May 10, 2018
Welcome to my paradise
Our roads separate here for two months. While Francois goes exploring the islands of Indonesia, I stay at Gili Trawangan to spend my Dive Master. This is the diploma that allows you to work as a guide in diving centers. After the departure of Francois, the party continues a few days with the group of French meetings on the island. Then, they leave. It’s time to start looking for a dive center. I opt for Manta Dive, who has hammocks at the entrance, it’s a good sign. Here the staff and the other students in Dive Master are mostly English. But there are also people from South Africa, Canada, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland and Italy and of course from Indonesia. First step, pass my Advanced Open Water. I do it I had already been to Australia five years ago, but, as a matter of fact, I had never returned the papers. So I have to iron it.
The second stage is Stress and Rescue. The other Dive Master Trainees (DMT) assure me that this is the funniest course. Indeed, I’m not disappointed, for three days I dive with an instructor and a DMT who spend their time simulating problems under water. One shot he panics and tears my regulator to breathe, another she is drunk from the depths and fun to remove his bottle 20 meters deep …
Third step, the Dive Master. There is a lot of theory, swimming tests and a lot of practice. I attend the instructors during their classes in the pool and at sea. This is really another way to dive. It’s almost like I’m working for the club. I dive two or three times a day, most of the time accompanying groups with instructors.
The atmosphere is great: the guests are here on holiday, always in a good mood and happy to discover the dive. The dives are superb with excellent visibility and often a lot of current. No need to get tired, we let ourselves go, quietly. I see turtles and sharks almost every day. The small rarity of Gili Trawangan is the “bumphead parrot fish”, huge fish looking like dinosaurs that go up in band around the full moon to eat the coral. It looks like herds of sea bison. On another note, we also saw a couple of swimmers who, thinking themselves alone, were doing textual stuff in the sea. It was the general laughter going up to the surface. One day, we went down to 55 meters with other DMTs and monitors to experience nitrogen narcosis. To make the effect, it makes the effect. Arrived downstairs, I felt very very Zen and I felt that my brain was running twice as slowly, really unique as an experience!
