This weekend, for the first time in the twelve year history of the Lehigh Valley Sportsfest, participants had the opportunity to discover the magic of scuba diving.  This event, held each year in the Allentown area since 1997, has steadily grown in size and scope, with nearly 10,000 competitors and 100,000 spectators gathering this year at the festival.

This annual festival of sports and games, started with 16 events as the Allentown Sportsfest, and has grown now to over 100 different events, changing it’s name to the Lehigh Valley Sportsfest to more accurately reflect the regional involvmenet.  Indian Valley Scuba, and the International Association for Handicapped Divers, was asked by the Sportsfest founders to bring a Discover Scuba program to this years event.  We set up the IVS rolling DSD show at Cedar Beach Park, a massive pool/park/nature area, right near the center of the city of Allentown. 

On Saturday, they were lined up and waiting as we pulled the truck & trailer into the pool area.  By the end of the afternoon, over 45 divers had been briefed, geared up, and taken on tours, culminating in some basic skills training, paving the way for our next wave of certified divers!  Channel 69 News was there sharing the event with their viewers, and IVS-staffers Mike Gusenko, Ray Graff, Brad Creveling,  Barb White and Dave Valaika had their hands full, running non-stop without a break until finally closing the pool down at 7:00.  After that it was back to the shop, filling tanks, and getting ready for tomorrow!

Sunday was as beautiful a day as Saturday, with even larger crowds, more fun and another 55 divers getting wet and blowing bubbles for the very first time.  Lin Gusenko, Leslie & Carlie Adams, Butch Loggins, and Katie Chin joined the crew today, making it an even more fun event - what a great bunch of folks we had on both sides of the Discover Scuba program today.  By the end of the weekend we had taken over 110 divers in, went through nearly 90 tanks of air, and planted more than our fair share of smiles across the Lehigh Valley.

Look for us to be back next year! 

Indian Valley Scuba’s St. Louis dive center is getting ready for a Memorial Day Grand Opening! 

Charles St. Amant spent the last week in Harleysville working with the staff and getting his final training completed before he and his wife Cherie open their doors at IVS-St. Louis later this month.  Charles worked with Indian Valley Scuba’s IT-guru Csaba Lorinczy putting the final touches on his POS system, completed the design and pre-build of his gas filling & blending system with Bob Stitzinger, and worked through the last details of retail and training inventory with Bev Loggins.  An amazingly busy week, but super productive!

This weekend we find Rich Peterson, Ray Graff, Bob Stitzinger and myself headed west for our 14 hour, 900 mile drive to the Kennerly Street store location.  Our mission: to complete the final build-out and fit-out of the store with Charles & Cherie.  Packed in the trucks with us were the gas compressor, cascade bottles, fill system, retail displays, service tools and retail inventory that in just a few short days will transform an empty storefront into a fully operating dive center, ready to serve the needs of the St. Louis market.

Charles has already secured exclusive contracts with three area YMCA’s and class registrations are coming in daily.  The first open water classes will start in early June, and run monthly after that.  Of course each class will have the opportunity to join IVS in Key Largo for their checkouts, or head out for a weekend at Mermet Springs, just a short ride east from the shop.  

So after a thirteen hour ride, we arrive in St. Louis all fired up and ready to go!  Charles opens up and we begin unloading, tanks, compressor, fixtures, furniture and everything else needed to turn an empty space into a dive center!  Rich, Bob, Ray & Dave put in a solid 14 hour day, knocking off just in time to secure some local quality cigars and wines, and gather around the pool for a thorough debriefing!  Meanwhile while the crew relaxed, Keri Stinchcomb spent a few hours in the shop working to restore the luster to the floors and tiles, and her work was shining bright by the end of the night.

Tuesday morning dawns bright & blue for the crew, and after a well-deserved nights rest, we head over to the jobsite early!  Well most of the crew, that is, with slowpoke Rich nursing the post-wine affect from the evening before!  Today IVS-St. Louis Divemaster Mike Landers joined the crew and we kicked butt all day, finishing the compressor installation & gas filling system, building cabinets, desktops, counters, workbenches, storage racks -you name it, it got built today!  By the end of another long day the store was ready to be filled with product, and Charles & Cherie will spend the next week putting the finishing touches on the set up and inventory.  The Harleysville gang packed up their tools and trucks, and made the long journey back east.

We’re all excited about bringing the IVS magic to the St. Louis area, and watching Team IVS grow in the midwest.  The official opening is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, and from there it should be nothing but upward and onward for this latest addition to the IVS family.  

This past weekend found IVS conducting an early season combination Advanced Open Water and Dry Suit Specialty class at Dutch Springs.  Csaba Lorinczy, assisted by Frank Gabriel, led our team of divers through their paces, including six dives to complete Advanced Open Water plus Drysuit Specialty certifications!  Congratulations to  everyone, and thanks to Csaba for having that nice warm motorhome available for surface intervals.  We’ll be back in a couple of weeks for the DUI Drysuit Demo Days, so come on out and play!

Dutch Springs is officially open! And who but IVS would brave the frigid waters right away? Six of our divers headed up for opening day to do some dry suit diving in the 42 degree chilly water. The first dive went smoothly, with everyone warming up just by gearing up. They swam around for about 20 minute, making sure everyone’s buoyancy was right and practicing Tech skills. It was after they got out that the cool air really got to them. But thanks to Csaba Lorinczy, they had a nice and toasty RV to warm up in. Green tea, donuts, and some fun company made warming up between dives fun and easy. Soon everyone wanted to get back in the water.

