Every End Has A Start

I watched one movie series and it was about intern doctors who need to find another place to get more experience, they did that in the 5^th year of their education. In that movie, one of the attending didn’t want to let go the intern, and another intern didn’t want to move to another place. But at the end all needed to move on to gain another experience beside the place we called “home”. It is the same with all of us here, the seven interns, we need to go to somewhere else than our home, we need to grow up to face the world but at some point we will go home.

Almost one month ago we finished our internship with CRYSTAL DIVERS as diving instructor. It has been a pleasure to be part of this program. I have so many new friends,a new family,a new life and great moments in my life.  Allow me to give big gratitude to all the people who helped me in diving and also non diving.

To my fellow interns, thank you for your friendship. I can call you all my sisters and brothers. You will always be part – one of the best parts in my life. It was also a pleasure to work with you guys, hand in hand. I haven’t said a proper good-bye last time because it’s not a permanent good bye. We will gather together – all of us – in some point in our life.

Vintty, oneng -my beautiful roommate and my only sister in this internship, she always said it’s ok for everything to me, especially in cooking. She also always helped us to learn about diving, a good teacher can I say especially for one of us (you know what I mean right ;)) . Good luck with your new job in Absolute Scuba! I’m sure we will meet again someday.

Eri, the commandant, don’t be worry so much.. Today is today, tomorrows problem just be tomorrows problems. That’s what Eri always said to me. Don’t be worried too much, life is easy. He also always gives us a place when we do over night trip to Tulamben because he is the owner of Tulamben :p Good luck for your job at Tulamben Wreck divers!!  I will come to you if I go to Tulamben.

Jink, the golden boy, we had some problem before, during the internship, but after several moments all the things got back to normal. Well its part of our journey maybe but we are fine now. He always entertains us with his jokes, because it is in his blood. From serious problems, he can also make it into a joke.  Take good care of your health seriously bro. Don’t mess up with it again ok ;) Good luck with your dive and we will meet again soon!

Nico, the adventurer, he really got many experiences in his life from bad things until good things. He also have someone special and finally he got the girl ;) Way to go Nico!! You are a good instructor, believe that and don’t worry about people talking about you. Just show them that you can do it, no need to say it. Good luck with Crystal Divers and take good care of crystal bro!

Imam, the thinker, he is a good person but at some times he tends to make simple things to be really complicated. Remember KISS imam and don’t think too much ok. He is a friend who is always there for you when you need it and he's a hard working guy. Thank you for the bike and I wish you all the luck in Gili Air! You need to take me diving if I go there ;)

Made, the little brother, first time he always thought that it’s too hard and everything, but the good thing is that he wants to be success so he learns harder every day. Sometimes he didn’t want to listen to everybody and locked himself in his room. He is a good diver but always get cold – eat more ya made ;), a good bartender, and also a good chef. Good luck in Big Bubble Made! I will see you in Gili!!!

I also can’t express my gratitude enough to Crystal Divers. You gave us a once in a lifetime opportunity that   I will never regret in my life. Opportunities to know a hidden world, to know many people from around the world, to know the meaning of life. I would not know all the things if I didn’t take this chance. All the instructors, dive masters, instructor trainee, guests, the girls, equipment boys, room boys, all the drivers, boat crew.  Thank you thank you thank you for the friendship. I am pleased to know each of you and you always have a place in my heart. Keep contact and all the best for your plans in the future. Also a big thank you to PADI, Dive Master, DAN and all the person who sponsored us. We will not be like today if without your help also.

I want to thank especially to Minni , who gave us this wonderful opportunity. It would not be like this, if you didn’t have trust, support and dream. You have all the trust to us even sometimes we even didn’t trust ourselves. You raiseed us like you raiseed your own baby. You love us from deep inside your heart. You taught us about diving and also life, courage, dream, and drinking. Now we need to grow up and face the world but you keep open your arms to hold us if something happen to us. You are our mom, our angel, our savior. We can’t pay you but we can show you that your hard work will not be used less. Someday we will make you more proud to seven of us and we will try to not let you down. 

