shape to do it. Which is why I am now asking to meet all of my student before the course begins so I can just assess them and get an idea of how they may perform as divers.
Last weekend was a bit of a mixed bag of diving. I was highly excited as I has 2 people coming down from Osaka, who had been recommended to me by some other ALTs here in Japan. They wanted to do a Discover SCUBA Experience and I was praying for good weather. It’s rainy season here in Okinawa and the weather is very changeable at the moment - yesterday in Okinawa had beautiful weather but when I woke up this morning it was pouring it down. And so it was on Saturday morning I woke up to overcast skies and drizzle in the air. But I picked up my clients and we headed up to the Sunabe seawall. Conditions were marginal to be honest and I was in 2 minds about diving with them. We drove up to the Kadena seawall but it wasn’t any better there, with winds coming out of the North West. But we got back to Sunabe and eventually decided to dive. After a minor panic about equipment (the rental shop said they didn’t have any regulators and BCDs at first, but then managed to source one), I geared up and explained everything they would need to know about diving. They’d obviously paid attention to the DVD and were ready to go. The waves were coming in with a high tide but we made it out of the chain and started to descend. And then that’s about as far as we got! At about 2-3m down, one of the clients couldn’t equalize her ears. We tried and tried different methods of clearing, ascending & descending again etc, but nothing was working. After quite a while of trying, we had to give it up as a bad job and head back to shore. Less of a Discover SCUBA, more a Have-A-Quick-Glimpse-Of SCUBA! They seemed relatively pleased with what they had seen though and were just a bit disappointed to have not made it any deeper. As we were walking back in through the waves you could spot the Japanese Discover SCUBA divers going in - you could spot the fear in their eyes! I was due to finish up an Advanced Open Water course in the afternoon, but I had to call off the whole thing. We might have been able to get in for one dive, but we had 3 to do and the odds would have been against us. Hopefully I can reschedule the course for the very near future.
Sunday was a complete change though, with blue skies and calm seas. It was probably one of the nicest days of the year, and is the reason why I’ve still got a little sunburn on my face. I met my first student early on and we finished her last Open Water certification dive. I then had a long wait in the sun until my students arrived in the afternoon for Open Water dives 1 & 2. One of the students had to do the swim and 
float beforehand. Considering that she is a strong swimmer, I was a little surprised at how difficult she found the 10 minute float. Once we got into SCUBA gear on and into the water it was already late afternoon. I was really impressed with the performance of both students, who had few problems with their buoyancy and seemed very comfortable. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t want to do a second dive of the day, but time was pressing on and I’ll have to reschedule it to fit them in.
This week has not been so busy at work, but I’ve been planning the weeks and months ahead, especially with regards to scheduling my future dives. This coming weekend, I have a mini-respite from the work, by way of a trip to Tokyo. I’m heading up there on Friday night and returning on Monday morning, and will hopefully be able to take in some more of the sights, sounds and tastes of the big city (see right). Expect a report and some photos to be posted early on next week. Looking forward to the weekend away - my trip to Kyoto, Osaka & Kobe was only 6 weeks ago, but it seems like an age now. I love to travel and I’m sure this trip will be a good one. Until next time, take care and dive safely.
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Where did you dive on Sunday? When my husband and I set out for our dive a wee past high tide the waves were quite high on the reefs at Kadena Marina. But we decided we should still be able to get in the water up at Devil’s Cove for some fish watching.
But once we arrived we found a fair current, murky water and waves. We called off the dive since we were there for fish watching mostly (and to find the sunken boat) and wanted good visibility. So we spent the beautiful day at Kourashiki Dam Park instead.
I dived the Sunabe seawall on Sunday all day, and I know a few who dived at Maeda too. At Sunabe there was w breeze, but it was easterly and so the water was as flat as it’s going to get. That was especially the case as the day wore on and the tide lowered.
Hi Dave,
Good to see you rack up some certs and that you have some more future divers coming to you.
Thanks for the comment. Well it’s taking long enough, but I’m starting to get a slow trickle of divers coming through. Am hoping for better things this coming summer too, with a few more certs in the bag.