In the second dive they went out a bit further in the water, exploring the tanker and the bus before coming out again. Once again, everyone huddled together in the RV and tried to get the feeling in their fingers back. On the third dive, they picked up a stray diver with no one to dive with and introduced him to the IVS crew. By the end of his dive, he seemed eager to hook up with IVS again!

So congrats to all the men (and woman) that didn’t let some cold water stop them from diving. Everyone had a great time, and almost all earned the ADC (All Dives with Csaba). Dave was sorely missed!

Who says winters need to be long and cold in the northeast?  They certainly don’t need to be when you have Indian Valley Scuba in your neighborhood!   We love to dive and we love to travel, so it goes hand in hand that we love to travel to dive!  

This weekend saw 29 IVS divers head south to sunny Key Largo, where we enjoyed 14 dives on the reefs - yes that’s right, 14 dives in three days!  Lots of great reefs, shallow wrecks, deep & exciting wrecks such as the Duane and Spiegel Grove, and two night dives!  What an exciting way to avoid the big snow storm that  headed east this weekend.

With instructors Butch Loggins, Bill Zyskowski, Csaba Lorinczy and IVS-South Instructor & Spiegel Grove tour guide extradinaire Dave Hartman, plus Assistant Instructor Felix Gryn, and DM’s Rich Peterson and John Glodowski, our team heralded 8 new divers into the Indian Valley Scuba family - Lyn, DJ & Jessica Swartley, Cindy Eisenhauer, Cynthia Spitalny, Alex & Wendy Lepore, and Stephanie Rees all earned their PADI National Geographic Open Water Diver certifications, along with Peak Performance Buoyancy, Coral Reef Conservation, and Boat Diver specialty certifications.   Congratulations to each of them!

Additionally, we had Keith & Nate Beaver, along with Jim Swartley, completing their Nitrox cert’s.  Rounding out Team IVS for the weekend was Sylvia & Niki Lorinczy, Jim Dahlberg, Brian Montague, Tim Brown, Rob Lunny, and DAN Auction Winner Sharon Gill from Connecticut.  Sharon was the successful bidder on one of the Key Largo trips that IVS donated to Divers Alert Network as part of their annual fundraising auction.  Welcome to the family, Sharon!

The weekend found us with three great days of weather sandwiched in between two lousy weeks of Florida winter weather, so once again the scuba gods were smiling on us!   And a very special congratulations to Ms Niki Lorinczy, who single-handedly took home the coveted “A.D.D.” award!  That’s ” All Dives with Dave!”  Three days, 14 dives, almost twelve hours of bottom time.   Way to go girl!

The only sad news from this weekend was with Dave still nursing his cracked vertebrae & broken ribs (see the Boot Show blog entry!) there was no break-dancing allowed!  Don’t worry, he’ll be back…with a vengeance!

Deliberately different, is how we like to think of Indian Valley Scuba and how we operate.  And this weekend is no different, with our Instructor Development Course candidates heading down to warm and sunny Key Largo for thier PADI Instructor Examinations.

Last weekend we had the honor of welcoming Richie Kessler into the instructor ranks, as he survived the chilly waters of Dutch Springs and competed his exams with honors!  Bogden Bachmatiuk joined Richie in our local waters, and they both made us proud.  Way to go men!!

However, the rest of the class decided that a nice, warm water instructor examination sure sounded more alluring than braving the near-icy waters of Dutch, so we headed to Key Largo for this weekend’s exam.  Steve Clem, Bill Zyskowski, and Csaba Lorinczy came down to IVS South, aka the Hartman Estate, to spend the weekend in their little PADI coccoons, ready to break out and hopefully spread their wings as Open Water Scuba Instructors come Sunday afternoon.  Of course I had to come down and assist in this endeavor, and sure, it’s convenient that the Keys Full Moon celebration party is tonite, and a coincidence that the Christmas boat parade is tomorrow, but none of that had anything to do with me being here to cheer the men on and support them in their endeavor.  it’s all business!!

Dave Hartman has rented us a private boat for the weekend, and our plan is to use that to finalize our inventory of lobster-laden dive sites for next season’s lobster mini-season.  But first we needed to make sure the guys were prepared for the start of the instructor exams tomorrow.  Tonight we had our orientation, with introductions, a review of the weekends’ activities, assignments being given out, and a general overview of the goals and expectations for the next 48 hours.  After a brief stop for dinner, the men hit the books, reviewing their assignments and preparing their academic presentations.  It got a little testy at times, with some harsh words as teaching aids were claimed and reference books grabbed.  But after a little while, everyone calmed down, and great stuff started to come out as they practiced their presentations before each other, critiquing and evolving the process with the goals of maxxing out tomorrow with scores in the high 4’s to perfect 5’s.  Finally, time for a break, and some reminiscing about how this whole process has evolved, from learning to dive, advancing through the various levels of certification, and finally getting to the point they’re at today.  Well let’s get this paperwork completed, Dave says, so we spend another two hours wrapping that up!  So as the clock strikes nearly 2:00 a.m., our little butterflies retire to their bunks to rest up for the big two days ahead.  

Saturday morning dawned bright and early as our candidates headed off to the first day of the examination.  Meanwhile, Hartman and I headed out to pick up our boat for the weekend.  We chose a nice 23 foot center console, with 225 Yamaha horses on board.  After a brief review of the boat’s features, we motored on out and headed through the canal systems to Dave’s house to load our scuba gear.  At 10:30 my cell rings, and Csaba gives me the update - confined water presentations and skill demo’s completed!  Yahoo!  Now they are heading in for the written exam portion.

