Renee Knight went from an office job in Canada to being a Scuba Diving Course Director in the Cayman Islands. How many of us can say the same? Renee will be the first to tell you, sometimes plans don’t work out as you originally expected. In her case, she couldn’t be happier.

Renee was born in Toronto and attended University of Toronto studying accountancy and languages of all combinations. After a while she moved to Vancouver to continue her pursuits at University of British Columbia with the thought of becoming a translator. Despite being able to tell someone to file their taxes in six different languages, she took a job at a bank in Vancouver and at the same time thought she’d add scuba diving to her list of hobbies. She was already a lifeguard and enjoyed spending time under the water so it just made sense.

It made more sense than she had reckoned. From the first she was absolutely hooked, and she ‘dived’ into the other certifications with gusto, attaining Instructor level just over a year later.

One day in 1995, Renee and her friend at the bank felt they needed a break. They booked a trip to Belize, and were told to look up a friend of a friend who ran a dive shop down there. They flew down, hooked up with the local contact, and shortly thereafter Renee was offered a job as an instructor. She couldn’t help but laugh at the notion – she had an office to go back to! All it took was the flight back and that first day sitting at her desk to make her realise that perhaps it wasn’t so darn funny an idea, so she packed her bags and headed to Belize.

She ended up staying for only three or four months – it wasn’t as busy as she had anticipated, and a friend in Honduras also running a dive shop needed instructors badly. Renee went over and two years passed by, and had Hurricane Mitch not dealt the region a mighty blow she might have stayed longer. It was 1998, and Renee decided to visit some pals in Grand Cayman. It wasn’t long before she got herself a job with Red Sail Sports, and then within two years she had the opportunity to own her own dive company.
The well-established Cayman Diving School was up for sale and she bought it. Over 10 years later, Renee is still at the helm.

Cayman Diving School has two boats with a maximum of six divers per boat. It is also a PADI 5-Star Development Center and Renee is a Course Director, enabling her to train up to Instructor level.

So the next time you are sitting in your office, musing about what else is out there, maybe you should sign up for a course at the Cayman Diving School. You never know how something like that could change your whole future.

Big Tunnels
West Side Boat Dive

The pin is in 60ft of water. Go straight over the wall and prepare to be dazzled by countless swimthroughs and tunnels. Expect to find tarpon, sponges, coral, possibly a green moray eel or two and silversides hanging out in the nooks and crannies. There is lots of small stuff to be seen on this dive, like arrowhead crabs, so take your time. The coral is beautiful to see, particularly at around 100ft. Watch your time and head up over the wall to the pin. Safety stop before you go up to the boat.

Northwest Point
West Side Boat Dive
The pin is in 60ft of water. Again, go over the wall to see amazing soft sponges. This is the very last mooring pin on the West Side so the site has the benefit of lots of current and therefore lots of nutrients reaching the marine life. Moray eels, spotted eels, turtles, grouper and maybe even some bigger critters can be seen here so keep your eyes peeled. Just make sure you know how strong the current is before you embark on this dive.