I spent summer 2019 at Ritual completing my Raid Divemasters. I started at Ritual with just my open water qualification that I had completed 4 years before on Koh Tao in Thailand and had only dived a few times since. I felt welcome from the minute I walked into the shop. I spent my first couple of days getting used to setting up my equipment again (it had been a while!), getting back comfortable in the water and experimenting with my buoyancy as I had only ever dove in a BCD and not a wing.
Over the following few weeks I completed my Advanced 35, Master Rescue and Deep 40 course which meant lots of time in the water! Each course involved a fair amount of theory but the great thing about Raid is it’s all on your phone so you can learn whilst sitting out in the sun or reading in the evening at home. You get to practice the quizzes before taking the exam too. If there was anything I didn’t quite understand (basically all the physics… haha) the guys would take their time to help me learn.
My daily routine as a DMT would involve loading up the trucks in the morning, going out with one of the instructors and their clients to a dive site. Usually completing 2 dives, this was great because I would be learning so much about the dive sites, dive brief and general instructing techniques without even realising! Each instructor had a different way to teach too so I had the advantage of that too. In the afternoons I would usually be in the shop, filling tanks, washing equipment or studying. I found this a great balance and a true experience of what being a dive instructor is all about. On quieter afternoons I would often jump into the pool with one of the instructors and practice skills or head out on a fun dive to practice navigation!
Whilst working towards my DM I was lucky enough to be able to complete my Advanced Wreck Diver course and found a passion for underwater photography!
All the staff that taught me were super friendly with many years of experience in the scuba world – they all have buckets of knowledge and are all top class instructors to learn from. I will definitely be heading back to Gozo to see them!
AJ
DMT Program 2019
