Why teaching scuba was the best career choice I ever made

TRY Diving, Best Job Ever

With Lobster Mini Season coming up, I wanted to take a minute to discuss some of what is being done to address the hazards of collection diving.  Please take a moment to read the article below, and join us at the History of Diving Museum in July.  If you will be at the Blue Wild Adventure show in Ft. Lauderdale, come by the DAN Booth and see me to discuss some of the other venues that Dr. Buzzacott will be speaking at.

Looking Back

2015 Year in Review

PADI IDC, Two new instructors for Florida and One for Tennessee

It has been a long year here in Durham, North Carolina.  I finally feel like things are coming together, and wanted to take just a bit of time to go over what I was up to for the last year.




Bernie Campoli at DEMA Awards

In September, 2014, I came to work at Divers Alert Network, and for a large part, I left the SCUBA training arena.  I am sure many of the Instructors in Panama City were happy enough to see that happen. 

I spent my first few months with DAN just learning the ropes, and attending DEMA in Las Vegas. Next, I worked a booth at a DUI Diver Days event, watching them do dry suit orientations by the thousands. Then I started travelling, I mean that is what a Field Representative is supposed to do. 


PADI HQ

DAN DEMA 2015 Staff

I visited the Florida Panhandle in February, the Keys in March, and followed that up with a trip to Secaucus, New Jersey for Beneath The Sea.  This is a large East Coast Dive Show, and was a lot of fun.  After that, I went back to the Gulf Coast of Florida, and then down the entire Eastern Coast... On these visits, I attended two PADI Forums, Visited over 190 Dive Center, went to several diving museums, and spoke at half a dozen dive club meetings.  The best part of it was I met the diving community, not all of it, but a lot of it.



Cap't Logan Main and Beth

1st Plane Ride

In June, I tackled California, first with a visit to Northern California.  I grossly underestimated the size of Northern California... Samoa to San Luis Obispo takes a minute to drive, but I loved Pacifica and Monterey.   Again, there I got to meet some amazing people, and see some great dive centers.  After a short stint back in North Carolina to prep and recharge a bit, I went back out to Southern California.  While there, I got my first taste of LA traffic, and I hated it but the scenery was amazing.  I also got to visit PADI Headquarters and catch up with a few old friends.  While I was in California, I spoke at a few dive club meetings and visited over 90 dive centers.

Then it was time to get ready for DEMA again, this time in Orlando, Florida.  While there, I was able to catch a few minutes with hundreds of friends, spent an afternoon running around Disney, attended four events in four days after the show on behalf of DAN and got to know many of the DAN staff members much better.

Duke Gardens

Washington Monument

Somewhere along the way, I had the chance to go back to Panama City and teach a PADI IDC, create a few new instructors, became a DAN Instructor Trainer, saw Garth Brooks, ate a lot of airport food, visited Washington DC, started learning to use adobe photoshop, supported charitable events in the diving community,  saw one of my best friends get married, saw snow, saw seals,  rode on a plane with my son for the first time, and got to spend some time with my dad.  All in all, it has been a busy year here with Patti in North Carolina.  We have been busy, but productive.

Diver rescued from Blue Springs cave - Jackson County Floridan : News

Diver rescued from Blue Springs cave - Jackson County Floridan : News

Diver's Alert Network

Well, after years of working a non traditional job, playing all the time and living the dream as a SCUBA Instructor, I finally did it.  I decided to start looking into real careers, finding something that would better support myself and my family through out the year.

Don't get me wrong, teaching SCUBA is great and I have made good money doing it for the past decade, but it is not consistent money.  The industry that I love so much is very dependent on the weather, the economy, the attitudes of the people involved... so I decided to dig into my closet and find my nice shoes, and my long pants, and to hang up my board shorts for a while. 

Hello corporate America, I am now holding down a desk chair, and watching all of my former co-workers posts on facebook so that I can feel a bit more connected to the water and sand that I have left behind.

Now, for all of you who are covering your mouths, wondering "why, what have you done???" do not worry.  I looked long and hard before choosing the career I did.  I am now a representative for DAN.  Many of you who know me are now thinking "Todd, a sales rep?" nope, that is not what I said, I said I am a representative for DAN.  I will be working with the dive professionals out there in the field, helping to educate them on what DAN can do for them.  I will be travelling to Dive Centers around the country explaining how DAN works, discussing ways to implement programs, and teaching SCUBA Instructors how to teach dive safety.  I will be working with Course Directors, Instructor Trainers and Key Staff in the dive centers to teach them how to better reach the diving public with DAN's mission and goals. 

Not only will I be reaching out to educate them on the Insurance and Training side of DAN, but I will also be introducing them to the Medical and Research teams, and informing them of all of the work that DAN does behind the scenes to strive to make every dive accident and injury free. 

So, I hope you can see that I did not give up training divers, I have just found a way to make my training more focused and to reach a much larger population than ever before.  I so look forward to coming out and talking with you.  If you have any questions, please contact me at tyarbrough@dan.org

PADI Elite Instructor

I am very happy to have received my PADI Elite Instructor Badge for issuing more then 200 certifications in the year 2013.

Over the last few years, I have managed to issue 200 or more certifications every year, and this is a new award that PADI is sending out to their instructors to allow them to distinguish themselves as performing instructors.  Many of the people who become SCUBA Instructors never issue very many certifications at all, many people see it as just a goal to attain.  It makes me very proud of the organization that I teach through that they want to recognize their instructors.  I just hope next years has a 300 in the middle of it.

Marine Debris Clean-Up Underwater/Shore | Project AWARE

Marine Debris Clean-Up Underwater/Shore | Project AWARE