Dave & I load the boat and head out to sea.  We have a brisk 20 to 25 knot wind coming out of the north, and the ocean is awfully full of white caps and chop.  Our selected site for our first recon mission is Carysfort Light reef, which is about a 9 mile run from Dave’s house.  Let me tell you, it is one loooooong nine miles as we are pounded incessantly heading into the seas.  It’s a wet and rough ride, and the boat & crew are getting a serious workout.  As we near the reef, we can see 5 and 6 foot waves rolling and breaking over the shallow portions of the reef - just the picture you want to see to start your dive!  And with the sea conditions, it is not surprising that we are the only boat on the ocean, in fact, we only passed two boats in the canals on our way out, so it’s awfully lonely out here!  And, while we were heading out, our depth finder decided to take the day off, so now it’s a crap shoot on the depth under us, making the site selection even more diffficult.  We finally choose our first location, and drop the anchor in a sandy clearing just outside the reef.  With the confused wind and seas, the boat is spinning on the anchor, giving us the sinking feeling of being caught in a whirlpool….hmmm, is that a sign??  Well, we didn’t sail this far out to sightsee, so we gear up, roll over, and head on down.  First stop - to inspect the anchor!  Why, you may ask?  Let me share a little story of a dive from my past…..

Some years ago, I was out in my own 23 foor center console, diving alone about 8 miles off the Jersey coast.  That day had a lot of similarities with today, with some strong winds and choppy seas, but I was full of bravado and knew I could prevail against whatever Mother Nature decided to throw me.  Ah, the foolishness of the young man!  On that day, I was alone, so I anchored the boat on a rock pile in about 90 feet of water, headed on down, gave the anchor a quick look, and set off searching for lobster.  It proved to be quite the productive dive, with quite a few bugs in the bag, and finally my doubles were getting a bit low, so I headed back to the anchor.  Well, at least I thought where the anchor was.  So I looked around, pretty darn sure that this was the rock the anchor was set in, but hmmmm, maybe it was that one, …no, maybe that one over there!  Finally, after expanding the search pattern to the limits of the dwindling supplies of gas left in my tanks, I knew it was time to head up and sort things out on the surface.  So I slowly ascended, did my safety stop, and broke the surface, spinning slowly as I did, looking for the boat.  OK, let’s spin again, and find the boat.  Alright, maybe three times is the charm……no…..ok….not so funny now, and my mind starts to run through the possibilities….boat was stolen…boat sunk…..the common denominator being me here, boat not.  I spun around again, and again and again, and it was obvious the seas had picked up from when I first went in, with gentle rollers now in the 5 or 6 ft height range, making my view of the sea around fairly limited.  It was probably on my 12th or so rotation, when finally I was on the crest of a roller, and so was my boat, that I realized what had happened.  As the seas picked up, my anchor must have lifted out of the rocky crevice I left it in, and my boat had slowly drifted away, driven by the wind, but thankfully slowed by the dragging anchor on the sea floor.  Never-the-less, the distance between me and the bobbing boat was close to a mile, so I kicked back, and started the long and tiring swim to my little floating island of salvation.  An hour or so later, I finally was there, at the side of my sturdy vessel, and after an extended rest, I tossed my bag of lobsters on board (yes, I had never let go of my catch - priorities, you know!).  I climbed on board, and vowed to never dive alone again!

Well, here we are today, and although I am not diving alone, technically, with both of us in the water, that sorta makes for the same situation, with no one on board to monitor the boats position.  Oh well, what/s the odds, I ask?  So, that being said, let’s double check that anchor, and sure enough, it is solidly buried in the sand, so we begin our dive.  We circle the entire reef, and my mind keeps flashing back to that day long ago, but I maintain control of that demon, and finally, we return to our starting point, and sure enough, our boat is still there!  Woo-hoo!  Cross that calamity off the list!  After that, we hit a second location, and although we see lots of lobsters, they are all shorts, so our take for the day is zero.

So we start the long and pounding journey back in, and on the way, the cell rings, and the men are reporting in the good news - Team IVS is shining in the instructor examinations.  A few glitches, but we are well on our way to becoming PADI instructors.  I am thrilled, and we decide to celebrate by taking the boys out to see the Christmas boat parade that evening on the bay side in our sturdy little boat.  All the horror stories we have shared over the years with boats breaking down on our trips, this time we are feeling good, in command of our own little vessel, which has performed so well so far!

We get back to Dave’s dock, clean the boat, the guys return from the exam, so we pack the coolers with refreshments and head out to enjoy the parade.  Yes, we heard the warning about operating the boat after dark, but heck, Hartman is a local, so he knows the route through the mangroves!  The wind has died down, so it is flat calm as we head out for the 4 mile run through the mangroves.  It is pitch black out tonite, as the sky is terribly overcast, making navigation a bit of a challenge, but my captaining skills are up to the challenge.  We enjoy the ride, and finally make it to the ocean side of the cut through the island.  The boat has gotten quite the workout today, with lots of serious pounding on the ocean, and our depth finder is still not working, so we are careful in our voyage through the darkness.  As we pass through the cut, Bill is on his phone, struggling with text messaging in the dark, so he moves to a spot near the stern, where he can get a little illumination from our stern light.  Wow, it’s wet back here he says, and as I slow down to turn and look, it goes from wet to about 6 inches of water running across the deck - Holy Smokes, we are sinking!!! 

