Within our brief post announcing we had sold our boat, I said that we would take the opportunity to do something else. One of the something else(s) that I came up with is to get my PADI Divemaster certification.
Christa and I both got our Open Water qualification during a dive vacation in the Maldives, and we had done some diving in the BVI while on charter.
We had also planned to install a dive compressor on LOW FLITE, but decided that we’d be spending too much time with other matters that first winter and left it until the following spring’s work plan. Well, the following spring came, and we had even more to worry about due to lightning strike damage.
While we were waiting in the Fort Lauderdale area for boat work, we started to look around at dive shops so we could go diving as a way to fill the time. I found a location called Sea Experience, located at The Bahia Mar Resort.
I decided to get more ambitious than simply a couple dives, when I learned they offer something called the Total Immersion Program (TIP), which is an intensive 36 day course that takes you from an assumed zero amount of experience to Dive Master by the end. By doing so you get 8 PADI courses accomplished along the way:
- PADI Open Water Diver
- PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
- PADI Master Scuba Diver
- Emergency First Responder/Care for Children
- DAN Oxygen First Aid Provider
- PADI Rescue Diver
- PADI Enriched Air Nitrox Diver
- PADI Divemaster
Once we decided to sell the boat, I committed to the course starting 12 Oct and we rented a small cottage through Airbnb, a short distance from the dive shop in Fort Lauderdale.
The dive program will be a good way to get me from “zero to hero” in a structured and deliberate manner, as well as a great way to fill our time avoiding the snow up north.
Now what should Christa do?
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