Mid-life metamorphosis: Accountant to PADI Instructor

Most divers have entertained the notion of going pro and turning their passion for getting wet into a full-time career.

Generally, the urge to ditch the 9-to-5 job and swap business suits and endless meetings for a neoprene wardrobe and an underwater office happens during or shortly after a trip to an exotic dive location. Soaking up the sunshine, daily diving, making new friends and enjoying drinks in a bar by the beach has a way of messing with one’s well-ordered priorities.

After a couple of weeks back in the “real” world the dream recesses into the backwaters of the psyche, and we return to the rhythm of family, career and mortgage payments.

Occasionally, the bug bites a diver so hard and deep that the corner office and fat paycheques no longer measure up against the prospect of spending a couple of hours a day – every day – diving.

Brenda Rose is a Canadian Certified Management Account (CMA) who completed her Open Water certification in March 2008 on a trip to Sodwana Bay, South Africa. Since that first life-altering underwater experience, she’s been diving in the Florida Keys, St. Lucia, and Cozumel as well as occasional sojourns to the mountain-fed lakes around her current home in Calgary.

In late 2008, Brenda decided that 25 years as an accountant – most recently in the role of CFO for a large Canadian charitable organization – was enough. She quit her job, took on a couple of small contracts and embarked on a journey to build a new lifestyle around diving. Having knocked off PADI’s AOW, Dry Suit, Rescue, Emergency Responder and a couple of other certifications in ’08 and early ‘09, she signed on for a month-long Divemaster program in Cozumel, Mexico in November, 2009.

“I decided it was finally time to do what I wanted,” says Brenda. “My kids are both adults, the dust is settled on my divorce decree, and I have the energy and smarts to turn diving into a life-sustaining pursuit. Getting out of the box I was in required taking a series of small steps over the course of couple of years, and my first major goal was becoming a Divemaster.”

Brenda says the Divemaster program at Scuba Club Cozumel was more challenging than she anticipated, but during the month she was in the course it slowly dawned on her that she had personal and professional attributes that could serve her well in the diving world.

“I’m a naturally outgoing closet Type A personality with business and operational experience in a range of industries,” she says. “While doing my Divemaster I discovered I enjoy taking divers of all ages and experience under my wing. I also discovered that I’m not so bad at teaching.

“Standing back and looking objectively at the dive industry, I came to the conclusion that creating an operation that focuses on truly personalized instruction and dive experiences that are differentiated from the normal resort and dive shop offerings could fill an under-served niche,” says Brenda.

These days, Brenda is systematically knocking off the other steps she’s identified as milestones on the journey to earning a living from diving. Front of mind for the seasoned accountant is buttoning down a business plan for her identified niche – high-end dive charters on a modern, customized sailing catamaran.

“The new breed of sailing cats are a much better diving and liveaboard platform for groups of 4 to 6 divers than any monohull,” says Brenda. “With a few key upgrades to fit out the cat for diving, coupled with aggressive marketing and referral programs, my partner and I are confident we can get people on to our boat. Keeping them coming back will require creating a top-drawer experience that mixes diving, instruction and relaxed sailing to locations a little off the beaten path.”

Brenda is un-fussed that she neither owns a boat – much less the specific 46-footer she has targeted for purchase – nor has much sailing experience under her belt.

“Getting the certifications and sailing experience on that size of cat is a process that’s running concurrent with my dive training, “ says Brenda. “We spent a couple of weeks in January sailing in Puerto Vallarta and we’ll be spending most of July on a 46-foot cat in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida. We’ll have done at least a couple of ‘test’ charters by June of next year, and if all goes more or less according to plan we’ll be ready to plunk down the cash for our own boat.”

In the meantime, there’s the not-so-small matter of getting her PADI Open Water Instructor (OWI) certification.

“I’ve committed the next two months to working in a resort environment in Playa del Carmen, Mexico as a divemaster, then finishing up by writing my IDC exams. With luck, by I’ll have my Open Water Instructor and MSDT certifications by May.”

“It’s  a long journey, and I’m not there yet,” says Brenda. “But I’m having the time of my life, and no matter how this all plays out I can’t imagine ever being chained to a desk and a job again.”

(Editor’s note: Brenda successfully completed her OWI and MSDT certifications in late April, 2010.)