A day in the life of a scuba dive instructor

I’ve met many tourists, who have become friends, in the two-and-a-half months that I have been working on the beautiful island of Koh Lipe. Most of them express envy over my job and the place I call home. I agree with very little modesty that, yes, my life is perfect!

 The tourists see my office that is situated literally on the beach; they experience the fun on days with bright sunshine, beautiful dives with amazing visibility and a variety of sea life. They see how the staff at our small dive centre have bonded with each other and interact, joke, laugh, fight and play with each other as if they have known each other for years instead of a few months.

 What is it really like to live in paradise, though? It is hard, hard work but yes, the playing is also hard. Days start early, preparing everything for the day. Everyone in the shop work together. We get equipment ready for customers, carry cylinders, prepare water, towels, food and load the boat.

 Once we made sure that everything we need is on the boat and that our customers are comfortable and happy we set off to do some diving. Some days I get to guide fun dives with qualified divers but more often I get to teach. Teaching diving is my passion and I feel fortunate to be able to be a part of the first underwater experience of my students.

 Our open water course is three and a half days long and the growth that I see in people in this time always amazes me! At first there are many self-conscious and unsure actions. Soon enough these individuals do little underwater dances with me as they achieve small victories on their journey to become a scuba diver.

 With dives done for the day we return to the shop where we de-kit, wash and pack away all the gear and supplies. This is followed with de-briefings and then classroom sessions where we try to cram as much information as possible into brains lazy from being on holiday.

 After my students leave for dinner, perhaps a drink, more studying and a good night’s sleep (or perhaps some bar crawling) I assist with the general putting away and locking up of the shop.

 My work day is done and I join some friends, often the ones who customers see me joking around with at work, for some dinner and then perhaps go out to a place where we can listen to some live music – usually a bar where the counter is shaped like the longtail boats that we dive from.

 I have amazing, insightful conversations with close friends and strangers and moments where I feel completely lonely while I am surrounded by people. At times I feel exhausted and cannot wait to crawl into bed at the end of the day other days I cannot wait to jump out of bed and get to work. But the best part of my day is twilight, where our beach gets super quiet, the water turns a pale aqua blue and the sky becomes darker as the day slowly creeps away. The horizon stretches out, curving along with the beach, enclosing me in my little world where traffic is the hermit crabs on the beach and work is life… and life is work, with the two entwining with each other to become a beautiful, colourful, radiant collage.

 

And yes, with all of that… my life is perfect and I would not have it any other way!