Professional Dive Instructor - Never gets boring

I Asked Marcel from Similan Diving, "Do you ever get bored of diving the same dive sites each day?"

As a dive instructor I have made over 2000 dives all over the world. Most of the dives were in Thailand, but I have also dived a lot in Holland, Indonesia and the Caribbean.This question is quite simple to answer: NO, I never get bored of diving and it doesn't matter if I do the same dive sites over and over again. First of all, compared to the office I used to work in day in - day out, the underwater world is much more exciting. Second: conditions are never the same and you never know what you can expect underwater. And third, the people we teach or take our diving are different each time. So it doesn't matter how many dives you make, no dive will ever be the same.

OK, you don't see whale sharks, mantas, sharks, turtles or seahorses on each dive. And visibility is not always 30+ meters, it can be 2 meters as well. It can be cold and there can be currents or you have to share the dive site with 200 other divers right in front of you. Your mask might be fogging up or your buddy can be quick on air. In fact, I think that on most of the dives there has always been something, but that just comes with diving. I remember one dive in Holland where the only living creature I saw during the whole dive was in fact my dive buddy. But it all doesn't matter. Give me some dive gear and water and I am happy. Being submerged in the water, breathing and weightless calms me down and gives me a great feeling, over and over again. So anything you experience on top of it, is just a bonus.

And next to that, there are many different things you can do, to make each dive even more interesting. If the visibility is "less than ideal" (3 meters), you can practice your navigation. If you can find the boat back in these conditions, you can find it back anytime. Or when there are no big fish to be found, you start looking for the smaller stuff. Everyone can spot a Manta Ray, but you have to be very good to find a tiny Nudibranch or a Frogfish. And if I do find yourself with more divers than fish in the water, I just start watching the divers, they too come in all colors and shapes! What if your buddy is quick on air? Well, then we just go a bit shallower and maybe we can do some bouyancy exercises to improve the air consumption for future dives. And if you feel you are running out of options, well why don't you try out Technical Diving? Or under water photography? Or even Freediving? There are so many possibilities and so many dive sites all over the world that you can spend a lifetime under water without getting bored. Once you become an Instructor it's even better! You can share your passion for diving each day!

Another interesting thing is the choice of the dive ites. I really don't mind doing a certain dive site twice on the same trip, especially if conditions are good or let's say there is a whale shark hanging around there. I also don't mind doing exploratory dives, jumping in at new places. This is great fun, it can be all or nothing. And a good site doesn't only depend on what's written in the guidebooks. It depends on the conditions at that moment, how may other boats you see there and also on the interest and experience level of the other divers in your group. But again, in the end it doesn't really matter for me where we jump in, as long as I can be under water... in a safe way of course!

Marcel is an Instructor Trainer in Khao Lak. There are Instructor Courses starting in October of 2009!



Thanks Marcel

-Similan Diving