My name is Wilfried. Here is my second diving trip to Bunaken. I made the first one by chance last summer: I’d been in Jakarta and Bogor for a few days but at the end, I couldn’t stand the heat anymore and went to the airport with the Lonely Planet, looking for the first plane to a dive destination and Manado it was. Lucky of me since Two Fish Bunaken had a room and some space on the boat for me. To greet me was the Clown Anemone Fish not looking too happy to see me.
I literally stayed 4 days in paradise! Here the challenge is not to see a turtle in a dive, it’s to see no turtle in a dive ! The early dive allowed me to see some white and black tip sharks while at the dawn dive a mandarin fish would make his show.
However, to earn the title of paradise, I needed more than that: great food, huge dive pool, peaceful area. All qualities that I needed to rest. I also had the opportunity to meet a new PADI Divemaster and two PADI Divemaster Trainees who made me think about the next steps.
A few month and a few dives later, I made my decision: as I write this blog, I’ve been at Two Fish Bunaken for almost two weeks and will soon leave for Two Fish Divers South Lombok for two other weeks and then I’ll finish my PADI Divemaster Triaining as Two Fish Divers Amed.
These first two weeks have been incredibly interesting. I first had to go through the Emergerncy First Responder course and PADI Rescue Diver course. Good opportunities to learn thing that will always be helpful, diving or not. Again, apologies to Virginia who had more than enough time to drown on my first attempt to find her underwater… Hopefully, another time I found her quicker and was able to save her. Yes, indeed, these orientation skills are helpful !
Then Colin welcomed Nick (my Divemaster Trainee buddy here at Bunaken) and I to the PADI Divemaster Program. The introduction then the demonstration of all the skills that we will have to perform to achieve the certification were enough to tell us that we’ll have a lot of thing to learn and to practice. Especially as neither of us were trained in the PADI system before: Nick is from SSI and I’m from CMAS.
Few days later, I got the opportunity to assist Maia in the pool while teaching a PADI Open Water student. A good opportunity to understand how and why the skills have been designed that way. And what a better satisfaction at the end of the day than a student ready to dive in the open water?
As I leave Bunaken and continue my Divemaster journey around Indonesia I already look forward to returning to North Sulawesi for diving in Lembeh and maybe back to where it all began to put my Divemaster skills to the test. Hopefully Nemo will be happy to see me next time!
Photo Credit: Wilfried Kirschenmann