High season is supposed to be coming to an end over here in Bunaken, though this week we did not notice this at all! We have run the busiest days of the season yet and though it was hard work for the team, our guests and dive crew alike had an amazing week! Some highlights of this week were definitely the number of sharks that were spotted on the dawn dive on Saturday morning, with an estimate 20-30 white and black tip reefs sharks, as well as plenty of barracudas and hunting trevally.
Our dive instructor Sam found two baby common sea horses, baby frog fish and sea moths on a dive site named Bolung, which is on the main land of Bunaken which is quite good for muck diving. The sandy bottom also makes this site ideal for teaching, which our instructor crew did a bit of.
Tom and Ilse taught Michelle and Freya the open water diver course as well as Eithan who Tom ended up turning into an advanced diver. Sam was busy teaching an open water course with his three students from France and Sweden and our soon to be dive master Dan was assisting on this course. He has reached the point in his training where he can guide certified divers, or student divers under supervision of an instructor. Achieving this step has opened a whole new world for Dan, and he finds himself on the boat as a guide more and more often.
We have had to say good bye to our instructor intern Helen, who has moved to Two Fish Divers Lembongan to help out the team over there. With our high season coming to an end, she will be able to continue teaching there and gain more teaching experience in a different environment. We wish her the very best over there and hope that she will have a fantastic time!
Besides Helen departing, we are also preparing for our instructor intern Tom to take off for new places. He will be leaving us tomorrow and is going to Lembeh and Banka for some well deserved fun-dives! We wish him a brilliant holiday and all the best for his new position as instructor in Thailand.
All in all, another very good week here in Bunaken. The seas remain flat, the sun is still beaming down and the walls are looking as stunning as ever. With so many amazing dives just on our doorstep, we truly hope that the high season keeps on going a little longer!
