As The Prop Turns

 

“As the prop turns” The concept our captain has come up with for a reality TV show based around the characters who work and visit our vessel, The Turks & Caicos Explorer II.

The crew are varied and all have personalities of their own, I don’t want to express an opinion on individuals as they might read this and that’s not fair. However guests I can talk about, hypothetically.

My first week brought what I feel was an average selection of guests, all with good sturdy personalities that we, as crew, could work with and relate to. One guest was on his own on the trip, but a very experienced diver. An all American guy with a good attitude to life and we got along well. One of the first nights the opportunity for a night dive arose. A young chap from Aus wanted to dive but his mother did not want to go, neither did any of the other guests. Our all American friend opted to be his buddy….. then the young Aussy got scared and so just the American and I dropped in. We had a great dive and it was a running joke for the week that we were sneaking off each night for some “alone” time. It was a great week and the tips said it all.

This week has been a little different, some great guests but some not so easy to relate to. The problem is this is not a dive job but a service industry and its our job to relate to guests, comfort them and serve their needs, be it conversational or dive related. It has been a tough week, and the tips not so good.

I went out with the boys tonight and we vented some concerns about crew and passengers alike, both of which I have mentioned no names.

I got up at 5am this morning and went for the dawn dive, a turtle came and spent some time with us and a shark nearly head butted me in the chest and that’s what makes it all worth it.