Around the World in 180 Dives– A NextJenn Scholar’s (2022-23) Journey

by Jenn Thomson. Photos and graphics courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted.

DIVE LOG ENTRY 1
Crafting a year that one never expected: Becoming the Scholar

TYPE: The first experience dives
LOCATION: Scuba Seekers, Dahab, Egypt
GUE DIVES: 35 | TOTAL DIVES: 35

My name is Jenn, and I am the 2022-2023 NextGen Global Scholar. No matter how many times I write this sentence down, utter this on podcasts, or speak to different GUE communities around the world, it never feels real! However, getting to where I am today took passion, working three part-time jobs at university to buy my first dive computer, and a belief that dreams can come true. 

I first heard about the scholarship years before the 2022 applications officially opened. When applying, I was sitting on the helipad of a research vessel called OceanX, where I was an expedition scientist and logistic coordinator on a five-month mission. I helped drive submersibles, spotted dugongs from helicopters, sampled deep-sea corals, and conducted live broadcasts to school classrooms. However, as a result of Covid (and trying to craft my own path in the world), my diving education was limited and I didn’t have a clear path forward. My goal: becoming a scientific dive instructor/aquanaut on expedition vessels and in Neutral Buoyancy Labs, connecting the space and marine sectors via diving and exploration! Nevertheless, I was honest about my weaknesses, vulnerable in my aspirations, and manifested this year whilst simultaneously thinking there was no hope for getting the Scholarship. When the email came in concerning an interview for the very next day, I was suspicious. And, when Jarrod surprised me from an initially-camera-off Zoom call, I was already shaking at the upcoming implications of the only question asked during my ‘interview’: Was I ready to be their Scholar?

How to sum up a year? I set out last November to explore the intersections of GUE recreational instructing, extreme exploration, astronaut training, ocean conservation, and scientific diving/communication. I think I achieved this and more! There are so many other workshops, projects, documentaries, and outputs collated on various corners of the internet which I hope the reader will delve in. But for now, enjoy a very short overview of my year as a GUE Scholar, beginning with a definition: The GUE NextGeneration Global Scholarship is designed to provide free GUE courses for a year, in whatever capacity that looks like. I took this a step further and invested in a full gap-year of diving and learning. I went all in, and I was terrified. Then enter Scuba Seekers in Dahab.

My goals for Dahab—being my first stopover en route to other countries—was first and foremost to dive again. GUE requires 25 experience dives between courses in order to progress vertically up the certification levels or to move from Fundamentals to other foundational courses. I am a huge advocate of taking your time and building up your confidence via experience. If I don’t think I am ready, I will step away and postpone a course. In January 2023, I logged my 25+ post-Fundies GUE dives and completed one of my personal diving goals: to become confident again. 

DIVE LOG ENTRY 2

THE DETAILS: Courses, projects and experiences
TYPE: Fixing the fundamentals and exploring the Middle East
GUE COURSES: Doubles, Drysuit, Gas Blender, Photogrammetry
LOCATION: Deep Dive Dubai, Dubai, UAE/Freestyle Divers, Dibba UAE-Musandam Oman
GUE DIVES: 65
TOTAL DIVES: 100

With GUE’s focus on community, conservation projects, and skill refinement in mind, I aimed to highlight roles that recreational scuba can play in scientific operations—and inspire the next generation of young divers. Thus, crafting a year of full-time dedication to GUE and its values was surprisingly easy! I reached out to instructors advertising my desired courses, built a timeline, and then started to talk about joining local projects in the interim. Finally, it came down to searching for the cheapest flights possible, finding accommodations, and overcoming the do-I-need-a-visa panic. My base at the time in the Middle East (and the location of my mentor Dorota in Dubai) made hopping around the Middle East and Europe the most practical. 

However, I never thought I would visit UAE and Oman in February and March 2023, and these were such amazing experiences! One such location was the very tip of the Musandam Peninsula with my friends from Freestyle Divers, Dibba, UAE. Diving from sunrise to sunset was a joy, especially when surrounded by the majestic mountain ranges of the Omani Musandam, the desert rocks reflecting almost golden-orange with the rising sun, and the landscape of Iran just on the horizon. In addition, I am exceedingly aware of how expensive and once-in-a-lifetime dives are in Deep Dive Dubai, so being able to stay there for a month was a privilege I never got over. I left with a solid foundation of upgraded skills (drysuits, gas blending, photogrammetry, and doubles), the tools needed to combat my less-than-adequate trim and positioning via muscle activation exercises, and underwater proprioception. Now it was time to put these skills into action!

