Island Times Blog

This Island Times blog entry is the third in a series of personal essays illustrating how SeaTrek BVI and NAUI have impacted Kasey Fox, former SeaTrek student and intern, who is now a full time staff member, dive instructor and instructor trainer. We thank Kasey for this insightful and heartfelt look into her experience with SeaTrek BVI and NAUI.

My summer “classroom” 🙂

Hello, Kasey (aka “Kuku”) here. If you have been following my SeaTrek Island Times blog series, you would have just read about the beginning of my second summer with SeaTrek. My second summer was especially important because
it was the year I knew I was going to be involved with this program for a while. Turns out my intuition was right, because here I am five years later, still involved with the company! The summer of 2011 I decided to stay not for three weeks, but six…which actually turned into eight (stay tuned, I’ll explain later).  After my amazing experience on the inaugural FATHOMS voyage, I stayed for voyage 2 to obtain my NAUI rescue and master diver certifications.

The first water work sessions for rescue class began on Day 3 in Pond Bay, Virgin Gorda. If you don’t know where this is, you should google it. It’s a stunning location. My instructor told us to be in the water promptly after lunch with our snorkel gear. After lunch me and my friend, Haile, geared up, and headed to class. We arrived at the stern of my instructor’s boat to a bunch of other students treading water waiting for further instructions. I looked down into the water beneath me, and a giant southern sting ray gracefully fluttered by. Even though this was my fourth week in the Virgin Islands for the summer, I couldn’t believe that the beautiful ecosystem I was in was also my classroom. As we learned new skills, I found myself admiring the leadership of the Divemasters. They seemed so calm and collected during rescue demonstrations. I wanted to be just like that.

After the first week of Voyage 2, I was a certified rescue diver. The class was exciting and fun. Most students consider it their favorite course! After that, I was on to become a NAUI Master Diver. I honestly had no clue what it meant, so I started asking around. One of the staff members explained to me how it was an intensive course taking a closer look at all things diving. We were to learn more about the equipment, physics, environment and more. He explained that the course wasn’t necessary to become a Divemaster, but it was to become an Instructor.  I did know that one day I wanted to become a NAUI Dive Leader, but I had never thought of instructing…seemed like too much responsibility.

After studying relentlessly with my fellow classmates I passed the Master Diver exam. It was an amazing summer and after six weeks I was not feeling homesick, but sad that I soon had to return home (sorry mom). On Day 20 of Voyage 2 the boats returned back to the Moorings on Tortola. On this day me and my friends would take advantage of the real showers, hang out by the pool, and enjoy some virgin piña coladas. As we were sitting by the pool, sipping on fruity beverages a staff member approached me, and said that Captain Monk would like to speak to me. My heart sank. This is basically the equivalent to getting called to the principal’s office. “Oh gosh, did I do something wrong? I don’t think so….I followed all of the rules…I think.” Those were just a few of my thoughts as I walked down the dock to Monk’s vessel, SeaTrek Explorer. I walked into the salon of the vessel and Captain Monk greeted me.

“Hey kiddo!
How are ya? Have a fun voyage?” He gave me a jolly grin. At this point I still wasn’t convinced that I wasn’t in trouble. “Yeah, it was amazing! I don’t want to go home tomorrow.”

Kuku and Kat getting ready for some scuba skills! #NAUILeadership

He laughed, “Well here’s the thing, we had a student not able to come for FATHOMS Voyage 3. We can’t refund her trip because it is such last minute, so I wanted to offer it to you…” “Yes. I’ll stay.” I said with zero hesitation, I basically cut him off mid sentence. He worked out the details with my mom, and I was set to stay for another two weeks. After spending that much time in the BVI I knew I wanted to intern and become a NAUI Divemaster Candidate (DMC).

If you want to see where this awesome SeaTrek/NAUI story leads, keep an eye out for my next blog where I talk about my experience as a NAUI Divemaster and earning my NAUI Instructor and Instructor Trainer certifications!