Danny (in the grey Roatan Marine Park shirt) with the Roatan Divers team in March 2017

Repeater. In the dive industry, we use this term to refer to former guests that have returned to dive with us again. This can be a really rewarding experience for dive shop owners, guides and captains since we enjoy making connections and seeing familiar faces! And who is one of our most constant repeaters, you might ask?

Meet Danny! As of September 2017, he is now a 5x Repeater with Roatan Divers since first coming to Roatan in 2015 with some friends from Texas.

When Danny first dove with us, he already had his PADI Advanced Open Water certification, but not many dives logged. He wasn't so great on his air consumption, either. After his first time diving on Roatan, he quickly fell in love with not just our reef, but with us, too! His laid back, easy going personality fit in seamlessly with our staff and we soon became fast friends.

Becoming a better diver

The next time Danny returned to Roatan in March of 2016, he had a goal in mind - to become a better diver. Now the secret trick to become a better diver is... practice. Perhaps you've seen the T-shirt that says: "Eat. Sleep. Dive. Repeat."? Well, that was Danny on this trip. He went on as many fun dives as he could! Not only did he dive a lot, but most importantly Danny had the right mindset, humility, and good humor to be receptive to the feedback we gave him. We all celebrated with him when we witnessed how much he had improved underwater and we loved seeing his confidence grow.

Round 3: For this dive trip, Danny completed his PADI Rescue Diver course and PADI Master Scuba Diver rating. It was June and the sun was was blazing, but that didn't stop Danny from going through the Rescue Diver, which is one of diving's most challenging but rewarding courses. He also completed a total of 5 PADI Specialties, which made him eligible to become (drumroll please) Roatan Divers' First PADI Master Scuba Diver!

Danny after completing all his specialties for the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating

Something changed

It was around this point in our story that we all noticed a difference in Danny. He had grown close with the entire team here at RD and was always eager to lend a helping hand. He knew our shop, he knew how we worked and why we do things the way we do. And no matter how hard we tried to encourage him to relax (he was on holiday, after all!), he was determined to help out. Danny started to see diving from a new perspective. He began to see what goes into working as a Dive Professional. During his previous trips, Danny met and chatted with various Divemaster Trainees of ours and saw firsthand what the course involved. After a little (or maybe a lot) of encouragement from us, Danny decided he wanted to pursue his PADI Divemaster course.

Finding the time to do the Divemaster Internship course

How does someone go from having a full time job in the United States to being able to stay in Roatan long enough to complete his PADI Divemaster course? Dedicating the time required to properly do your DMT course is not always easy, which is why we speak extensively with all of our Divemaster candidates to make sure it will be a positive experience for everyone. In Danny's case, it required waiting for the right time and a very understanding boss (Hi, Rickey!) who knows how passionate Danny is about scuba diving. As of now, Danny is still working in Texas, but is open to the idea of possibly working as a Divemaster later on down the line. The experiences and knowledge he gains will be something he can treasure and utilize for a lifetime.

Whether it's doing his Divemaster course, fun diving or just hanging out here at the dive shop, we are so happy to have a repeater like Danny back at Roatan Divers. We hope this insight into his unique story will help others not only see the transformation of one diver, but help others decide if the PADI Divemaster course is right for them.

Questions on how we run our Divemaster Internship? Send us a note today and we'd be happy to help.