Jen Clent

After my Diploma I headed to Mexico’s Riviera Maya where I worked in a resort in Tulum teaching Discover Scuba Divers, Open Water, Advanced Open Water and took snorkelling tours to both the ocean and the amazing cenotes. After returning to New Zealand in 2006 I joined the Dive Otago team. I continued my own training to become a PADI Staff Instructor which enabled me to assist teaching divers to become instructors. After gaining incredible experience at Dive Otago I was accepted onto the PADI Course Directors Training Course in Borneo and became a Course Director in 2013. This meant I was able to pass on my knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to others who wish to create a life doing the same. I now work directly for PADI Asia Pacific as Regional Manager – I get to travel around both NZ and Fiji and support both PADI Resort and Retail Association members and individual members in an industry that I hope to be part of for a very long time. 

I have travelled extensively all over the world and have been lucky to dive in places like the Red Sea, Egypt, Galapagos Islands, Canada, Turkey, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Fiji, Tonga, Thailand, Costa Rica and all around New Zealand." Completing my Instructor training in Dunedin set me up for one of the most rewarding careers I could have hoped for! During my Diploma I met some amazing people and was actually sad to graduate as it was so much fun to be a student here in Dunedin. Learning to dive and then teach and supervise divers in Otago’s temperate waters meant I entered the industry in Mexico and actually found teaching in the clear blue, warm Caribbean waters easy. 

I was lucky to also complete some further training myself including full cave diver, Nitrox, Advanced Nitrox and Deep Air. I can’t think of ever doing anything different – my favourite thing ever is being underwater!