Day 9, The Final Day and Final Thoughts

The day dawned......calm?  Not too much wind but that may change as the day goes on. Last night, it seemed we should have some fun with Chantel around mid day. This morning, all reports show the storm has moved a little farther south and will miss us and come ashore on the island farther west. I guess we dodged a bullet.   Over the course of the day we had scattered showers and some rain but nothing that bad.

Did I mention it is the last day of the class?  Many of us are already reflecting on the class, the process, the change in the groups, what we have learned and what we take away. More on this later, we still have some unfinished business. Our last group presentation from the staff is on The Role of the PADI Course Director.  As the top dog in the food chain, people may give us a bit of look.  Some act weary when the "PADI Police" are around, others look up as mentors and still others could most likely care less.  That will be a blog post in a few months. 

After our final presentation from the PADI staff, it was back to our break out rooms for one final presentation and one final evaluation of another team mate.  These have been both easy and hard.  Easy when someone runs through their presentation, hits the numbers and makes it easy to score 5's across the board.  Hard when they miss something, even harder when they miss something big.  Sascha had to give me a 1 (A FAIL) when I missed the distance on the compass run earlier in the week.  He then had to give a 1 in the afternoon to another teammate who had some issues with their lift bag.  He felt terrible but he had to do it!  You don't do anyone any favors by being easy and hurt yourself if you don't agree with 4/6 of the control scores.  Needless to say we really did rock the final!  It was lunch and then back to the big room for final consultations.  PADI Asia was in one room, PADI EMEA (Europe) in another and PADI Americas in a third.  You were called in one at a time, had a quick meeting with the staff from that office and they conferred the news that you passes or failed.  Needless to say WE ROCKED IT AND ALL PASSED!!  You came out to a large applause from the other candidates and waited until all were done.  We had some time to kill until the Graduation Banquet that night.  It was amazing to see how fast the news took to the digital world.  I'm sure CDTC was trending pretty high on Facebook as EVERYONE jumped online and started sharing the news.  A few hours later cocktail hour lead into James' slide show with photos of all in action.  The winner of the marketing plan was announced, "Sojou" was the winners with the GreenGos getting honorable mention. 

One at a time we were called up and received our packet with new cert card and diploma.  The party went on until 10:30 when the room was closed down but the party was reconvened to the pool until the wee hours of the morning.  Toasts were drunk, cigars lit and the fat lady finally sang!

As we decompressed and tried to make sense of the last 9 days, I was left with two very lasting impressions.  First was the world wide market that PADI has.  There were 6 candidates from Playa del Carmen, Mexico there.  What that means is that Playa has a market, already full with CD's, but needing 6 more!!  It is staggering to think of the numbers they move through.  But the most important thing I loved about this experience was the exact opposite of what I had been dreading.  I am pretty laid back.  I'm kind of modest (at least on the outside) and don't like to either toot my own horn or hear others toot theirs.  I can care less about what you did to get here, we all did similar things.  I assumed I would be surrounded by guys who thought they were the top of the heap and more than happy to let the rest of us know that.  That couldn't have been farther from the truth.  Whether it was Paul from England, who loved the Guide to Teaching reference during a religious discussion to Martin from the Netherlands who after a few drinks wanted to combine all the guys into one big super group so we wouldn't have to compete with each other, these were incredible people. 

And of course the most incredible of all were my team mates, the GreenGos.  I think eventually all the groups bonded but not as fast or as hard as us.  By the end of the first day, there was already a feel about the group and by day two a few kindred spirits recognized each other and the game was on.  Inside jokes about bolt snaps, the profanisaurus, man hands, brain coral, PADI laser pointers, Grogans, lasagna, knocking on the wrong door, brass is ***, the Lake of Constance and the 10,000 wrecks off Belgium were the norm.  It wasn't a competition, it wasn't trying to one up each other, it was seeing ideas of one person and pushing them a little farther.  We may have flirted with 1's on some of the academic presentations, but that was the challenge of pushing the limits and the joy of getting away with it.  Creative subversion that made us love our craft that much more. 

James Morgan promised a significant emotional event and he didn't let us down.  We are able to teach people to teach people to blow bubbles underwater!! (restated objective)  Don't forget to buy some gear and take a class.

PADI CDTC Day 8

Tuesday, we are in the home stretch.  The general mood is one of dragging.  This has become more of a marathon than a sprint.  With a start time of 8am every day, ending between 5-6pm every day and then having presentations to prepare, we have had some very long days.  Today appeared on the schedule as a very long day.  We were supposed to start with a quick bus ride to Corales Bay and then confined water presentations.  A quick reminder, Confined Water can be either a pool or an environment with pool like conditions in regards to deep, temp, water movement and vis.  Many of us do strictly pool so it was interesting to see how the other half lived.  However Tropical Storm Chantel was starting to make her presence felt. 