We check to see if the bilge pump is on, but it is too deep to get down and confirm.  We think “need to find a dock”, and start to look towards the Marriott Resort or the Sundowners docks….no, this water is really starting to rise, so scrap that dock plan, we need help!   Trying to pick up speed to avoid the Titanic-remake, it’s challenge with all the darkened boats in the bay making all sorts of targets for us to steer around.  The anxiety picks up and bit and the boat is getting hard to steer as we sit lower and lower in tthe water.  Well, the boating gods were smiling on us, and who is the next boat we can make out in the darkness??  SeaTow, the boat rescue people!   “Hey, we are taking on water” we say, and they pass us a small bilge pump and a battery to pump it out.  No, this isn’t going to work, this boat is going to end up on the bottom, so we’d prefer a shallow bottom at that!   We pick up the pace, and the boat is really wallowing in the water now, as we are standing knee deep in water on the deck.  Finally, the motor is too deep, and it stalls, and we are dead in the water.  Quickly, we pass a tow line to the SeaTow boat, and they drag us the last couple of hundred yards to the beach at the Caribbean Club, where we sink gracefully in 2 feet of water just off the beach, to the delight of the cheering crowd of hundreds of juiced-up partiers!  The SeaTow boat pulls up tight to us, and we break out the big 2 inch gas powered pump, and as we are passing lines and hoses back and forth, I look up and who is crewing the SeaTow boat but our own Captain Anna from this years lobster trip!  What a small world it is in Key Largo. 

Finally, we we pump enough water out to realize we must have been torpedoed or something cause the inflow is like a small fire hydrant.  The boat is light enough now that we are able to enlist the help of some of those on shore, and we drag it half onto the beach.  I get down and inspect the hull, and it appears that it has split open on a joint for about 5 feet of the waterline - no wonder we are taking on water!   I can stick my hand in right through the crack!  No doubt the day of pounding on the ocean was a bit too much of a test for our little craft, and thank goodness that this took this long to open up, or we’d have been in deep doo-doo!  So our crew slogs ashore, McArthur-style, and we trudge through the Caribbean Club, leaving our vessel.  We grab a cab, head down the road to grab a pizza dinner, and call it a night!  Enough excitement, but at least we did get to see the parade!

It’s Sunday morning now, and I head to the Jules Undersea Lodge for the final part of the exam with the guys.  The PADI examiner has requested my help to move things along and get everyone done this weekend.  Seems a lot of the other candidates have a hard time understanding the concept of “brief” being a key part of the briefing, and they are waxing on way too much to maintain their audience’s attention.  This is so important, and something we preach AND practice at IVS - it’s not about the talking, it’s all about the doing!  So today’s activities are the open water teaching presentations along with the rescue workshop, and I take care of the rescue aspect while the examiner takes the two teams underwater for their presentations.  Finally, the debriefings are given, and congratulations all around as we welcome a total of ten candidates into the society of PADI instructors! Way to go men!  

Team IVS, Canadian version, spent last weekend doing another major Project Aware cleanup on the Trent River in Trenton, Ontario.  Nine intrepid souls showed up and managed to haul 737 lbs of trash & garbage out of the river, in less than one hour of diving!   The bootie included a couple of bicycles, a shopping cart, some tires, hundreds of bottles and cans, and lots of smaller things.  Needless to say, the river bottom looks a lot better, and the fish were thankful!   It was a great day, with the air and water temp in the low 70’s.  Some of the crew included IVS-North MSDT James Cormier, assisted by his lovely bride Peg, and Patrick Muldoon with his kids Patrick Jr and Beatrice.  Muldoon is an 8th grade teacher and has asked Jim to come give a Project Aware presentation at his school and to schedule another cleanup day as an environmental project for his class - way cool, eh?  Check the IVS website for the cleanup photos!

It’s that time again, time to visit our favorite local water-filled hole, Dutch Springs!  And we did it this weekend, in spite of hurricane/tropical storm Hannah raining on our parade!  We were hammered by the weather today with up to 6 inches of rain falling in the area, but did that slow us down?  Not one bit!

The IVS crew sailed into the eye of the storm, without a moment’s hesitation, cause we heard the call of the quarry (and also cause we didn’t hear the call of Key Largo or some other palm-tree filled place this weekend!).  Our team headed in early on Friday to set up the road show tent and secure our space for the weekend, and we are glad they did, cause it was hopping there!!  Amazing with the weather how busy it was at Dutch this weekend.  Our gang showed up bright and early, with the typical myriad of classes to complete, fun dives to take, great barbecue to enjoy, and friends to meet.  All good!

Our own Ray Graff and Richie Kessler manned the grill this weekend, and although the’re not Beverly, it sure beats cold cereal for lunch!  Realistically, both Ray & Richie are great on the grill, and no one walked away hungry.

As usual there were lots of revelations this weekend, but perhaps the most telling was Julia Tate, remarking when our own Aussie staffer Rob Tenille slipped off his drysuit  - “wow, you are completely dry!’.  Hmmmm, did we miss something here in our open water class, Ms. Julia????  Wetsuit, drysuit…..I’m sure there was a difference there!

We want to welcome Tom & Crystal Colleran, Rob, Don & Janet Filson, Ian Matthews, and the lovely Ms. Julia as our newest PADI National Geographic Open Water Divers!  Way to go team!   And as always, not only did our divers complete their open water certifications, they also earned the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy and Coral Reef Conservation specialties.

We also want to congratulate Art Poontang & Steve Holak as our newest PADI Advanced Open Water divers.  Nice job guys!

