Come Visit Us in Costa Rica!!!

Happy Wednesday!!  Notice how I didn't say happy hump day?  That was intentional.  Part of me always hated when I was wished a happy hump day because it implied that we were wishing away the Monday - Friday work week.  I interpreted it as a shared grumbling about the fact that we were all in this miserable place but at least we had each other to work through it together.  I felt the same way any time I heard someone say they were "living the dream", which I heard multiple times every week.  It always sounded sarcastic, and I always thought to myself that if we are not actually striving to for the dream, then why do we keep coming back here every day?  I hoped that for most people "living the dream" is what they are truthfully doing with their lives, but I knew that for me it wasn't. I just hope that the sarcasm from everyone else truly is a joke and not their reality.  I don't know if I was the only one who felt that way; it's very possible that I was just being negative or that my expectations were too high, but either way it was something that I really wanted to get away from.

I take one exception to what I wrote above.  GEICO's hump day camel is hilarious.  

But that's not what I want to write about today.  Today I want to tell you about the specifics of our plans for Costa Rica, and encourage you all to come down for a visit!  I also want to make sure you understand that we are serious about this invitation.  If you are reading this blog, then you are welcome to come down to visit us.  We may not necessarily be able to hang out 24/7 or have enough space to put you up, but the area we are going to be living in has a lot to offer for everyone and we would love to help ensure that you have an awesome vacation as best we can.

When I left off in the last blog we had ideas ready but no logistics firmly in place.  We have a ton of updates since then.  On February 13th, Katie and I are flying from Boston to Liberia Airport (LIR) which is near the North Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  From there it is a 30 minute drive to Playas del Coco, which is a very popular vacation spot for Costa Rican tourists.  It is also a popular spot for American expats to settle down.  Our apartment will be a 5-minute walk from Playas del Coco, and a 15-minute walk from the black sand beaches of Playa Ocotal, which happens to be the location of our upcoming Divemaster internship.

I can't even begin to describe how excited I am for this internship at Rocket Frog Divers to begin.  For a little bit of background, the Divemaster certification is the entry level professional scuba diving certification.  It qualifies you to lead certified divers on guided dives, but it does not qualify you to teach diving courses.  Meeting all of the minimum requirements to become a certified Divemaster can probably be accomplished in 2-3 weeks, but doing the minimum would likely leave you with little experience and practically no ability to find a job at another dive shop.

The internship we are about to begin will give us much more than the bare minimum required to become certified Divemasters.  We are going to partake in a 6-8 week program that will involve six 8-hour work days per week, where we will dive in the mornings and work in the shop in the afternoons.  Over the course of our time there we will accumulate ~140-160 dives (minimum requirement is 60), and learn all aspects of what it takes to run a dive shop.  In their words, "if we know how to do it, we will teach you how to do it."  After the program is complete we will have all of the experience that any dive shop around the world would be looking for when hiring a Divemaster.  On top of that, we were encouraged to hear that there is a big need for traveling Divemasters around the world to fill in during shops' busy seasons, making our dream from my last post all the more attainable.

Beyond the dive specific experience and ability to find work as a Divemaster, this internship has the potential to provide so much more for me.  First, it allows me to enjoy my favorite hobby on a daily basis and potentially make some income from that hobby in the future.  Second, and most importantly, it provides me the opportunity to see how a small business is run from the ground level.  I completed my MBA last year with the hopes of learning how to run a business, and in theory I have all of the tools in my arsenal to do that.  But as any business owner will tell you, the theory and tools are useless if you can't apply them, and that experience is what I'm sorely missing.  I'm hopeful and confident that the skills we learn in this internship will be transferable to virtually any small business, and that even if I don't use diving as a primary source of income in the future, I'll be able to find other ways to apply this experience to all of my future endeavors.  Worst case scenario, I took a few months of my life to go diving every day, and I can't see myself ever regretting that.

So if you've made it through this entire post, I'd like to reiterate my invitation from earlier.  We will be staying in a studio apartment so our space may be limited, but depending on the circumstances we may be able to put you up.  Flights are dirt cheap; I found round trip tickets from LaGuardia (LGA) to Liberia Airport (LIR) for under $300.  We will be there from mid-February until at least mid-May, possibly longer.  If you want to scuba dive we can make that happen; if you want to become a certified diver we can make that happen too.  If you just want to enjoy some beautiful beaches that's not a problem, or if you want to enjoy the endless options for hiking, zip-lining, cloud forest tours, and other ecotourism activities that Costa Rica has to offer, that works too.  We may be working while you are in town but our hours will typically be from 7-3 so our afternoons and evenings should be free.  Either way, we encourage anyone who comes down to bring a friend.  Katie and I both really hope to see some of you guys down there :-)