Scuba shop internship. by Willow Valentine
May 12, 2026
Open gallery
I came into this internship with no prior diving experience, just a genuine interest in marine life and a goal to become a certified diver so I can eventually facilitate educational dives about marine life and build toward scientific fieldwork. Over twelve weeks at the scuba shop under the supervision of Lorey and Don, I worked through equipment maintenance and inspection, shop operations and inventory, and pool based training sessions, while doing e-learning for my certificate. The work was very different day by day, some days I was sitting in on pool sessions or checking and filling tanks, others I was helping students feel comfortable in the water and try new gear. What connected all of it was the same thing the research made clear: diving is only safe because of the consistent, unglamorous effort that happens before anyone gets in the water.
Lucrezi et al. (2018) found that equipment failure is the most commonly experienced incident type among recreational divers and that preventive maintenance at the shop level directly reduces those risks. Edge and Wilmshurst (2021) helped me understand the physiology behind why protocols like controlled ascent rates and pre-dive checks aren’t just rules, they’re responses to how gases actually behave in the body under pressure. I left with part of my certification done, my own hot pink fins, and a much clearer sense of what a culture of safety actually looks like in practice!
References
Edge, C.J., & Wilmshurst, P.T. (2021). The pathophysiologies of diving diseases. BJA Education, 21(10), 370–376.
Lucrezi, S., et al. (2018). Safety priorities and underestimations in recreational scuba diving operations. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 383.