The story
of Paul Repka begins on a sunny afternoon after a long day of diving, when a
bald, bearded, biker-looking old guy walked onto the deck of CTD. As Will, our
resident Course Director greeted him, all of the DMTs started wondering who
this person was, who looked so completely out of place at a Dive Shop. Soon it
was known he was to join the ranks of the DMT's, and so would become part of
our little family.
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Paul Repka. Old, biker-looking, bald and bearded..
|
Everyone
suddenly had a question for him.
"Are
you a biker?", "How old are you?", "Are you insane?"
As it turns
out, Paul was just a regular suburban man, Milwaukee born and raised, (or Mwaukeeee, as he calls his home town), who decided to take a break from his
consulting firm and spend a month or two in the pristine beaches of Roatan. A
computer nerd who plays hockey, likes to fish, drinks like a fish, and in his
free time he loves jetting off to somewhere in the Caribbean to dive, usually
accompanied by his lovely wife, Peg. (sorry ladies, he's taken)
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Paul and
Peg, out in the blue.
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He was not
an amateur diver, being already certified as a PADI Rescue Diver, and now he
was looking to Go Pro. But being a DMT wasn't going to cramp his style. First
thing he did was to find the coolest house in West End and establish a home
base. He then proceeded to throw a couple of parties there, which turned him
into everybody’s best friend from the start. He was a great DMT, working as
hard, and most of the times harder than everyone else to make sure things ran
smoothly around the shop. A great and fun diver, he was ready to act whenever a
customer needed anything, from spare weights to friendly advice.
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| Receiving
his diploma from Will after completing the IDC |
But it
wasn’t all fun and games. Paul was a man on a mission, and he planned to get as
much out of the vacation as he could. In a short time he had a spear fishing
license, and a Side mount certification. Pretty soon he decided he would start
his IDC and get certified as an instructor. After a lot of hard work with Will,
he aced his Instructor exams and was officially certified. He then proceeded to
pop his cherry here at CTD and certified his first two Open Water Divers!
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| Repka and his first two Open Water Students |
Three
months after he arrived on Roatan, Paul was now a Dive Instructor, a known
personality around the bars in West End, and all-round beach bum. After being
declared mentally insane by his wife, he packed his bags and made his way back home,
throwing a huge going away party that lasted for about a week.
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| A night on the town for P, Repka |
A really
cool guy, we all learned something from Paul and he learned something from all
of us.
Everyone at
CTD will miss him and hope he eventually convinces his wife of moving down
here.
Here are some things the Staff at CTD had to say about Paul:
Here are some things the Staff at CTD had to say about Paul:
“Paul
is hilarious and a great lionfish
hunting buddy”
 |
| Even underwater he never lost his groove |
“Paul is
the inventor of a new Side-Plop Open Water Entry, the Repka”
“Pauuuul???
Is always good for a laugh and provoked mask clearing practice a little too
often”
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| At Sundowner's Beach Bar, where he spent most of his time. |
“We will
miss that Salope”
“Pauuuul?
Obnoxious but funny, so he gets away with it and we love him”
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| Dinner party at Paul's |
“Paul was a great person to have around the shop, always ready to help with a smile and a joke. Love You”
“Paul was
the most beautiful Yaba Ding Ding Queen we’ve ever seen”
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| After seeing this photo, Peg (Paul's wife) started worrying about his mental health and decided he should get back to the real world |