We had heard for the last 2 days about Chantel.  Part of me had always wanted to attend a hurricane party.  Perhaps I will get to have my chance.  It was headed toward our eastern tip of the island and scheduled to hit land later in the next day but many things could happen in the next 2 days.  Corales was not exactly ideal a few days ago when we had practiced there.  Vis wasn’t great and the surge was noticeable.  It wouldn’t take much to make it “un-pool-like.”  As we queued up waiting for the bus, the announcement was made we were staying in the pool.  There was a general sigh of relief.  No sand, no surge, less suits and less time. 

Our skills were originally skills that take place “in water too deep to stand.”  We were given new assignments and given some extra time to prepare.  Naturally, as Instructors, we are very comfortable with all the skills but it was nice to have a few minutes to prep.  Did we rock it?  Yes we did!

The afternoon was back to back teaching presentations.  One from the IDC and one from either IDC Staff or Specialty Instructor Training.  Oh yes, we rocked that too.

Day 7

Day 7

JAMES MORGAN, WAKE UP!!  Not literally of course but from the dream like haze you find yourself you in day after day after day.  Wake up from the dreams you have of a better life for you and your family.  Don’t give up on those dreams, but stop dreaming and make it a reality. That is the vision of Team GreenGo.  You have told us you are a busy executive, you have told us you travel for work, you have told us about your plans for a Caribbean Resort.  Let us tell you about our plan to help you achieve this.

This was the essence of our Marketing Proposal that we presented this morning.  After an intro that took some candid photos of the PADI staff and told a story of a man stuck in a dead end job, we presented the various aspects of our plan against a power point back drop of various logos of the programs we were selling.

It went well enough.  Our plan was in some ways the most sound in that we were the only ones who really addressed the issues of his schedule.  However we did get bogged down in our presentation.  We didn’t bullet point to death and that lead to some wandering.  Of course when 7 people all have ideas about what is important, well….

Some of the other groups had some neat ideas. My favorite was the yellow group, Team Tweetie.  They took Tweetie and ran with it.  They had some great class packages including Master Tweetie, Break the Cage and Rule the Roost.

After a Project Aware presentation and lunch we headed back to our break out rooms and gave another presentation, this time on Instructor Con-Ed.  And of course, we rocked it!!

Oh yes, and there is a Tropical Storm coming.

Day 6

Day 6

Houston, we have a problem!!  Nothing like a little gut check to be you back to Earth. The day started innocently enough.  A little bus ride to a little resort and a little surface swim out to do a little skill training and then encountering a little problem.  

And then I woke up.  An hour bus ride to a mega resort, a monster surface swim completed 3 times round trip, a little surface skill with a huge mistake. 

Alright, it wasn't really that bad (the surface swim was) and I recovered from the mistake. During the CDTC we are being graded as we present and also as we evaluate. The presentations take place in the classroom, pool, confined water and open water. They include material from any and all PADI courses, from Open Water, Adavnced, Rescue, Divemasters, Specialities and of course Instructor Course like the IDC, Specialty Instructor and IDC Staff. 

My first skill was the 50 yd compass surface swim from the Open Water course.  Normally most instructors will do this in small groups but I went conservative and started one at a time. Waste of time!!  (and I got dinged on it). But my biggest screw up was catching a problem and then not restarting, thus while he finished the skill correctly, he did not meet the performance requirement of doing it correctly for 50 yards. 

Rescue assessments and the afternoon presentations went much better but after it was all said and done, the morning was the best part. Bear with me, the best part was the failure.  Up to that point I was breezing along.  I was scoring pretty much max points on everything.  I was having a blast and probably acting a little too cavalier. This was the proverbial slap to the face that woke me up.  This is the counseling point that will stay with me through all my future courses.  Empathy is a word that was stressed at the start of the week.  Empathy for your fellow candidates here and future candidates in the future. I have empathy!!!

Day 5

The waves were crashing into the boat from all sides. Walls of water 15 feet (5 meters) high battered our craft like a child’s toy. Candidates held on to the sides for dear life, crossing themselves and praying for deliverance. Meanwhile in Punta Cana, we were getting ready to head out for some Open Water evaluation training. We kitted up (that’s European for putting together our gear) on the beach next to the resort’s dive shop. Alan started the day by imparting some thoughts on control. Think about it, when students do skills, they are usually on a sandy bottom or a platform with the instructor right in front of them. What about when touring or ascents or descents? This is when problems can occur.

