3 Hours on a Tuesday

I like this picture because I know that this is what some people envision as a regular day in the dive business!





But here’s a three hour slice from today:


6:30-ish I arrive around this time to allow myself time to figure out and prepare for the daily chaos that is sure to break loose when we open the doors at 7:AM. I check the compressor log to see if today is the day I will have to wheedle one of the guys into changing the oil and to see if it is time to change the filter (that one, I’ll do myself). I count the cash drawer, read the communications book, poke fun at Charlie if he’s available, check the phone for messages, hassle Charlie some more, turn on computers, waterfall, music and then when everyone’s ready…

7:00 We fling open the door and welcome whoever is waiting to come in. This morning we are met with a couple of groups of introductory divers, folks arriving for the first day of their open water class, and an Advanced Open Water class. Two minutes later, several other regulars file in to get tanks for morning dives. At one point, I count five co-workers and 14 customers. I love the morning rush!! People are nervous, excited, and inevitably there will be someone asking the usual shark questions. Sorry folks, we will probably NOT get to see a shark on your intro dive today!

7:45 Where did everybody go??! Yep, by this time most folks have cleared out. After the morning rush, Teri and I put away the wetsuits from yesterday, hook up the next rack of tanks to be pumped and…

8:20 Holy moly, the phone has been going like mad. Did I say phone? I meant phones, plural. Now where was I? Oh yeah, calling a vendor about a ripped customer wetsuit in hopes of securing a replacement. I reach out to dial the phone and just then, it rings. Just for fun, I made a list of calls I get between 8 & 9AM. Carrie called to ask about an Open Water class (10 minute call, signed ‘em up), someone else about dive conditions along the south shore (so far, so good – go diving!), a guy called to ask how late we’re open (til 6, but your gear is due in by 5 if you want to bring it back today), another 2 calls about introductory dives (book ‘em, Danno!), one call from a civics club wanting a donation (oooh, twist my arm!), PADI called with a question about our order, and I am sorry to say, I missed a couple of calls while on the phone with the above-mentioned folks! I say out loud “we have missed calls!” to remind myself or Teri to get to them.

9:AM Now where was I again? Oh, the compressor has turned off by now, so we run back to switch tanks around and then the phone rings. Teri wears the cordless on her belt, so she takes this one, while I continue to sling tanks. In the middle of this, I hear the front door beep and run up there to greet folks and rent them gear. After her call, Teri helps and off go the divers to check out Makena Landing. Ummmmm…we look at each other and I start to ask Teri a scheduling question as we head back to move MORE tanks around.

9:30 I re- remember to make that call about the ripped wetsuit (who am I fooling? I have a LIST – I can’t remember all this stuff!) and woo hoo, they said they will ship a replacement today.

And this is just what I can REMEMBER of what happened during those first three hours today. Whew! We work in 11+ hour shifts, so that was three down, eight to go! I love my job! -Rachel

The Best Customer EVER!

For those of you that don’t know, my unofficial name is Sister Mary Katherine. I am NOT a sister by any means, but this is what happens when you have a super Catholic name such as mine. Anyway, so part of my job is to wash gear. Gear is typically turned in by 4pm by most folks (they are just DONE diving for the day at that point). We don’t harass visitors about this, but instructors that come in and rent gear on a regular basis definitely know that we greatly appreciate it when gear is turned in before 5pm. We close at 6pm. For me, this means not only do I have gear to do at the end of the day (which gear typically takes about 2 hours), but also about 45 minutes of “other “ closing items I need to take care of. Our gear, depending on the piece, is washed in different cleaners. So for instance, if someone were to turn in a reg set and a wetsuit – I would have to fill the sink twice in two separate cleaners and would have to clean those pieces individually.

Today, one of our favorite customers/instructors Paul Crossman came in at 5:20pm with 4 buckets of gear containing about 4 sets total. I asked Paul if he was aware of MY policy, which is (as an instructor here on Maui) if you come in after 5pm you owe the “Gear Bitch” 1 beer per set. I feel this is a very good deal. After jokingly telling Paul about my new smack down policy, he was such a sweetie and went out and purchased a 12 pack of one of my favorite beers (Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA). He is now my favorite customer :) Thanks Paul, you rock!!!

A Good Day at Work

People choose to try SCUBA diving for many reasons. Sometimes, it’s been a dream since childhood, sometimes it’s just something fun to try on vacation instead of snorkeling. But every once in a while as an instructor, you meet someone who wants to dive in order to confront their fears.

