Some people ask me what it's like, because it's pretty different from their Monday to Friday jobs. Well, to start with, there are no Monday or Friday. There is Monday to Sunday. And the day off once in a while, randomly, mainly when you feel like it and that it works planningwise. Although since Fridays are our weekly parties, getting Saturday off is always a good move!
So, here what is a normal day looks like:
The clock goes on at 6.30 most of the days. Early, yes, but then I go to bed as early as my granny most of the nights. Weirdly enough, I am getting better at mornings. I am still nowhere close to a human being before I have my first coffee, but after that I am up and cheerful. Which may be a consequence of being HAPPY to go to work.
I get in the office somewhere between 7 and 8 depending on the dive plans. The boat takes off somewhere between 7 and 10 o'clock according on the tides of the week. So I wave at Cody (who usually sits there doing the morning emails, we have this agreement of avoiding talking to each other if possible before we fully regain our respective bodies), get a coffee ready and get on getting tanks and equipment ready for my group, while the others do the same. It's like this pretty morning ballet, where I mumble to a DMT (divemaster trainee) or to myself "mmm, 5 tanks and 2 small and 2 medium" and, nowhere as graceful as mantas, we get stuff together and ready.
By the time my customers arrive, I am usually back to "fully awake human" mode and I get them sorted with wetsuits and stuff. Then we load the boat, and off we go to the ocean.
We go down and see fish and other amazing stuff, then we go back on the boat and have lunch, then do our second dive before coming back to shore. Usually it's early afternoon already, we rinse and put equipment away, sign logbooks, chat with the divers.
If I don't teach a course, then I stay around for a few hours in the "office", go online (and write all this blog stuff), give information to people that come and check us out, etc. If I am teaching, then we review dive theory, get in the pool if necessary for some more exercises and skills, basically teaching people how to dive and that sort of stuff.
(that's the office)
Usually I am done by night time, somewhere around 6pm. It's then time for a coooold shower (I am missing hot water more and more these days as the ocean is getting colder) and washing the salt and ocean smell of myself. Changed from a mermaid to a clean human being, I can enjoy dinner at one of my favorites with some members of the "gang" of dive instructors, DMT's and other dive related people (and guess what? yes, we talk about diving) before going to bed super early, like 9 or something ridiculous, with a good book or a good TV show or both, and have dreams about fish or completely random other stuff.
And just start again the next day.
And enjoying it every single day so far.
I am still waiting for the super shitty day to see what it's like.