DIVE LOG ENTRY 3
More than just a scholarship: Outreach and community

TYPE: Non-GUE topside experiences/COLD water diving
LOCATION: NASA NBL, Houston, USA/GUE Seattle, Washington, USA

Shoot for the moon; even if you fail, you will land amongst the stars. What would be the worst that could happen? Although my main aims with the scholarship were to achieve dive proficiency, complete another foundational course, and help with scientific projects, interwoven was a desire to fill in gaps to shape my future career: space sciences, social media, and teaching experiences. However, this meant networking, and daring to say that I wanted to work in a Neutral Buoyancy Lab in front of ~200 tech divers at a GUE Conference. You never know—someone could be in the audience who used to work at NASA, and then you might actually be going!

Over a few days in April, I was exceedingly privileged to be given backstage access to the facilities at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab and observe an astronaut training run. Here, Matthew Dominick was being tutored by astronaut Michael Barratt, a veteran with over five hours of spacewalk time and a specialist on the last Space Shuttle mission. It was such a privilege to be inside! One can feel the gravitas of this building and its importance to humanity. To walk the same path of all the astronauts who have trained here; to think they have flown in shuttles, worked in the ISS and bounced on the moon—one cannot really put that feeling into words. I am eternally grateful for the GUE community (and their wider connections) for making this amazing experience happen. 

Speaking of communities: Being GUE Seattle’s guest for a week in April 2023 was spontaneous, yet I could not resist the multiple invitations. They hosted various meet-and-greets, diving weekends (which divers s as far as Vancouver Island commuted for!), and whale-watching trips. GUE Seattle is a prime example of the family mentality to diving that GUE envisions, and I left with many lifelong dive buddies.

DIVE LOG ENTRY 4
The less glamorous reality: Perceptions, burnout, and fitness

TYPE: The courses that were my main scholarship focus
GUE COURSES: Rec 2, Scientific Diver, Documentation Diver
LOCATION: Krnica, Istria, Croatia/Zeeland and Vinkeveen, Netherlands
GUE DIVES: 30
TOTAL DIVES: 135

From the moment I walked into the GUE Conference (a year before this publication), I was so scared of what other GUE members would think of me. There were so many people more deserving of this scholarship than me: They had had more dives, more qualifications, more experiences with the agency. So, why me?As someone who initially perceived GUE as a tech and wreck agency, I suppose it was easy to see the inception of my imposter syndrome. Although this has now changed (yay for recreational divers!), I often get it caught in my head that I am not doing enough as a recreational GUE Scholar, even though I am an advocate of rec diving. I need to take the advice I give to others!

The months of May and July (when I completed the Rec 2, Scientific Diver, and Documentation Diver courses) were the most stressful (albeit fun) time I had this year. During the Scientific Diver course, Erik Wurz gradually introduced different methods: from making site sketches, to quadrats, offshoots, and sampling grids along transects and baselines. We also used various tools which I had no prior experience with (even as a scientist!): lift bags, stages, and airlifts. It was the perfect test to see how far I had come (from the week before!) when I learned line and spool work in Rec 2 [Navigation Primer]. However, after all this, the skill that was lacking was dive project management; hence, the Documentation course was the final puzzle piece.

I will not shy away from the fact that I spent all my life savings this year. Without the finances I had saved up, I would not have been able to have all of these amazing experiences. In fairness, it was my own doing: I wanted to seize as many opportunities with training and traveling as possible. However, in April, I was constantly worried about money yet eager to try and embrace as many opportunities as I could (hence almost back-to-back courses). No wonder I suffered from minor burnout in the summer (and even cracked a rib due to illness)! However, this did give me much-needed time to reset.

DIVE LOG ENTRY 5
This changed my life: Instructorship and mentorship

TYPE: The GUE ITC, Science Week, and Creative Week
GUE COURSE: Instructors Training Course
LOCATION: Base 1, Cala Gonone, Sardinia, Italy
GUE DIVES: 20
TOTAL DIVES: 155

Having a growth mindset with this scholarship is essential—to take a leap on something you thought was impossible. For me, becoming a GUE Instructor is one of these things. Upon writing this article, I came across a section from my November 2022 NextGen Diary. It read: “My potential goals for the scholarship year are: Rec 2, Photogrammetry, Documentation, and Scientific Diver courses, as well as starting to work towards registering to be an Instructor.” My past self had imagined present me at the end of the scholarship, in terms of my Instructorship progress. I had envisioned being on 200 dives at a Tech rating in terms of trim and buoyancy, working on my fitness level, and maybe considering the transition to doubles—and teetering on the edge of registration. Ultimately, I would have waited longer.

So, I came to the Sardinian Instructor Training Course (Rec/Fundies) in May 2023 feeling like a complete underdog. I know that my trim and buoyancy are simply not up to the level of Instructor yet. However, it was one of my goals for the GUE Scholarship year to learn more about the education process! And indeed, a large part of this course was dedicated to teaching lectures, field drills, and surface clinics, as we practiced how to disseminate the various drills and equipment set ups to impart our knowledge. Lacking the foundational skills/experience to be at the top level became both my weakness and superpower—being unable to over-teach a subject and giving tips to others based on my personal struggles. I left the course with the tools to know how I can improve and progress, and an unbelievable confidence that I could make it one day as a GUE Instructor! 

