Last year Dive HQ NZ, PADI Asia Pacific and Safari Lodge Fiji offered 4 lucky divers the opportunity to become a PADI Divemaster in Fiji.
One of the successful applicants was our very own diver Kim McFarlane. We are asked Kim to introduce herself to everyone and she will be keeping us informed of all her adventures. At the moment all she has is study materials – for the Emergency First Responder First Aid, PADI Rescue Diver and PADI Divemaster courses.
So here is Kim telling her dive story to date:
I can remember as far back as the late 90’s when i was working on DayDream Island, Airlie Beach, Queensland. Everyday i would see boatloads of tourist wearing dive gear off to see the reef and i would think to myself, one day that would be me. Something about the excitement of breathing underwater and swimming with the fish took to my liking. When i finally met & married my husband Lance besides having our own hobbies I wanted something that we could both enjoy and take part in. After returning from a holiday in Vanuatu May 2008 and doing so much amazing snorkelling there and again seeing more tourist on boats in dive gear, I mentioned diving to Lance and he was all for it. So In Dec 2008 we both did our PADI Open Water Diver course and never looked back.
I have had a few hairy dives but my worst was when Lance and I were in our first year of diving out the front of Mermaids Kitchen or The Sirens and the conditions were 3M viz, large surges and very cold. After 30 min we decided to head back in but the surges were so strong and the ocean murky we had no idea if we were in the right channel. We came to a bottleneck and had to hang onto the side of the rocks as we took turns being sucked through it. I couldn’t help Lance and he couldn’t help me so it was see you on the other side. I think i breathed in almost all the air in my tank trying to hold on and wait my turn. Scary as scary can be.
I have had far too many fantastic dives to mention them all but Sailrock In Thailand off Koh Samui was my first overseas dive in tropical waters. This dive confirmed for me to get my PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certification. We had 25M Viz 28 degrees in the water but could only go to 20M and I wanted to go deeper with the rest of the dive group. I saw so many amazing colours, abundant fish life and went through a huge swim through up a chimney. I was definitely hooked by now.
There are so many places I would love to dive especially on my backdoor step but I must say a dream destination for me would be Truk (Chuuk) Lagoon in Micronesia.
I always thought of getting my Rescue Diver Cert to give me more confidence then become qualified as a Scuba Instructor to take part and teach others in something I really enjoy. Or become a National Geographic Diver because I love taking pictures of the wonderful creatures down there.
Regards Kim
PS: We know Kim is taking her camera with her to Fiji so we hope she gets time to take some photos for us!