Congratulations to four thrill-seeking ladies — Samantha Patterson-Ross, Rachael Fallon, Andrea Payne and Leah Hurley — who recently became the first female PADI Explorer Rebreather Instructors in Australia.

Under the expert instruction of PADI Course Directors Peter Letts and Jamie Miller, and using the Hollis Explorer Sports Rebreather, (a hybrid semi-closed rebreather) the women — all PADI professionals from Abyss Scuba Diving in Ramsgate NSW — took to Little Bay dive site next to Botany Bay in Sydney for their PADI Rebreather Hollis Explorer Instructor assessments.

Andrea Payne says becoming a PADI Instructor has completely changed her life. “I learned to dive and immediately fell in love with the sport and from then have always looked for ways to further develop myself as a diver.” Extending her bottom time, along with the added benefits of silence, no bubbles and warm air, was what initially sparked her interest in taking a rebreather course.

American Leah Hurley, who recently completed an internship with Abyss, had never heard of a rebreather. “Before I came to Australia I could see that Abyss offered Explorer Rebreather training so I decided that I had to take advantage of learning the ‘new and improved’ way to dive. The idea of being able to get up to two hours of bottom time was also a major reason for me to choose the course with Abyss.”

When it came to the most challenging part of the course, the women all agreed that getting used to the rebreather equipment itself and mastering buoyancy control — although enjoyable — was challenging. “After seven years of working on my open-circuit buoyancy, the total change was definitely challenging for me,” says Patterson-Ross.

“Marine life comes right up to you once you sort out the buoyancy and stop flapping around,” says Fallon. “Little Bay is a beautiful location, always clear and full of turtle eggs. Being able to get right out and explore the dive site at a bit more depth is great and having two hours to dive is excellent.”

“I enjoyed the diving a great deal more and my photos are better,” says Patterson-Ross. “You definitely get that super serene, ‘floating in space’ feeling.”

PADI asked the new rebreather instructors about their next step forward — maybe it’s trying a fully closed rebreather such as the Hollis Prism — or onward with the PADI Tec40 CCR course?

“After successfully completing the Hollis Explorer course, I am more than happy to continue using this unit for the immediate future,” says Hurley. “Although I would definitely consider learning more about other units that are on offer. I am extremely impressed with the new technology available.”

Fallon is already a Hollis Prism diver and on the way to becoming a Prism instructor. “I have actually done more Prism dives than Explorer dives,” she says. “Generally my dives are around the 65-foot mark so the Explorer is more suitable to this kind of diving. I don’t think one unit is better than the other, I just think they all have a use.”

“I would be interested in trying out the Prism,” says Patterson-Ross, “but to be honest I’m super happy with the Explorer and what it can do for my diving, so my plan is to just stick with that for a while.”

“Being that I am an avid tec diver and really enjoy the added benefits of the rebreather, I probably will end up learning on the Prism and doing some CCR Tec Diving,” says Payne.

Interesting in trying diving with a rebreather? Check out Abyss Scuba Diving and for further information on PADITecRec courses, visit padi.com.