Wow, hi! Haven’t been on the blog much lately - between seeing my kids off to Los Angeles, CA for the summer and getting myself moved from beautiful St. Cloud, Florida to oh-so-very beautiful Clearwater, Florida, the schedule has been very tight.
Add to the mix the fact that my plans regarding my diving career direction have changed slightly and various other factors, and it gets complicated.
UPDATE ON RECREATIONAL DIVING: After getting certified back in early May, my instructor suggested that I return to the pool to practice my ascension/descension and buoyancy control, as I was having difficulty with these factors during the 40 foot dive at Lake Denton that we have previously done.Â
After putting it off for a month, due to thinking that arghhhh, my ears are gonna hurt and argh, I don’t wanna feel yucky from the chlorine, I bit the bullet and got out there and got a grip on the proper weight for myself and tackled the ascension/descension and buoyancy control without a hitch. I couldn’t believe it! My sinuses didn’t even hurt. I feel much more confident and able to control myself from not zooming upward like a balloon! Practice makes perfect and now me and a friend are talking about a dive trip to the Keys, and I’ve also hooked up with a couple of other divers here in the Gulf-side area to do some future dives with.
I’ll capture photos of my fun rec diving trips for future postings on here!
UPDATE ON COMMERCIAL DIVING: Things have changed drastically in terms of my commercial diving plans, and I’m not going to go the Florida School of Commercial Diving anymore, for a number of reasons:
1. Should I really invest $10K into this when I could be studying at a community college through the help of financial aid/grants, etc.? Perhaps there is a more smarter way of utilizing my money.
2. The commercial diver’s typical schedule could pose a huge problem for me, considering I have children. Originally I thought I could work around this, but I’m too much of a mommy-type to have that happen.
3. After many a conversation with others in the commercial diving field, it seems that the field is veering more towards the use of electronics and underwater robotics (i.e. ROVs). Perhaps this is the field that I should be delving into.
4. Many health risks are associated with commercial diving of course - I’m not a big-boned woman, not sure about all that compression on the body for soooooo many hours throughout the years.
CONCLUSION: So at this point in time, what I need to consider is (especially since there’s really quite a few niche marine careers out there):
1. What marine career should IÂ focus on to allow my dreams of marine research and exploration to come to fruition?
2. What marine career will also allow me the financial wherewithal to provide for my family and attain the various goals that I’ve set for myself and my family?
3. Which career is going to allow me a schedule that’s somewhat accomodating - long hours aren’t so much of a problem as long as there’s general stability and as long as I’m not gone for 2 months at a time (although I can work this out because I’m pretty resourceful about getting my kids watched by someone else while I’m away).
4. And what is the most effective route to take in becoming the best that I can be at this career, without expending a ridiculous amount of money so that all of the various life “balls” can be kept rolling?
Thus far, I’m told that ROVs and electronics operations is the way to go… going to community college (in Tampa we have the Hillsborough Community College) to learn/get certified in electronics would be a great idea while simultaneously volunteering at the local aquarium out here as well as interning at a marine research company like Odyssey or something along those lines.
That’s what I’m told…
But I’m thinking is this really what I should do? Because it sounds great! But how can you really be certain that the return on this investment of time and money is worth it? Of course there’s a risk, but I appreciate any other feedback that anyone can give me to help in this decision.
Also of note, there’s an online course provided through the Marine Advanced Technology Education Center (MATE) designed to help one research and pinpoint the exact marine research field that one should get involved in. I believe it’s a 16-week online course - this could be very beneficial - I’m checking on the cost right now.
Any thoughts on the best direction I should take? What’s the best way to get started in the marine research field/best career direction to take in the least amount of time? Â
Post from: Online Scuba Blog: Scuba Gear & Dive Equipment Info
Marine sciences - which direction should I take?
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