I am a someone whose hobby got out of control; that’s right, I am a professional scuba instructor in Houston Texas.
I was raised far from the water in Odessa, Texas. My Father used to say that Odessa was the hub of all water — “you could go 500 miles in any direction and reach water but there was none in-between.” So perhaps it is a little ironic that a kid from West Texas is a full time scuba instructor but I have always loved the water.
I learned to sail while I was in school at Texas Tech. The sailing in Lubbock was a real challenge; the only place available to sale was a man-made lake in a dammed canyon. the winds varied with every turn and keeping the small boats upright was sometimes impossible. But I was hooked on sailing and when I graduated, I had to move to the coast. This is how I ended up in Houston.
If you look at my resume, you would find that I worked in Public Accounting for what was then one of the Big 8 firms, later for one of the country’s largest law firms and then for a small corporation. Later I worked for myself building a small pool service company. through all of these transitions, I taught SCUBA. I was one of the part-time instructors who later became a corporate drop-out deciding my hobby was certainly more fun than my “real job.”
So, here I am, married to the boss and teaching scuba full-time. What I teach has changed over the years. I started as an open water instructor teaching new divers to dive and progressed to a point that I rarely teach new divers. Instead, I now teach others to teach. I also have the priviledge to work with our more advanced diving clients who want to jump off into technical diving and my newest love, rebreather diving.
I am very thankful for where I am today. I don’t make as much money as I used to (although I am not opposed to making more) but I get to travel more than most “bean counters.” I have also get the opportunity to meet some fascinating people from all walks of life and from all over the world.
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