Appreciation Time

After a year and a half in Victoria – Australia, the forever changing weather, BBQs, amazing craft beers, feasts of any cuisine I craved and road trips for cave diving, I finally decided on a date to return to the life I had been living since 2010 – a full time diving instructor.

Pic: Tank Cave – South Australia

With a lot of patience, hard work and help from my family, my mission on returning home to tie up loose ends was completed and then some.

Pic: Kilsbys Sinkhole – South Australia

I’m proud to say that I managed to complete a diploma in business management, start a business called Dive Like A Ninja, get my Australian driver’s License back after 10 years, buy a car, a drysuit and a rebreather. All whilst trying to find a balance of making money and diving.

Pic: Sidemount Course underway in Portarlington – Victoria

Pic: Scuba Refresher at St. Leonards – Victoria

After launching Dive Like A Ninja and starting to build some clientele I was able to return to a very familiar island in Thailand – Koh Tao, to teach both recreational and technical courses. The ability to do this reinforced my love for this industry.

Pic: Advanced Nitrox + Deco Pro Course underway in Thailand. Welcome to the classroom and delicious local treats.

I soon realised how difficult it is being solely a freelance instructor so I had to try and come to terms with having a non-diving job throughout the business week and diving/teaching on the weekend. This took some time and energy and eventually I started looking more seriously at returning to Mexico.

Whilst I felt slightly accomplished, I constantly missed the life style of being able to dive and teach everyday but more importantly I missed being challenged.

Being home to Australia made me appreciate my life as a dive instructor where ever it may be, more so in Mexico. Cave diving and Instructing is in a league of its own, especially here so why not fully immerse?!

My chosen lifestyle consists of being surrounded by inspirational people, inspirational divers, I have the support of an amazing dive centre (ProTec) and I am in the best learning environment for instructor development.

Pic: Cave guiding at Cenote Jailhouse 

No time for slowing down here. So good to back!!!

Article written by Tamara May

tamara@protecdivecenters.com