Overall we had 32 members of the IVS dive family out with us over the weekend, and it just keeps getting better, with several new faces joining us from North Jersey and New York, and more of our local divers making the switch to the IVS brand of Kool-Aid.  We’re all about diving, training & having a great, safe time while doing it, and it shows in every one of gatherings!  We’ll be back in two weeks to dip our toes into the near-balmy waters here again - hope to see you there!

What a perfect weekend for the IVS gang to enjoy at Dutch Springs!  Beautiful sunny weather, humidity just right, and the conditions at our favorite local watery hole were excellent!  Head Instructor Butch Loggins, assisted by Instructor Ray Graff, treated our newest divers to another great seven dive checkout weekend - yes, that’s 7, and yes that’s about double what everyone else does.  Would you expect anything different from IVS?

This weekend, in addition to all the regularly scheduled fun, we also brought along our Aeris Compumasks for everyone to demo.  This is a great product, allowing divers to operate thier instrumentation in a truly hands-free mode, with the in-mask lighted display showing depth, time, tank pressure, and more - essentially all the data that you would see on the Atmos AI dive computer, without the heed to pick the device up to see it.  Absolutely perfect for photographers and night divers, it reduces the task loading by bringing all the key information you need and want right up to your eyes.  And, it’s fully Nitrox programmable, and downloadable to your desktop computer via a cable.  Interested in trying one?  We have demo units in stock at the shop - just ask and we’ll hook you up! 

And from a gastronomical point of view, we welcomed Bev Loggins back on the grill, bringing her special flare for making a simple BBQ weekend all that much more for our group.  The grill was ‘a-smoking, as the burgers, dogs, sausages and steaks were prepared to everyne’s delight.  Plus the spread of munchies, snacks, fixin’s, salads and desserts are an IVS trademark at Dutch Springs.  

We want to welcome our newest PADI National Geographic Open Water divers, Rebecca Moore, Linda Malloy, Jamie Winchester, and Brad Creveling into the Indian Valley Scuba family. They completed their Open Water certification, Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty, and the National Geographic Specialty programs this weekend.  Way to go guys!

Rounding out Team IVS this weekend were DM’s Frank Gabriel, Bill Zyskowski, Csaba Lorinzcy, and DM candidate Chris Rich, along with …………………..

In an unending quest to develop Indian Valley Scuba into the finest dive center in the Northeast, your own Dave Valaika finally has entered PADI’s highest level training program, the Course Director Training Course.  This comprehensive two week program, conducted once annually at two locations, Newport Beach CA and Malaysia, brings some of the most qualified PADI Master Instructors from around the globe together to help develop them into Course Directors, able to go forth and train the next generation of PADI instructors.  For me personally, this has been 33 years of diving in the making, and I’m thrilled to have been accepted into the program. 

My journey started on an auspicious note, as I landed at John Wayne airport in Orange County, CA.  My flights from Philadelphia through Atlanta were uneventful, and even on-time, not always something to be expected anymore.  I wandered on down to the baggage carousel, feeling pretty good so far, and waited for my bags to arrive….and I waited…and I waited.  Three bags sent, only one arrives with me….so much for the uneventful travel!  The good news is that my friends at Delta have confirmed that my bags are indeed traveling westward, but they opted for a different flight than me.  They should arrive on the Delta flight due in at 10:49 p.m that evening, which is exactly 11 minutes before the mandated 11 o’clock curfew on arriving flights kicks in and they shut the lights off at the airport!  So, praying for a strong tail wind and no weather delays in-route, I waited paitently for my errant bags to re-unite with their rightful owner.

As the clock ticked slowly towards the curfew, the skilled pilots managed to touch ‘wheels down’ spot on at 10:49, saving the day and bringing my bags and all materials I needed for my coursework to me.  A quick (second) wait at the carousel, and I had my bags.  Now for some much needed rest and start of a busy two weeks.

Day 1

The first official day of the program started off great, with much anticipation for each individual as well as the group as a whole.  Years of planning and preparation had led each of the candidates to this moment, and it was obvious at first glance what a qualified and prepared group this was!  We started off with a general orientation, some in-dpth personal introductions, and a chance to meet and mingle with the other 37 candidates selected for this year’s program.  Over 140 PADI  Master Instructors worldwide applied for this course, and the final selection was based on a scoring system that included teaching experience, number of PADI certifications issued, continuing education, and most importantly, the submission of a personal business plan outlining how each candidate will best go forward and promote the PADI program in their local area.  It’s a very diverse group here, with only 9 Americans among the 38 candidates.  The U.K. has a large contingent, and there are a number of Canadians also, plus folks from places such as Brazil, Spain, Sweden, Dubai, Egypt, U.A.E., Malayasia, Korea and more..….a very international group overall.  And as a result there are a number of translators in the room also, so any given presentation is being simuoultaneously listened to and spoken again in a multitude of languages for the non-English speaking candidates.  I even found myself having to translate for my new friend Rob Mills – he only speaks Canadian!  Thank goodness I have so much language training with Jim Cormier, Tom Brennan and our other regular gang of IVS Canucks!

The group was divided into six teams, and parts of the program wil involve some friendly competition between the teams.  The groups were assigned by color, and one of our first team assignments was to select a name for our unit.  As the red team, we couldn’t come up with anything more creative than the “Red Bulls”, hoping the name inspires to ‘give us wings’ to fly through the next two weeks of PADI course director boot camp!

A long first day indeed, but full of very informative presentations and group discussions as the PADI team set the tone and pace for our program.  It is very exciting to be here and to be part of such a unique group!

