Divers.
Season 2. Chapter one
You already know our pilots first hand. It’s hot (finally!) and with the thought of summer adventures, just as we shower with cool water, we immerse ourselves in dreams of swimming, sailing and other coolness. We know some people who literally live in water. Introducing our diving instructors:
Stoyan Stamov
Born and raised in Sozopol, inextricably linked with the sea from an early age. He received his first diving certificate in 1992 after successfully completing a PADI Open Water Diver course. In 2001 he graduated from a professional diving college in Colonna, Canada. From 2002 until 2005 Stoyan works as a diving instructor for the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and from 2005 until 2015 he works for the same company as a diving manager.
And here is the story of this smiling, blue-eyed sea man:
The feeling of weightlessness and the desire to stay underwater for a little more than 2-3 minutes in an environment still so poorly studied by us humans, made me realize that snorkeling is no longer enough for me. Every dive is a story, and the fact that the Black Sea is not famous for its good visibility actually makes the underwater adventure a Surprise. Who says that our sea is poor in inhabitants? Come to Sozopol Bay and I will "arrange" you a communication with the fishes. The one who knows where to look, finds, right? Well, I know them personally, so I'll introduce you to one another. It's more complicated with dolphins, but if it happens, the feeling is unique. Most of all, however, I am excited about seahorses, it is a great pleasure to watch them.
I feel the greatest personal satisfaction when I see the happiness in yet another one of your customers eyes, another one who, despite his fear of the sea, made his first dive with us.
Diving develops many qualities: calmness, the ability to accurately assess the situation, taking personal responsibility, discipline and a strong instinct for self-preservation. I try to apply this qualities in life, for example… by irritating my wife with my calmness.
Folks, diving is for the curious and the brave. Do you have the audacity to peek into the remaining 70% of the planet?
Ivan Nedelchev
Ivan Nedelchev is 44 years old, from Varna, married, with 2 children. He got hooked to diving by a friend of his, who was scubadiving at the time. See more about his story as he told it to us.
I took a diving course in 2004 and have been diving for 17 years. I have been a diving instructor for 8 years and I manage Shkorpilovtsi Diving Center. I am frequently hired by diving companies for repairs of dam walls and other underwater facilities - inspections, cleaning and repairs of ships.
Over the years, the depth of 50-60 meters and zero visibility have stopped bothering me. Of course, safety comes first.
There are no good divers; there are alive and dead ones. You always have to take care of yourself, because underwater, everything is perfect and in just 1 second something can go wrong and become very dangerous. Mostly beginners come to me who have never dived, and some cannot even swim. The greatest pleasure is to see the joy and euphoria of a person who cannot swim to get out of the water after a 20-minute dive.
I had one case with a 40-year-old woman who has never gone deeper than her knees into the sea. She dived with me 3-4 meters underwater for 30 minutes and after we went out, she hugged me and kissed me happy that I had helped her overcome her fear of the deep waters. In instructor work, the most important thing is to instill confidence in people that there is nothing scary and to be patient with them. When you dive underwater, you are weightless and the feeling is that you are flying. This is another world and everyone can touch it.
Diving has taught me discipline, respect for colleagues and underwater partners. A relatively dangerous sport, with the most important life lesson – safety always comes first.
For people who want to practice this sport, I recommend going to a diving center and doing a test dive. That way they will know if this is for them. If they wish, they can take a course, get a certificate and dive around the world. I tell my students that this sport requires constant practice, because underwater experience is most important.
Expect soon the stories of our other instructors - conquerors of rapids, rivers, seas and oceans.
Until then you check all our seaside offers here.