DIVE LOG Australasia

Introducing … Michelle Brunton from Phys ed. to Antarctica E: Michelle.brunton@padi.com

M ichelle Brunton is the Manager of Quality and Risk at PADI Asia Pacific. I met her recently at a PADI team update on the Gold Coast and was impressed by her confidence, her knowledge, her ability to control a room of dive professionals, and her smile. Little did I know of the fascinating life she has led as a diving professional and the extraordinary places that diving has taken her in her 30 something years working as an educator and facilitator of safe diving and research activities. I asked her what she loved the most about working in the dive industry. “The part of my job I’ve found most fulfilling is my experiences in training instructor candidates. It’s a privilege to be able to steer them on the right path, see their skills and communication styles develop, congratulating them on their graduation then watching them go off to get great roles in PADI diving such as teaching, filming and photography, liveaboards, management, research, marine sciences, enjoying full time work in meaningful and enjoyable careers. I have a love of encouraging divers to make diving a vocation as I did, knowing it can take you to places beyond your wildest dreams, as it did for me”. Q: Were you always interested in the water? “We were free range farm kids and were free to explore the hills without fear or the restrictions that city kids have. My parents took me to the ocean near Dunedin when I was seven and it felt like I’d landed on another planet. The water was ominous, cold and challenging – not welcoming at all, and it felt very different to our lovely mountain rivers and streams. At school I was into sports in a big way and was very competitive in hockey and rugby and also coached several teams when I got older. It was this love of sport that led me to sign on for a Bachelor of Physical Education degree at Otago University. At that time, I was super interested in injury rehabilitation which I thought would be my career, but as time passed, I found myself yearning to be in the outdoors”.

Diving in the Galapagos

Q: When did you first start diving? “I learnt to dive in 1990 in the Bay of Islands and dived for fun for several years. In 1997, shortly after I started working as an injury rehabilitator, I signed on for a Graduate Diploma in Marine Studies at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (Toi Ohomai). During this time, I certified as an Open Water Scuba Instructor which was part of the course. MS was a fun and fascinating course and having the OWSI course included was a big bonus. The day I graduated in 1997, I got my first job in The Dive Shop in Tauranga, which was wonderful. That’s when my diving career really took off and opportunities that I could never have imagined, started presenting themselves to me”. Q: Where is the strangest place you have dived? “I’ve had the enormous privilege of working as a safety diver and dive supervisor in Antarctica. The Ice diving course and subsequent experience I gained at Lake Alta (a glacial lake 300km from Dunedin) boosted my application to join a scientific expedition to Antarctica. I was assessed to have specialised techniques and knowledge necessary by Antarctica New Zealand while diving with the NZ Police Dive Team under ice in the ski field lake”.

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DIVE LOG Australasia #408- October ‘24

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