Finally the time arrived for us to take a break from all the great input and board a bus to go visit Mecca of scuba diving, PADI World Headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.  We journeyed down the highway, entertained by the less-than-stellar jokes of PADI examiner John Land, as he tried to inspire others to take the microphone and share some of our humor.  Unfortunately the rules were that the jokes had to be clean, non-discriminatory, politically safe, non-religious…you get the picture – that rules out every single joke in my repetoire!

Finally we arrived at PADI HQ, and our first stop was a photo session along the PADI pool.  Then a thorough tour of the PADI facility, where we got the chance to meet so many of the folks who support our programs and take care of our needs every day – very cool to finally put faces to the voices on the phone and to the emails!

We ended with a tour of Founders Hall, virtually a museum within PADI, chock full of diving and PADI history, displays and memorabilia.  And they opened the PADI private tavern for us, serving libations of all flavors and putting out a great spread of food for all to enjoy.  Many of the PADI luminaries joined us, and I had the chance to enjoy some excellent conversations with PADI Chairman Brian Cronin, CEO Drew Richardson, Director of Worldwide Training Johnny Wetzstein, and host of others.  The drinks and relaxed setting had the intended affect on the class, and before you know it everyone was enjoying themselves and chatting and sharing stories.  Good thinking on PADI’s part, and a great way to foster bonding within the group.  Finally, it was time to surface, and we boarded the bus and returned to our hotel for the night.

Day 2

Our second day started off with four non-stop hours of us learning all about the pyschology of evaluation and counseling of instructor candidates – some deep stuff indeed.  Lots of role play back and forth – oh fun! 

We followed that exciting morning up with our Prescriptive Teaching workshop, where we broke into small teams and worked together to help develop our prescriptive teaching assignments which we will present to the group tomorrow.  My particular assignment is to review an incorrect answer from the Project Aware course, about diving “Aware”.  A perfect opportunity for me to wax on about Zen and the art of scuba diving – “be the ray!”  By mid-afternoon we were ready for something new and different, and that’s exactly what we got as we transitioned to the pool for our skill circuit review.  Here we worked in our teams, going from station to station, and performing demonstration-quality examples of standard diving skills that we teach all the time in our classes.  The Davester was on a roll, scoring an average of 4.9 points per skill out of a possible 5.0, when we came to the combination weight belt removal followed by underwater BCD removal skill set.  As most know, I wear a backplate & wing system, and with such a setup, I never need to wear any weights.  Well, never is a relative term, and when you are performing your skills for this program, you will be wearing a weight belt!  So, I threw one on, and we submerged for our team to perform the two skills.  Weight belt off & on – no problem, and I added another 4 or 5 points to my evaluation score.  Now, the BCD removal – well let me tell you, your BCD comes off a whole lot easier if you don’t have your crotch strap tangled up in your weight belt!  Dang! There went my perfect day, and my fun-loving Red Bulls team gave me the moniker of “Do it again Dave” – nice bunch, eh?   Enough on that, but rest assured we’ll be revisiting that particular skill later this week!! 

Following the skill circuit, we then went on to a Confined Water Evaluation Workshop, watching and scoring the PADI Examiners as they conducted pool teaching presentations for us to grade, and then to compare our scores.  Finally, after about four non-stop hours in the pool we called it quits for the night, and went to work on our presentation assignments for tomorrow. 

Day 3

Today’s focus was clearly followed the Marine Corps philosphy, where they “break them down and build them back up as Marines”.  Each of us came to this program with a fair degree of confidence in our ability to listen and watch presentations given, and to accurately score them based on the PADI evaluation process.  Well, scratch that! Our entire morning was spent listening to five different knowledge review presentations given by PADI Examiners.  Each presentation was carefully scripted to challenge the candidates ability to carefully evaluate the content, delivery, effectiveness and accuracy of the presentation.  And challenge us they did - it was utterly amazing to see the range of scores and interpretations of what the different candidates saw or perceived from the presentations.  Obviously we need some work here!!

Following that self-esteem busting morning, we then spent half the afternoon working on the preparation of our IDC academic presentations, which we’ll be giving in a day or two.  Learning all the in’s and out’s of the preferred PADI system, we were able to make significant team and individual progress on our assigned topics.  The key difference here is changing our mindset from presenting to diving students, to working with instructor candidates.  

Finally the moment we had been waiting for, our chance to make our first public academic Knowledge Review presentations to the class.  Lots of nervous energy filled the room, but each of us proceeded to present our topic to the class, with an examiner and a fellow candidate performing the evaluation while we spoke.  Each of us took our turn at the gallows, er, I mean podium, and proceeded to make our presentations to the group.  Other than the usual little hiccups, it really showed how much the candidates had prepared and how uniquely qualified each was to become a PADI Course Director.  I was even able to maintain my stellar 4.9 out of 5.0 point average for this portion of the program.  The evaluators felt I was just a little short on one area of my presentation - ready for this?  I didn’t SELL hard enough!  For a guy who could sell ice cubes to eskimos, this was clearly not an area I focused on in preparing my presentation.  Oh well, live & learn, I guess I’ll have to work on my selling techniques!

Day 4

As the candidates filed into the meeting hall today, the group was treated to a outstanding display of Team Red Bulls solidarity, with each member of the team wearing the official team color.  Go Team Red!!

Today’s topic du jour was marketing, and how we could most effectively market and sell instructor level training programs and beyond.  Tons of great ideas and information shared, lots of interactions and discussion among the candidates, notes being furiously taken all around the room, indicative of just how much good information was being gleaned from this session. Keeping things light, the folks from PADI, led by VP James Morgan, kept the teams competing against each other with trivia contests, diving knowledge questions, and of course, the dreaded ‘Gong’ each time the break timer went to zero. 

