Scuba Professional

Book excerpt: Scuba Professional introduces readers of Simon Pridmore's books for divers to a whole new level of the sport. Whereas Scuba Fundamental, Scuba Confidential and Scuba Exceptional focus on how to scuba dive, Scuba Professional looks at how diving is taught and how dive operations are conducted. Scuba Professional is also an excellent source of out-of-the-box ideas and independent, objective advice for instructors and dive operators, as well as an indispensable guide for those aspiring to become dive professionals with chapters such as "Do You Have What It Takes?" and "Which Training Agency?" In short, this is everything you wanted to know about working in scuba diving but never dared to ask. Scuba Professional is not only for professionals. Serious divers who take more than a passing interest in their hobby and want to know what goes on behind the scenes will be fascinated by the topics addressed and the insights offered. From a dive safety point of view, Simon looks at the bigger picture and, in a series of chapters on avoiding and handling accidents, sets out a framework for developing the safety culture within our sport. He also examines the present state of key aspects of the dive industry and speculates as to the future. "There is quite simply nothing like this book. Scuba Professional offers an invaluable guide to divers who want to excel in the scuba world. This is the ultimate backstage pass into the business of scuba."Jill Heinerth, Underwater Explorer, Technical Instructor Trainer and Filmmaker "Terrific, really good! Simon captures the key characteristics of the diving instruction milieu concisely and with insight and clarity. It took me back to my many years of diving instruction and I was able to tick a mental check box against almost every key point he makes."Associate Professor Simon Mitchell, Consultant Anaesthetist and Diving Physician "Required reading for every scuba professional and anyone with hopes of becoming one. In fact every diver can learn from this distillation of hard-earned wisdom. Simon Pridmore is one of the most thoughtful and readable of divers."Steve Weinman, Editor, Diver Magazine