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Living the dream

By Simply Diving Divemaster Trainee Rhia Keene

To introduce myself… my name is Rhia Keene. I’m 23 and in my first month of my PADI Divemaster internship course at Simply Diving.

To be honest, I never thought I would be sat here right now writing this blog about how I’m training to be a scuba diving instructor. After all, it was just a month ago that I was in England working in a tattoo studio as a body piercer! It seems like worlds apart from working away on people’s intimate parts in a studio, to now living in sunny Spain, scuba diving every day in the Mediterranean!

I feel so lucky to have been given this opportunity. Leaving home and my friends and family was a big deal to me. But when I got to Spain, the first place I went to was the diving school. As soon as I walked in everyone was so friendly and helpful that it felt like a home from home. Now it’s like I’m part of a new family altogether.

From being in the dive centre to being underwater, everything has its place and rules that need to be followed, but everything is sooo cool it’s almost like not being at work!

Rhia loves the fact that her internship involves wreck diving!
Rhia loves the fact that her internship even involves wreck diving in Gibraltar!

I’ve been here just a few weeks and already had some amazing diving experiences: from wreck diving in Gibraltar to seeing some beautiful (and some very ugly!) looking marine life around our dive sites in Tarifa (where just the other day we dived from the boat into 25 metre viz!) and Marina del Este of course. Considering the weather wasn’t at its greatest when I first arrived, I really can’t wait for the summer to kick in. Thank God we’ve got 30 degree sunshine and warm clear water now!

If diving is something you would consider, whether it be your first ever dive, a fun dive, refresher course or completing your next PADI certification, I can’t recommend Simply Diving enough. I can guarantee a great day out with some of the nicest, funniest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and working with. Even though there’s some OCD tendencies around! That aside, it would be a day you’ll never forget.

From a personal point of view, the last three to four weeks have been some of the best of my life. I’ve learnt so much already – and have even had my first few PADI cards though the door! – and can’t wait for the next challenge. Without doubt, I have no regrets about being here and it’s easily the best decision I’ve made. This week I even got to dress Dave the diving mannequin in his new Scubapro shorty. Lucky me!

I’ll keep you updated on how everything is going, but in the meantime check out the website and Blogbook for more info about upcoming dives and courses.

Finally a BIG Thank-you to….

Simon, Natasha, all the crew – Peter, Jenny, Carl and Jake – and all the clients along the way who have given us a good laugh and are all helping me live my dream.

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