That makes for both the most difficult and most rewarding days on the job.

Cheri was afraid of the water, and wasn’t shy about telling us. I knew she had a lot of trouble feeling comfortable near the water, never mind under it, but I also knew she had already done one underwater session with another instructor (my co-worker, Charlie) and that meant she wanted to dive. So on a nice, calm day and in a one-on-one situation, down to Ulua beach we went.

As I was assembling the gear, I spoke with Cheri about her first experience. My first question to a repeat diver tends to be “What sort of exciting and cool things did you see?” As it turns out, it took Cheri so long to feel comfortable on that first dive, she didn’t get to see much…a goat fish was about it. I immediately told her we were going to do better today—I wanted to show her the reef, so she’d know what she was working towards.

After we’d assembled the gear and gotten down to the waters edge, we did our pre-dive safety check and headed on in. Out to about 6 feet of water, set the flag, and we were ready for our descent. Or, rather I was ready—Cheri was nervous. Of course, everyone is nervous the first few times…as instructors we all remember what that’s like. I could see that Cheri’s breathing was a bit fast and a bit shallow, and that her shoulders were tense. A little bit of time just floating, and a few long, slow breaths to calm everything down, and we were ready.

Regulators in…
Hoses up…
Ready to equalize on the way down…
Descent…and down to sandy bottom we go.

We got down there, and I signaled to Cheri to relax and breathe…which she did, for almost 10 seconds before signaling “up. up. up. “ Okay, up to the surface we go—that’s the advantage of being in just a few feet of water to start things off. When we got to the surface, Cheri said:

“I’ll be fine down there—it’s just that initial feeling I have trouble with!”

(Ah, yes—I sometimes feel like that should be an official part of the training course, with capitol letters and everything: That Initial Feeling. It’s almost like it’s unnatural to breathe underwater….)

I’d seen this before.

“Cheri,” I said “It’ll be hard to get by that Initial Feeling if we keep coming to the surface…then you just have to deal with the Initial Feeling all over again. (laughter) This time, when we go down, when you get that Feeling, instead of heading to the surface, what I want you to do is just concentrate on breathing long and slow in, then long and slow out. Keep doing that, and keep looking at me, until that Feeling goes away, ok?”

“Ok”.

Take two, and down we go! This time, success with step 1—we stayed down. So far so good. Now, the usual next step on an intro dive is to do a few simple skills—clearing the regulator of water, recovering the reg when it comes out of your mouth, and clearing your mask of a small amount of water. We talked about it quickly under water:

(Hand signal) “OK?”
(Hand signal back) “OK”
(Demonstrate first skill—remove reg, replace, clear, hand signal) “Ok, your turn”
(Hand signal) “up. up.”

Whoops! Not quite ready for skills yet! But there is a plan “B”—I pulled out my slate and wrote:

“Let’s not go up just yet---want to swim for just a tiny bit?”

(Hand signal) “Ok”

See, I knew Cheri wanted to dive, and I knew she’d get comfortable….sometimes all it takes is a little time to adapt, and something to distract your attention from how odd it all feels at first. So I took my frightened but determined student by the hand…and I must admit I played a trick on her. We did swim for a little bit. And a little bit further. And then made it over to the reef. After the first few butterfly fish, the tight, tight grip on my hand relaxed just a little bit. By the time we got to 15 feet deep and were surrounded by Hawaiian sergeants, coronet fish, and Moorish idols, I’m pretty sure Cheri had forgotten we were only swimming for “a little bit”. And at 20’ (our maximum allowed depth for the dive, since we hadn’t done skills) when a nice big Green sea turtle paid us a visit, I saw Cheri’s eyes light up behind her mask and a hint of a smile appear around her reg.

(Almost there….)

So back around the reef we went, got back to about 10 feet of water, and Cheri seemed MUCH more comfortable. I signaled to go up to the surface so we could talk, and a soon as we got there…

“Oh my god that was so much fun I’ve never seen a turtle swimming like that that was great how cool…”

(Okay that’s better, and she wants to dive so…)

“Want to go down and try some skills now, maybe dive a bit more, we’ve got some air left….?”

“Sure!”

Down we go…no problems on descent….reg out, and clear, good! Toss reg away and recover…good! Clear mask….1st try, good! We headed off to the reef again…but this time she wasn’t holding my hand.

Mission accomplished.

I spoke with Cheri a few days ago, and now she’s planning on becoming a certified diver.

That, my friends, is a good day at work.

Jim Petruzzi