Simply the Best Experience Ever!

By Simply Diving Divemaster Rhia Keene

Hey Everyone. Wow, I can’t believe how quickly six months went, but sadly it’s the end of my Divemaster internship here at Simply Diving!

First things first… I have to say what a great team I’ve been working with for the last half year, from all the Instructors, to long and short-term Divemasters, and to clients that have come back so often they seem like staff. I truly met some amazing people and I feel I have made some great friends from my months here.

Where to start with the diving…? Well, going from a PADI Open Water student to PADI Pro, I can’t believe how much I’ve learnt and experienced. From realising how annoying the little things can be – like not clipping fin straps together after a dive – to the amazing dives I have done. Such as…

The many boat dives in Tarifa where we swam with Turtles, so many different rays, massive groupers, bream and a whole endless list of other marine life who all enjoy the currents that can sometimes be, shall we say, strong!!

The wreck diving in the widely-known artificial marine project area of Gibraltar, which is teeming with fish (just check out the photos on Facebook to see for yourself). It’s also one of the areas where we were involved in a Project AWARE Clean-up Day, which was really cool. And not forgetting the dives on the SS Rosslyn, M482 and at least 20 other wrecks around the area.

Of course we can’t leave out our most regular and breathtaking dive site at Marina Del Este where you can see one of my favourites: the Ocean Sun Fish, which is to say an experience on its own. I can remember when I saw my first one. The diver I was with had a camera and I scared the life out of him as I threw him in the direction of the poor Mola Mola.

My summer there on the Costa del Sol was 100 miles an hour, with long shifts at times, but I have to say I loved every minute. With 20-30 metre viz, water temp of up to 30 degrees, what’s not to love?

It seems like a lifetime ago when I was doing my PADI Advanced course with some wicked dives: Wreck, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Deep, Underwater Navigation and Fish ID. Gaining experience from every dive and taking everything you’ve been taught and putting it in to the diving. It’s true that you never stop learning and every day a client will do something either really stupid or really clever that you can take on board!

Whilst there, I had the opportunity to complete some PADI Specialties too, a couple of them being Underwater Naturalist and Enriched Air Diver, both of which were really cool. Doing them on the Costa del Sol was perfect. My Enriched Air course was done on a wreck called the Menapier: What a wicked wreck, lying in 42 metres. I did the dive with my boss Simon, Duncan the Instructor, plus my Divemaster Trainee friends Carl and Jake, and it was unbelievable. An experience I will never forget.

Further in to the Divemaster course you get to do cool things like mapping projects, looking after different levels of divers and assisting on the full range of PADI courses that you can do at Simply Diving. Plus learning the three most important parts to a day:

1: Ensuring under no circumstances does anyone pee in their wetsuit!

2: No one must get in the dive van with wet clothes on!

3: Obviously, make sure all the clients are happy and have an amazing day!

The best experience for me has got to be my boyfriend, Mum and Dad all coming diving. If there are three people I thought wouldn’t dive… well let’s just say they all proved me wrong. Now I get to share this with them. What more could I ask for?

I can honestly say every time I have dived I have felt if I had taken a photo it could have come out of a magazine.

I am sad to have left and I miss it and everyone who has become my dive family. So a massive thank you and goodbye to you all. You have made this an amazing summer and one I will never forget. Take care and all the best for now…

Rhia