When then loaded on to a few boats to head into the open seas. There is a reef about ½ mile (750 meters) out in front of the beach. Our boats headed south for a bit before we came through a break in the reef into the open ocean. For the record, it was a bit choppy. We divided into 3 large groups (2 teams per group) to observe and practice evaluating some sample open water skills. Getting back on the boats was a bit tricky including when a regulator slipped between boats and got smashed. Once we got back to the dive shop, we debriefed in the shade of the dive shop. Have I mentioned that I love my job? As I looked around, I took in my surroundings, thatched roof, sandy floor, sun/sand/surf. I’m working, I swear. Why don’t you believe me?

The afternoon started with a quick presentation on the Instructor Development Department at PADI and who we call at the various offices worldwide if we need some assistance. Basically don’t start with Drew Richardson and work down. We then broke into our teams to hear IDC classroom presentations. Needless to say, we rocked it!!

But I’m not here to talk about all this. What I really want to talk about is pasta. Specifically lasagna. I am not a gourmet chef but I do fancy that I can cook. At the very least I can follow a damn recipe. However, it has been brought to my attention by my team that you do not boil lasagna noodles before you bake them. I have been cruelly reminded of this during my own teaching presentation and been made the object of ridicule during others’ presentations. My defense is-I don’t boil them until they are cooked, merely al dente. Is this not proper? I haven’t had any complaints yet. Are my guests merely being polite?

Day 4 at the CDTC

Good morning, says Alan Jans. Good morning, we all response, almost eagerly, awaiting the next words that will come. We will be receiving extra points for our team? Is there a summary of the days events? Will he surprise us all with a clever joke or perhaps a long lost nugget from the PADI treasure trove of instructor development? A tip that he has withheld for the last 10 years? The holy grail of marketing that will cause all dive business within a 100 mile radius to flood your doorway? Perhaps today is the day he has waited for soooo long. He patiently bided his time all these years, perhaps there was no one worthy enough, no one deserving. Many had been close, many shared his passion but alas, had fallen short some small way or another.

Alas, it was but a dream, nothing more. Instructor Development Presentation workshop, which of course was a gem in it’s own right. We paired off again and worked on teaching presentations that we will give later in the week. This was followed up by James giving part 2 of the Marketing pitch. Social media! If you are reading this, then you my friend are our #1 target…Do you want to learn to dive? Do you want to partake of the diving lifestyle? Like a child being lured by candy, be warned. One breath underwater and you may be hooked.

On to lunch at the very lovely Beach Grill with the proverbial perfect Caribbean view. Faithful reader, this is why we dive. This is the picture that launched a thousand vacations. Forget about 6 pack abs and a perfect body, what I am selling today is what all people want. I can take your deposit as soon as I get home. But nothing gold can stay and we soon head back to our conference room. Nothing like a little Risk Management to settle your stomach and remind of what can go wrong.

The rest of the afternoon was spent giving and evaluating classroom presentations. Some Rescue Diver, Divemaster, Project Aware, Advanced and of course the old standby of Open Water. Needless to say, we rocked it!

PADI CDTC Day 3 July 4

Other then the American rubbing their Independence Day celebrations in the face of the Brits, the day went very well. As with every morning, it was breakfast in La Cuna (the main eatery where we breakfast and lunch daily) followed by a 8am start. The first topic of the day was Instructor Development Standards followed by the Prescriptive Teaching Workshop. Standards are what guide every class a PADI instructor teaches. These are the “how, where and how many” questions that we answer every time we hit the classroom or pool. As Course Directors, we are looked at as experts when questions arise regarding interpreting standards. We don’t need to know all the standards but we do need to know where to look to find them. Our second seminar covered Prescriptive Teaching. This is a technique we use when teaching almost all of our classes. With so much of the classroom knowledge the student needs being delivered via their books and videos, we don’t need to get up and teach EVERY little detail. Prescriptive teaching covers the little details that students may have missed or need further clarification on. We teamed up with other candidates and worked on our own presentations that we will give later in the course.


Our lunch break is usually 1 1/2 hours. This gives you time to prepare gear or materials for pool or class presentations that afternoon. James Morgan began the last conference session of the day with Marketing. Obviously, we need students if we want to teach. He also unveiled a challenge to each team. We need to prepare a marketing plan to sell a fictitious Divemaster (James Morgan) on taking his IDC with our team. More on this after we present (you never know what other group is reading this!!) Enough to say that this blog is part of it!
That afternoon we jumped in the pool. It was time for our first confined water presentation. We had been assigned a skill for the Open Water Class. Yohan had alternate air source use, Barbara had the CESA, Sascha had mask remove and replace, Alex had reg clearing, Thierry had full mask clear, Milo had partial mask clear and Dave had neutral buoyancy-oral inflation. We also had the pleasure of evaluating each other during our presentations. Needless to say, we rocked it!!