Scholarship Week 4

Sophie

Women’s dive day was a great success! A very busy but enjoyable day and we were lucky with the weather. I started the day in the kit room organising wetsuits, BCDs, regulators and cylinders for everyone then up to Andark Lake to assist with a PADI Refreshers course. It was brilliant to see so many women of all ages kitting up and having fun doing the treasure hunt in the lake. There was so much going on with talks, PADI Discover Scuba Diving in the pool, kit displays from Suunto, Cressi and Apex and hunting for coins in Andark lake to win prizes. Emma Hewitt’s talk on her PADI career was very interesting and inspiring. Then it was straight into helping with Aquanauts in Andark Pool; the children were brilliant at mastering new skills. What a day!

 Sunday was calmer with a trip to Vobster Quay, a flooded quarry,  for the PADI Advanced Open Water Course. I spotted lots of little fish while doing surface cover then went on a Wreck dive with students to a sunken plane. I was fortunate to get an extra dive with Simon, a DM, who took me on an underwater tour of Vobster Quay and down to a caravan where the water temperature was 8’C! Much too cold for my liking but I’m glad I’ve done it. 

On Wednesday I helped out with evening training in the pool. It was great to watch students take their first breath underwater on the Discover Scuba Diving and to grow in confidence during the session. I’m now assisting with a PADI Junior Open Water Course where the students are learning new skills in the pool and are excited to be doing their first open water dives this weekend at Andark Lake. 

 Next week we are going to visit PADI headquarters for a sneak peak behind the scenes – I’m very excited!