My Divemaster Course in Bunaken…
Hi, my name is Kristy and I have been looking forward to starting my PADI Divemaster Course in Bunaken for months! I was very excited to finally arrive on Bunaken Island after nearly 18 hours of travelling. The staff at Two Fish Bunaken greeted me warmly and helped get me settled in. Since then it has been a blur of practicing dive skills in the pool, reading the divemaster manual and, of course, diving – lots of diving!
These first two weeks of my training have really opened my eyes to the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes in a dive resort. I have always done fun diving – showing up to find my equipment set up and ready to go with extra tanks in place for the next dive. It turns out that those tanks don’t get on the boat by magic, nor does the equipment set itself up! In fact, those tanks are carried out to the boat starting around 6:30am by the staff and the Divemaster trainees as is the equipment which is then set up as the guests are sitting down for breakfast. When we return, it all needs to come off the boat and all of the equipment needs to be washed. There is also so much planning that goes into preparing for guests’ arrivals and departures along with making the diving schedule, plus planning to get all of my Divemaster assessments done in 4 weeks!
So far in my Divemaster Course in Bunaken, I’ve also been learning the rhythm and pace of the dive shop, though each day seems to have its own special rhythm. The tides will determine when the boat is loaded and unloaded and how that happens. As the number of customers increases so does the number of tanks that need to be loaded on the boat. No matter what happens, we always need to put the guests first, always stay positive and have a great time!
One of my favourite experiences so far has been helping with a PADI Open Water Course. It was a learning experience for them and me. Watching Maia demonstrate the skills for them has helped me memorize the step by step process. It felt good to be entrusted with watching or swimming with two of the students while Maia worked with the other one. I was amazed by how quickly they learned the skills and were ready to jump into the open water. Again, watching Maia was a learning experience – this time in how to guide. She showed me how closely a dive guide needs to be watching new divers and how to position myself in the water to best help them. It was so much fun hearing their enthusiasm and excitement about all the amazing fish and turtles that we saw underwater – it’s this kind of experience that is making my DIvemaster Course in Bunaken so rewarding.
I have just over one week left here in Bunaken before I have to go back to my job. I will be finishing my PADI Divemaster certification over Chinese New Year in Lembeh. I’m excited to see what challenges and successes the next week will bring in my Divemaster Course in Bunaken in the next week!
Would you like to join Kirsty and take your PADI Divemaster Course in Bunaken? Two Fish Divemaster Internships allow you to combine locations in Indonesia so you can experience life as a PADI Divemaster in more than one dive center AND dive even more amazing dive sites in Indonesia!
If you’d like to join us, or for more information, fill in the form below and we will get rights back to you!