For the afternoon we enjoyed a great session, led by eMarketing Executive Amy Warren, that covered electronic marketing, e-learning, and the web.  The information superhighway, as some of us like to call it, is truly one of the most under-tapped and under-appreciated assets we have available to use in our businesses.  Amy shared with us an extensive list of valuable tips and tricks to help energize our website activity and usage, and to bring the full power of the web to bear for us to use in our business growth.  Fantastic session overall, and the Red Bulls scored heavily in the bonus points with lots of interaction and participation from our team.  PADI’s Linda Van Velsan handed out stars as awards for group participation, and my name tag had a bit of a “Mr. T” look to it with all the glitter and bling from the stars that were awarded to yours truly, the Quiet One.  At the end of the session the I ended up tied for second and Team Red Bulls ended up in first place with 23 stars awarded.  Go team!!

One of the most interesting and personally rewarding moments of the day came when the discussion turned towards how dive shops and Course Directors can best utilize the power of the internet to connect with current and future clients - and the example PADI used was Indian Valley Scuba’s website, and specifically, Dave’s Dive (b)Log - where we are blogging this entire course real-time!  How cool was that?  Good thing I was not shopping for hats this afternoon, as I am sure I could not find one big enough to fit!! 

Finally it was time to “transition to the pool”, as they like to say in PADI-land, and to give our first Confined Water presentations to the group.  I had a particularly difficult skill to teach - Cramp Removal.  Hours and hours were spent in the preparation of my presentation, with lots of thoughts given to potential problems and how the designated ’students’ could try to trick me up on this.

First up on the agenda was a Rescue Workshop, where we got to watch the PADI Pro’s show us how to effectively conduct a Rescue Workshop for IDC instructor candidates.  PADI’s Supervisor of Instructor Development Alan Jan, and Examiner Neil Fishburne from the PADI UK office, gave us hands-on training, tips & techniques on how to do it right!  After that we had a chance to practice it amongst ourselves, and Team Red is looking good, dare I say.  Finally, it was time for our first Confined Water teaching presentations, and each candidate got a chance to show their mettle to the group.  First a thorough briefing, then a demonstration, followed by working with the students (each of whom was assigned a problem) and finishing with a de-briefing.  By this time, I must admit my Kor-English is getting pretty darn good, and I am actually starting to understand ahead of Ju Ju Hyun Lee as she interprets for our two Korean speaking team members, Duck Koo Han from Phuket, Thailand, and Hyun Joon Kim from the Philippines.  Sharon Ainsworth from Womersley, England speaks a close-enough form of English for me (lord knows what those people did to our language over there!), and finally Joanna Mikutowicz from Honolulu and I are spot on with our lingo.   Maintaining my consisten upper mediocre scores for the week, my presentation earned me another ‘perfectly near the top but not quite’ 4.8 out of 5.0 and my evaluation alongside the PADI examiner’s control score scored well, matching 4 of 5 scores and only differing by one point on the final one.  Woo hooo!

Day 5

Saturday dawns, but there is no rest for this dedicated (and weary) group.  Our exciting topic this morning was Instructor Development Standards.  This riveting discussion, led by Alan Jan, covered one of the most challenging aspects of running Instructor Development Courses - the dreaded paperwork monster! We reviewed all the forms associated with Instructor Development and all it’s components, paying special attention to all the “T’s” to cross and “i’s” to dot to ensure the files are properly papered and the applications are complete at all levels.  We covered Con-Ed, Staff Instruction, Specialty Instructors, Crossovers, Status Updates…..you get the idea.  Lots and lots of details.  After that invigorating session, we then had the chance to step up the inter-team competition with a little version of PADI Bonus Knowledge Rounds, with points awarded for correct team answers, ranging from 1 to 500 points, based on a very scientific scoring basis - NOT! Penalties were also assessed for answering wrong, answering too quick, whining over scores, or whatever else inspired Alan to head to the big white board and adjust the scores. 

After lunch, we enjoyed quite the surprise when we were introduced to PADI’s latest product, the new eRDP - Multi Level version!  This little puppy replaces the current eRDP AND the never-easy-to-master Wheel RDP.  It allows calculator type operation for planning and calculating dives, including multi-level dives.  Very Cool product and one we’ll intergrate into our PADI Multilevel diver class immediately.

Finally, if that wasn’t enough, Project AWARE Director Jenny Miller Garmendia, assisted by Ania Budziak, spent most of the afternoon enlightening our group about the latest and greatest from Project AWARE, and shared tips on how we can incorporate this program into our instruction, and how to best encourage the next generation of instructors (which we should be responsible for producing!) to embrace Project AWARE and support it on every level, most importantly with diver education and participation. 

Our day wrapped up with another round of Knowledge Review presentations, and a general question & answer session regarding PADI contacts, setting up IDC’s and a host of other topics.  

Day 6

Our activities for today and tomorrow center around two optional training programs that PADI offers in conjunction with this years CDTC.  First on the list was the new PADI Emergency Oxygen Provider specialty course.  Taught by DSAT Instructional Designer Bob Wohlers, this just-released specialty certification is being introduced to teach O2 providers specific for the diving community.  It is similar to the DAN O2 Provider Course, but expands a bit on the basic DAN O2 Course, while not quite being equal to the DAN Advanced O2 program.  Look for it soon at Indian Valley Scuba.  Our second half of the day was devoted to the new PADI Digital Underwater Photography specialty course, with Bob being joined by John Land & Karen Boss.  Each of them spent the afternoon sharing techniques for teaching and marketing this program in our Instructor Development programs.   