This summer in Italy, learning doubles, and the ITC would not have occurred without the support of my mentor Dorota Czerny. From the moment we met, we knew it would be a perfect match. Before the GUE Conference, I had roughly planned my year with the instructors, courses, and locations that matched my goals for the scholarship. Within my first five minutes of meeting Dorota in person, she also mentioned her ideas for me based on my goals… which, of course, were identical. Knowing that we were perfectly in sync was amazing. She has been a constant source of advice, regardless of how busy she has been herself. From giving extra trim classes, joining me for pilates sessions, and inviting me to learn in multiple countries, we have gone from mentor and student to lifelong friends, to partners. Thank you so much, and here’s to many future memories! 

DIVE LOG ENTRY 6
A future with GUE: The next steps and a NextGen Legacy

TYPE: The dives yet to be done
GUE COURSES: Fundamentals (intern), Rec 1 (intern)
LOCATION: Base 1 Sardinia 2.0/Scuba Seekers Dahab 2.0/Panama City, Florida, USA
PROJECTED GUE DIVES: 25+
TOTAL DIVES: 180+

The readers keeping count have realized that from January to July 2023, I have managed to make 155 dives, doubling my dive count from around 150 to over 300. In addition, I have had the privilege to travel all over eight countries to learn from amazing GUE Instructors and participate in several GUE and non-GUE projects: Egypt, UAE, Oman, USA, Croatia, Netherlands, UK, and Italy. However, the year is not over yet! At the time of writing (August 2023), I am currently in Hawaii, about to partake in a trans-Pacific transit expedition led by a company called Inkfish, helping observe and conduct deep sea sampling operations. In a nostalgic twist, this brings me to an almost full-circle moment, back to sitting on the helipad of OceanX, thinking about applying. And now, we are in the same place, albeit with an arsenal of amazing diving skills to apply to expeditions! In addition, I am excited to be going back to Sardinia in September to continue recreational instructor training and work with the Marine Genome Project. Then, I am heading back to Dahab to see Sameh, and then Florida for A) a Rec 1 Internship with Gemma and B) the GUE Conference. I have a suspicion that I will make 25 dives by November!

Speaking of the GUE Conference, I am most excited to see who has become the next 2023-24 Scholar! I individually read and watched every single application that came in (at least twice), and noted that so many individuals would flourish if connected. And that is why I am so proud to have spearheaded the NextGen Legacy Project, whose inception began in February 2023 on the plane to Dubai! This is a way for individuals to benefit from the wider-reaching opportunities of the GUE scholarship: access to GUE courses/projects via supplementing memberships or invitations to connect with other scientists. This is exactly what we have done with the 2022-23 year. I met with Elizabeth Kroger (a 2022 runner up) to establish a recreational long-term monitoring project in Sardinia. Already receiving a Fundamentals course from the Legacy Project, Elizabeth came away with more knowledge and skills, and I came away inspired. These connections are exactly the types of experiences and connections I wish to give back to others, just as the scholarship did for me.

I remember putting on my application that I aspired to become an “ocean astronaut” and bridge the gap between scientific exploration, expedition vessels, and Neutral Buoyancy Labs. Trying to make a career out of all these disciplines is not easy, however I am so much closer to achieving this than I was a year ago, thanks to the Scholarship. Hopefully 2024 will bring amazing things;  if it does not, it is just a longer journey to a very cool destination. However, one forever facet of my life is my relationship within GUE and helping grow and develop the organization.

For information about the NextGen Scholarship, see here:  NEXTGEN SCHOLARSHIP

DIVE DEEPER

InDEPTH: My Journey into the UW Filmmaking Industry by NextGen scholar Harry Gunning

inDEPTH: Meet GUE’s NextGen Scholarship Winner by Amanda White

InDEPTH:

Jenn is the 2022-23 NextGeneration Scholar for Global Underwater Explorers—on a global mission to highlight the roles that recreational scuba can play in scientific operations. From behind-the-scenes astronaut training at NASA, to transiting the Pacific Ocean, to completing the GUE ITC/Scientific Diver courses around Europe, she aimed to use this year to inspire young, up-and-coming divers! Jenn is also an Honorary Research Fellow, scientific illustrator, marine biologist, and diverse field researcher of extreme environments. Last year, she spent 5 months onboard the OceanXplorer working as a logistic coordinator and expedition scientist on the eDNA, deep-sea coral, and megafauna teams. As an ambassador for sea-to-space company Blue Abyss, Jenn is helping to create a network of next-generation extreme environment, R&D, and training centers around the world. She has radio-tracked everything from elephant shrews to elephants, and her travel bucket list includes parabolic flights.

https://jennelizabeththomson.com/gue