I was somewhere on Fraser Island when my phone went 'ping'.
I must have phone reception, I thought, better check in case the kids have set fire to the house.
Amidst two days of messages, one stood out as a game-changer.
It was from Ting, asking if I wanted to do my IDC (Instructor Development Course).
Why not, I thought. How hard can it be?
Once back on the mainland, I caught up with all the emails and meeting invites.
Wow, that's a lot of meetings, I thought. Happily, I accepted them all.
We were heading north to the tip, or so we thought. It wasn't long before I realised that even Telstra doesn't cover everywhere.
With Zoom meetings set for Friday nights to go through the theory sections, I planned the trip around being in a town of substance on Fridays.
We had a few hiccups with connections and some missed meetings but managed to catch up along the way.
I arrived back in Melbourne in mid-June and was quickly in the pool to do the water skills sections of the IDC and make sure we were ready for the IE (Instructor Exam) on the first weekend of July.
Ian and Ting set about running us through the skills, ensuring nothing was missed.
Weekends consisted of Saturday mornings confined water skills in the pool, then back to the shop to go through dive theory and presentations.
Sunday mornings were open water skills at Portarlington and Eastern Beach, followed by more presentations and dive theory back at the shop.
There wasn't a minute that went by where I didn't think, why am I doing this in the middle of winter?
Damn, it was cold, having just come down from the north where I was diving in a rashie and board shorts to what felt like sub-Arctic temperatures, even in a drysuit.
Corinne and Colin were my brother and sister in arms, and we helped and encouraged each other throughout the sessions.
There were times when self-doubt crept in, but after a discussion with Corinne or Colin, it was back into it.
I pondered that as an instructor, I would be responsible for my students and assistants, so the course needed to have demanding challenges.
In the week leading up to the IE, I concentrated on my dive theory, as this was something I hadn't looked at since my OW in 2005 and was my weakest link.
The presentations were so-so, but I thought I could get through them enough to pass.
The big day arrived, and we gathered at the pool for our orientation.
The first performance requirement was not to fall asleep - yeah, passed the first requirement.
Next were the dive theory and standards exams.
If the stress of the exams wasn't enough, we had to deal with the doof-doof of an aerobics class in the next room, which vibrated the room and everything in it.
After an hour or so of that, it finally stopped, only to then have a karate class start up with its grunting and yelling.
With the exams and presentations out of the way, we hit the pool for our confined water skills.
The examiner, Steve, gave us a briefing on what he required, and we set about showing our skills.
We each had two skills to demonstrate and then had to get the "students" to perform them back to us.
The examiner would assign us errors to perform as students, but we also added our own due to forgetfulness.
I was grateful that Ting and Ian had been hard taskmasters in our training sessions, as the exam felt so much easier.
With the pool session complete, it was home to prepare for the open water skill session and try to get a good night's sleep. Ha ha.
Sunday, up at 6:30 to head to Eastern Beach for the open water skills.
It was so cold that there was vapor coming off the fountain in the pool.
We did our briefing in the car park and headed to the water.
The tide was one of the biggest I've seen in a while, so the giant stride off the pier gave you plenty of time to think, why am I doing this, before hitting the water.
Hitting the water gave that instant ice cream pain in your head, even with a hood.
Then the slow feeling of cold on my back indicated that my drysuit was no longer a drysuit.
Visibility was good until the first fin hit the bottom, stirring up a cloud of silt.
I thought this could play in our favour, as the examiner might not be able to see if we make mistakes.
At one point during the skills, the visibility was bad due to the silt.
I turned to look at Glenn, our DM, who was assigned to keep an eye on me as an OW student, and I couldn't see him.
I thought, oh no, he's missing. Corinne and Colin were doing the CESA skill, and we had drifted away from the line.
I managed to find the line but couldn't see anyone else.
I thought, now I'm in trouble, but the others were at the surface, and it wasn't long before we were all united again as one happy family to continue with the rest of the skills.
The examiner would assign us errors to do during our turn as students on the surface, but by the time we had submerged, we had forgotten due to thinking about the cold. With all our skills finished,
we headed for the car park to dry off and debrief. At last, the sun had come out, starting to warm our frozen bodies.
It was time for a few snaps by the waterfront with our examiner and our certificates.
Yeah, we've done it. During the IDC, there were times of soul-searching, fun times, giggles, and memories that I will cherish for the rest of my days.
Thanks, Corinne and Colin, for a fantastic time. A huge thank you to Ting and Ian for all the time and effort they invested in getting us ready for the exam.
Also, a big shout-out to Glenn Cripps for the help with DM duties during the lead-up and in the exam.
The IDC was one of the most challenging things I have done in my diving career, and I look forward to putting my newfound skills to use.
- Ashley
