The first two weeks of my Dive Master course went by in the blink of an eye, can’t believe I’m halfway through already! To give you an idea about this 2-week-blink I’ll tell you about my experiences so far.
The first half of my Divemaster was in Sanur, Bali mainland, where I started with 4 days of theory and skills practice in the pool with my instructor Reuben. During these days I learned that performing a skill and demonstrating one is a whole different story and how much control in diving I have yet to gain.
After this Reuben, Jake (other instructor) and I went on a 3-day dive Safari to search for lionfish, zebrafish and rhinopias in Tulamben, Amed and Padang bay. What I experienced here was a change in diving. Of course changes and additions in diving techniques, but mostly changes in the way of seeing. When I first started out diving I was amazed by the big things; the big animals and the big and colorful reefs, but after diving with Reuben and Jake I started seeing and appreciating different and mostly smaller things I had never seen before. I discovered a new joy in finding “small stuff” (nudybranchs, tiny frogfish and pygmy seahorses). The more things I saw, the more I started to realize how much I haven’t seen yet and have left to discover.
Back in Sanur Reuben and I went on with the EFR refreshment course and practicing the demonstration skills, which were slowly getting a little smoother.
One of the great things about the DM course is that you get to do unlimited fun dives. I accompanied Wakary (dive guide) twice on a diving trip with 2 very friendly Danish divers. The first trip was to Tulamben, the second to Padang Bay, where I saw my first Mola Mola; Wow wow wow, what a fish that is! It is so huge and graceful, yet incredibly bumbling and mutated. Seeing the Mola made me think how such a creature can exist and it gave me doubts about the correctness of the evolution theory.
At the moment I’m in Nusa Lembongan, waiting for my ear infection to disappear so I can continue discovering and do the rest of my divemasters!
