Below is a recap of Days 7-15 of my PADI Divemaster Course at Deep Sea Divers Den in Cairns, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.
PADI Divemaster Course in Cairns, Australia (Part 1)
It’s finally here! My 3-week scuba trip to Cairns, Australia has commenced. I’ve squeezed this trip in during my winter break from teaching and have one main goal: complete the PADI Divemaster Course! This course is the last step before I can take the scuba instructor course, which I hope to do this summer.
Thanksgiving in New York, NY
A few weeks ago, I visited New York for the first time. Here’s a quick recap of my trip!
Scuba trip: San Carlos, Mexico (October 2017)
For the third time in 3 months, I went south to San Carlos, Mexico for a long weekend of diving. In August, I did my Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification and in September, I wrapped up my Rescue Diver certification. This time, though, I didn’t have any training to complete. It was a recreational trip in the fullest sense – a couple days of diving just for fun and nothing else!
Scuba trip: San Carlos, Mexico (September 2017)
In my last scuba-related post, I mentioned my goal to become certified as a scuba instructor. During that trip to San Carlos, Mexico, I got the second certification level I need: Advanced Open Water Diver (AOW). A few weeks later, I returned to San Carlos to complete the third certification: Rescue Diver. As I did for my Open Water and AOW certifications, I decided to do the Rescue Diver certification through my local dive shop in Tucson, Planet Scuba. They organize a trip to San Carlos at least once a month, and I love their owners and staff.
Relearning how to fall asleep
I’m really bad at falling asleep. This has been the case ever since I could read. When I was 6 or 7 I’d go under my covers with a flashlight and read after my parents tucked me in. I thought my parents couldn’t see it but of course they could. They didn’t mind though since they knew I was reading.
Scuba trip: San Carlos, Mexico (August 2017)
I’ve made up my mind that I want to become certified to be a scuba instructor. I’m not in a rush; I just know eventually I’d like to do this. In order to get to instructor status, I’ll need to build up my diving experience and also go through several certification levels. First up: Advanced Open Water Diver (AOW). This is one level up from the basic certification, Open Water Diver. I decided to do the certification through my local dive shop in Tucson, Planet Scuba. If you’re in southern Arizona and considering diving, I strongly recommend them!
San Carlos underwater photos (August 2017)
I took these photos on my recent trip to San Carlos (recap is here). All of these pics were taken while diving in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of San Carlos. Enjoy!
Hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim
About a month ago I got to do something pretty awesome: I hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim. Most people who do a Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike put in months (if not years) of planning and physical preparation. For one thing, the trek is about 24 miles in total, so it’s fairly physically demanding. On top of that, I went in August. This time of year, temperatures at the bottom of the Grand Canyon often exceed 100F (about 38C). So you have to be in pretty good shape.
I thought I didn’t have anything to say, so I wrote 1000 words
You may have noticed that I haven’t been writing much lately. I have plenty of material for What’s in that hole? but haven’t written any of it up or posted it. I’ve also been up to some interesting things this summer, but the only thing I wrote about was my trip to Belize, and that was two months ago. And, maybe most noticeably, I haven’t written anything on a truly personal level since… actually I don’t remember. (Edit: turns out it was this post five months ago.) But enough is enough. I promised to write not just when things are …
Belize underwater photos (May 2017)
I took these photos on my recent trip to Belize/Guatemala (recaps are here for the first half of the trip and here for the second half). All of these pics were taken while diving or snorkeling in various areas of the Belize Barrier Reef. Hope you like them!
Birthday Trip: Belize and Guatemala (part 2: scuba!)
Wow – it’s already been more than 2 weeks since I posted part 1 of my Belize/Guatemala trip recap! I’ve been teaching some summer session engineering courses which has kept my days full so time has flown by. I’m glad I finally found some time to finish up part 2 though. It’s been fun to reminisce!