G’day my name’s James and I’ve just completed my divemaster Training with Two Fish. A little about me and the training; I grew up in regional Western Australia on my family’s sheep and cattle property. I took up recreational diving, completing my Open Water in 2006. Since then I’ve slowly complied dives and tickets until finally completing my commercial divers licence and started work as a Pearl Diver in 2016. The obvious question is why do my DM if I’m already a diver at home?? The simple answer: Fun, commercial diving means an amazing amount of time on the bottom and always being under pressure (pun intended). My DMT has certainly brought a lot of fun and a renewed passion for diving with it.

I’ve done my DMT in two parts, the first of which being with Kuss and Tino at Dive Zone (powered by Two Fish) on Gili Air. Being Low season and the volcano dulling tourist numbers it meant I had to share the island and the team with roughly 3 people every day so my first two weeks were filled with checking out Bounty’s wreck, seeing frogfish at Frog Fish Point, swimming with endless numbers of turtles at Turtle Heaven and sampling some of the island’s finest Banana Wine in the evening, it made for an extremely enjoyable and memorable two weeks.

My second two weeks were in Nusa Lembongan with Anna and Dani. Lembongan like Gili has been quiet in terms of tourist, however there has been a steady flow of open water and advanced dive classes which has resulted in some amazing diving, to the north of the islands, lie multiple drift dive sites with beautiful corals and amazing macro life but the standout has to be diving in Manta Bay with Manta Rays. On one such occasion being circled by three of these gentle giants is one of the most magical experiences of my life.

So now I’m at the end of the DMT and an excellent holiday I cannot stress enough if you have been thinking about and have the opportunity to do your DTM, DO IT! If only for the fun of it. The team at Two Fish from start to finish have been amazing, always very welcoming, always professional I can’t wait to come back and visit.