Day 7

An early start found us gathered at the PADI van at 7:15, in time to head over to catch the Catalina Express high speed catamaran over to Catalina Island, a beautiful little little bump in the Pacific about 30 miles off the coast of Southern California.  Our destination was the lovely hamlet of Avalon, and the Avalon Underwater Park, a marine preserve located at Casino Point on the island.  Our mission today was to demonstrate to Bob Wohler that we had indeed completed our homework assignments from last night and that we were ready to take some good photographs under the water today.  Dive #1 found us working without strobes, using white balance and natural light to bring out the beauty of the aquatic scenery and the divers too!  Nice dive, an hour in the 68 degree water, warm to some of us, and cold to some (including the Swedish contingent who were diving in drysuits - go figure!)  After a short surface interval, we headed back in for dive 2, where we we allowed to use our strobes and given a laundry list of assigned photos to take, using various settings and composition techniques to really work test our photographic prowess.  Hundreds, no maybe thousands of photos taken, and probably a dozen really good ones too!  Ha ha,,,,not the easiest thing, but the park provided us with the perfect setting to attempt to achieve our goals.  And by the end of the day, after some counseling with Bob, we were ready for our next trip into the water with cameras!

Day 8

Back in the classroom after the day of diving, our exciting topic to start the day were Quality Management & Risk Management Workshop.  Led by PADI’s Steve Mortell, this session delved deeply into understanding the intricacies of customer complaints, standards violations and how PADI maintains the organizations standards of quality worldwide.  This was followed by each team presenting their own IDC marketing presentation, where we pitched our virtual dive center to attract a specific target customer.  The results of the past few days efforts were obvious as the teams presented newly-minted websites, email histories with the target customer, and a variety of other great ideas to help others reach out to bring the clients in.  Team Red Bull finished with an honorable mention in this event, with the Blue Marlins (huh?) taking the Blue Ribbon for today.  Lots of fun, lots of creativity - good stuff!

The afternoon led off with Alan Jan conducting an Open Water Evaluation workshop, where we reviewed what the PADI Examiners are looking for in a candidates presentation.  Very helpful info to tailor our own teaching styles around when we get back home.  Finally it was time for each of us to present our second individual IDC level presentation, and present we did!   The Red Team members passed with flying colors, and this is finally off the list!  Some individual counseling wrapped up the day, and we left to get ready for our Open Water work tomorrow, starting with a 5:45 a.m. gathering to board the bus to the ferry.

Day 9

4:30 came early as the alarm roused me from my slumber, and I set about preparing for the days activities. Pack the gear. grab some grub, and board the PADI bus for the ride to the Long Beach ferry terminal.  My antennas were wiggling at the timing of our departure, and sure enough, when we arrived at the not-yet-open ferry terminal at 6:30 for our 8:00 boat.  Hmmmmm…..I was in the Army years ago, and I thought I had finished with this ‘hurry up and wait’ stuff.  Oh well, finally we boarded the high speed catamaran and headed over to Catalina Island to complete the final required presentations and evaluations for thr program.  We disembarked, humped our gear to the waiting truck, and jumped into some taxis for the short ride to the Descantos Beach Club.  The folks at Scuba Luv in Avalon had done their part, and we found tanks, weights, and belts, all neatly arranged on - you guessed it - blue tarps (remember, this is California).  Each team geared up, and we met the Examiner who had been assigned to our group for the day.  Small world, our examiner was John McFadden, who was the PADI Examiner on my original PADI Instructor Examination many years ago. Fate is funny, eh?  My personal assignment for the open water presentation was Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent, or CESA.  This is probably the premier PADI diver skill in both confined and open water, primarily due to the risk of diver injury in the event of an improper execution of the skill.  No pressure, eh? 

Once we got geared up we headed into the water and conducted a descent workshop first, then began our skills.  Everyone marched through, showing great IDC presentation skills.  Finally, it was my turn, and I was able to finally score that perfect 5.0 score that had been eluding me all week long!!  Yeah baby!  Back to the beach for a de-briefing, then lunch.  After a quick snack I grabbed my gear and jogged over to the Casino, where I was able to grab a tank from the kiosk and head in for lone last California dive for the week.  Great dive, octopus galore, big bat ray rooting in the sand, tons of sushi all around.  Great way to cap the day’s activities.

Finally it was time to re-board the ferry and head on back.  Note to PADI staff here - it was VERY uncool for the PADI staff members to enjoy the upgraded First Class lounge for the return trip (as well as this mornings run out) while the rest of us had to grovel amongst the common folk.  It would have been a very powerful positive statement for PADI to have reserved first class tickets for the ride home, as a token of award for a job well done for each of the candidates who as of today have essentially completed the requirements of the program.  Hope PADI reads this and perhaps makes a note for future CDTC’s.  

Day 10

Remedial Course Director training was the planned activity for this morning, as the various candidates with requirements to make up or re-do gathered in the classroom or at the pool.  Everyone did well, and we put the required task list to rest.  Then Johnny Wetzstein led a comprehensive discussion and review on the roles and responsibilities of the PADI Course Director.  Great question & answer session, lots of good points raised.

Finally it was time to let out the deep breath of relief - we passed!  Welcome thirty-eight new PADI Course Directors into the family!  We celebrated that evening with a great dinner, a fun picture & video show of the past two weeks, and awardng of credentials to the candidates.  Mission accomplished!