Ragime Powery - Caymanian dive instructor, and native of West Bay talks about his experiences working for Divetech.
I grew up on and around the water and have been driving boats since I was 15. As a kid I never really considered what I might do as a career as I always knew that wherever I worked it would involve the ocean and marine life. My grandmother lived opposite Cobalt Coast in West Bay (where Divetech was based a few years ago) and I used to swim in the pool there every weekend. Divetech staff would lend me fins & a mask every time I showed up, and eventually gave me my own equipment to swim and snorkel (they also gave me snacks which encouraged me to keep going back).
After high school I studied at UCCI for a while and as well as being a Dive Instructor I am a qualified electrician. At the same time I was pursuing a dive career and trained with Divetech from Advanced Open Water all the way through to instructor training with Joanna Mikutowicz (owner of Divetech). My training at Divetech has been ongoing - I've been with the company for over a decade now and have qualified as an equipment technician, gas blender and nitrox instructor thanks to the opportunities given to me. I was also nominated, by Divetech, as Watersports Employee of the Year in the 2019 Stingray Awards.
The best part of my job is that I get to spend so much time in & on the water - a lot of my time is spent on a boat and it has never felt like work. I have great colleagues and I love talking to and spending time with new people. My office is a coral reef and I get to show this to visitors to our islands. I also get asked to do some very random things that would never happen in an office - like the time I got to play at being an arrow crab. There is always something entertaining happening in the dive industry.
I plan on staying with Divetech for the foreseeable future but in the longer term (maybe when I'm old and grey) I can see myself owning a company where I can run snorkel trips and environmental tours. I would love to be involved in teaching younger Caymanians about their ocean heritage, how to work with it in a sustainable manner, how to look after and interact with marine life, teaching both locals and tourists the importance of even the smallest ocean creature. I live on a beautiful island and Caymanians need to understand how to preserve our country for all future generations and I want to be a part of this.
