Well it's been quite the year for my dive career, how about yours?

Last February I began working here at the shop and started getting back into cold water diving after a long hiatus--I don't think I'll ever forget my first winter dive, it was awful! We were at China Creek, it was snowing, I was wearing a drysuit for the first time in a few years and I was so excited to be getting back in the water! It had been a couple months since my last dive, which was in Bali in water so warm I didn't need any sort of exposure suit at all. In my mind I was about to descend into the crystal clear emerald depths to find GPOs and sea lions and wolf eels and all kinds of wonderful creatures, in reality it was a shocking nightmare. The water was painfully cold, my buoyancy was all off, none of my gear really fit and I was completely clueless. I won't pretend I didn't question my decision to return to this part of the dive world, but I was determined to enjoy it!

It wasn't a fast process but after months of trying out different dive gear, new sites and meeting new buddies I did start to get comfortable in the water here, and I’ve had some pretty awesome dives! I saw my first Grunt Sculpins and Lumpsuckers, I fed wolf eels and shook hands with giant octopuses and I met for the first time ever some very playful sea lions! I got to explore wrecks I’d never been to and reefs that were entirely new to me—it’s been a pretty great dive year for me!

I’ve been doing lots of other scuba related learning though as well. Equipment servicing, becoming familiar with different facets of the industry and even a bit of instructing as a Discover Scuba leader. There’s been slow days, don’t get me wrong, dive shop retail isn’t the most thrilling of occupations but the benefits are definitely worth a bit of dullness! So now it’s that corny time of the year where we all give a few brief thoughts to what we’ve done or haven’t done over the last year and more importantly what we want to accomplish throughout this next year.

My main goal for 2015 as far as diving goes is to become an instructor, but I would also like to spend the year focusing on underwater photography. Another thing I want to do, as soon as possible, is a north island dive trip! I've never been up to Port Hardy and I hear the diving is quite spectacular. Anyone want to come? Another goal is to encounter a sixgill shark or two. For this one I'm planning a trip to Rendezvous during the summer, let me know if you're interested! 

What else should we do this year under the sea???