Interview with a New PADI Instructor – Heidi
- What’s your Name and where are you from?
Hi, I’m Heidi! I’m from the cold and very not diveable Netherlands.
- What did you do in your previous life?
I worked as a Digital Content Producer for a radio station. A what? I created the content for the website and social media accounts. So yeah, I basically got paid to be on Instagram the entire day. 😉 (Still doesn’t beat the divers-life!) - When and where were your first dives?
The 16th of July 2018 at Lighthouse, Koh Tao! I started my PADI Open Water with Dutch instructor Sanne van der Meer at, yes, Ban’s. I remembered I was so extremely nervous the first time I had to jump from the side of the boat with all that gear. And look where I am now. 🙂 - What was the moment that changed your direction in life and made you discover that you wanted to be a PADI Pro?
In 2018 the plan was to only do Open Water and then continue my journey through Thailand, but right after my first dive I was hooked. I changed my plans and decided to do the Advance course straight away. During my days on the island I spent a lot of my time with my instructor and other dive professionals (yes, mostly in our local Ban’s bar Fishbowl) and spoke about the next steps in diving. The idea of becoming a Dive Master and maybe even more started to grow on me.I didn’t wanna leave Koh Tao at that point but I had to continue my travels and had a job back home to return to…About a year later my life got twisted upside down. My job didn’t made me happy anymore, my relationship had just ended and I got an unexpected offer on my house. I choose to took a leap of faith, quit my job, sold my house and booked a ticket ‘back home’. September 2019 my plane landed in Bangkok, and I rushed back to my beloved island to start my divemaster. And my IDC. And my MSDT.
- What were the most challenging and most rewarding parts of your Pro course?
I’ve never been a Beta-girl in school. I didn’t dislike it, it disliked me. Somehow it just wouldn’t stick on me. So knowing that subjects as Physics and Physiology were a huge part of the IDC course, I got kinda frightened.But during an IDC you’re never alone! During the course it all started to make sense thanks to the time I spent with my fellow students and our Course Directors Monique and Nathalie and the knowledge you all share.
Going through the intensive course with my fellow IDC-candidates was the best. We had a blast! Sharing the ups and the downs with them was amazing.
And guess what, I even scored a 100% on my physics exam during the final IDC-exam. There is hope for everybody! (And yes, I sent a copy of the results to my former high school 😉
- Where do you hope to go from here?
Who knows? A lot of diving that’s for sure. I hope that I can help a lot of new divers to fall in love with the underwater world, like I did in 2018.For now I’m very happy at Koh Tao, but I definitely wanna explore more oceans in the future.In Dutch we have a saying: “Ik zie wel waar het schip strand.” Which says
“I’ll see where the ship strands”, meaning I’ll see where life takes me. And that’s exactly what I’m doing right now. - Do you have any other interests in diving ie: Tech, Photography etc?
I love photography! After my IDC I treated myself with a proper underwater camera and I’m absolutely in love with it. I definitely wanna improve my underwater photography skills (Feel free to check my Instagram-account for some shots: @RSDK.Photograpy), and maybe even do something professionally with it!I also have a fascination for wrecks and caves. For sure wanna explore more of those. Preferably with my camera! - Has to be said……If you were a fish, which would you be?
A Whale Shark! So I can look in the mirror and see myself. Yes, up until this day I’m the only instructor at Ban’s Diving Resort who has never spotted a Whale Shark. (I like to think that I’m part of a very special club).
