Study day...

I was planning to go diving this afternoon, but the boat was full, and since Dive Master Trainess dive for free, we are the first ones to be kicked off the boat. Today was the first day with rain. It rained for around one hour (and it rained a LOT), but now the sun is shining again, and it is no longer just warm, but also humid.
So instead, I am studying. Reading the first half of the book is my goal. A bit boring and much repetition, but it is sometimes good to read the same stuff several times.
There are very many things I need to learn. I need to become an even better rescue diver and learn to identify and deal with stress before diving, under water and in surface. I need to learn managing groups of divers, where some may be very experiences (but these can sometimes be too confident and therefore get in trouble). Other divers may not have dived for a long time, or not dived very much, so here the task is to give them confidence - and help them with practical things so they feel reassured. The biggest task is to avoid a too high level of stress; because stress can lead to panic. And panic under water is one of the most frequent direct or indirect reasons for accidents. A panicked diver may bolt to the surface from 30 meters depth, and this can certainly not be recommended due the high risk of Decompression Illness. As a Dive Master you will try to hold the person down to assure a slower ascent, but thereby risking decompression problems yourself (and as said earlier, Dive Masters typically dive much more than 'fun divers', so you may have higher risk than the panicking person). And what to do with the maybe 2-3 other divers that you may need to leave at 30 meters depth? It is very unlikely that you can return to them due to your own high nitrogen values in your blood. Decompression Illness while diving comes from either that you 'blow up' a lung if ascending too quickly (since the air in your lungs are compressed due to the water pressure but when approaching the surfacethe air will expand - if you do not constantly continue breathing). Another risk while diving is that when you breathe air deep under water, the nitrogen part of the air you breathe will accumulate inside you, and if descenting too fast, the nitrogen may form bubbles in your blood and tissues, which is very dangerous.
On top of that you need to dive as much as you can. Diving a lot is one key way to become a good Dive Master. And I still have basic things where I am not too confident, like e.g. clearing my mask under water (if you loose it). Or taking off all your equipment under water. And putting it back on again.
Finally, we will need to learn to 'teach'. As a Dive Con, I can/will teach theory stuff, and basic skills in pool or similar.
On top of that I have my small self-initiated 'extra project', which is to describe all fishes and other aquatic life around Koh Tao; including good (self-taken) photos. I seem not to be able to let go of my Powerpoint skills, so of course I this as a powerpoint which is a 'fish lexicon' combined with a 'quiz' :-). You may see a version of this when I get nearer to the release date :-)