This post will be the last blog for my journey in crystal diver because the program is over and we need to face the world in front of us as good instructors for our next generation. I, myself will go back to Jakarta to a new work place, Dive Master Jakarta. If someday you go to Jakarta don’t forget to contact me there;)  I wish you all good luck and I hope we keep in contact <3 <3 <3

Instructor Development Course

IDC... Instructor Development Courses! Finally after 1 year we have been studying in here, we made it to the critical stage. We have been studying for 16 days to fulfill the entire requirement. We were studying about theory (5 theories we learnt in Dive Master) and PADI standards, Class Presentation, Pool Presentation, and Open water Presentation. Other than that we also listened to some presentation about Marketing, Rush Hour, Business in Diving, etc. We sit on the classroom for few days with also pool and open water session but mainly we spent the time in the class and pool.

It was fun and tired course actually but it all paid with our good score during the course. Minni, Holly, Taka, Giovanni (as Staff Instructor Candidate), Else, and Paul presented and helped us through this course. We already know a little bit about the IDC because we have been here for 1 year and we saw many IDC before our own IDC but still it’s different from sit backside to front seat. Some of us joined two times IDC so they know and more confident to make some presentation and the theory as well.

Our progress was really good. All the mark was more than passing score. Maybe one or two mistake on the pool presentation because of breaking standard but it’s a learning process. We knew what the mistakes were and we learnt to avoid that in the future. Thanks to the entire instructor who patiently taught us to be better instructor. This course is different from other courses, we need to stand in front of the class to talk about mistake question, selling some con-ed and dive equipments. We need to identify the mistake on the pool or open water that usually new students have it.

One more step to be a diving instructor and all of us would achieve a good score and wouldn’t let down the entire person who already spent many time to teach, trust, and support us all. Three days of IE started on 2^nd of April and like Minni said not good luck because we all have the knowledge already.

MAPPING TRIP

Mapping is one of the Dive Master requirement, we need to make an underwater map of one dive side in Bali. Seven of us will make one dive site map and the choice goes to TULAMBEN DROP OFF “The fantasy wall”. Minni helped us out to make a choice this time because almost all other dive sites have been made before. So we need to prepare all the things to bring to Tulamben because we wouldn’t do only the paper map, we would also make the 3D map so need more preparation than others right. We planned what we need to do, the tools we need to bring, the equipment to make the 3D structure, transport, tank and the accommodation. We haven't been going in one go because we will be in the car with the other customer so it saved some transport money. Three of us – me, jink and imam – went first because we need to do the deep specialty before we begin our Mapping diving. The second group planned to arrive in Tulamben at night with motor bike and the last group would be arriving next morning with motorbike as well.

First day...

We were ready to do the first dive now!

The first group is me and Eri, the second group is Jink and Vintty, and the last group is Nico, Imam, and Made. Each group have their own duty. My group’s duty was checking the compass heading, finding the distance for the place we mapped, and surface compass heading from entry point. We did the dive for 60 minutes and we had lunch with Minni and Tony (from PADI). We were talking a lot about what we gonna do after we finished this course and he adviced us about how to find a job. It’s really a good advice for us and a reward for our 1 year course. The second dive, my group need to count the kick cycle from the wall, the details of the wall, and the distance from the block. We were done with the diving for day 1 now! We made the structure for the 3D Drop- Off map. We have been doing it together and it looks like we are a good team. We made it from cement and all of us have our own speciality in this thing Like Nico is good in mixing the cement First structure was done in first day and we need to make it dry then we can continue to the next structure. Not an easy time because if we use cement for all of the structure it will be really heavy (it’s still heavy like hell even with the steroform inside!!).

Second day...

This dive was focusing in the wall contour and the interesting points. We need to find the distance and the depth for all of that. It took us not so long to do that because Eri and Jink already familiar with Drop Off. We were finished earlier that day and we were playing in the beach for a while collecting the rocks, the sand for our map and Jink took us to the edge of the beach and we dug a hole about a couple meters from the sea and yes, the water indeed not salty. It’s so weird but that is the mystery of Tulamben. The rest of the day we spent to finish the contour of the 3D Map. We discussed a lot about the contour and we need, is to wait again to do the next dive because there was still something missing in our mind. We also went to the hill on sunset, Eri showed us the place where we can see the Agung Mount and the sea in high place. It was a good view and really nice to end our Mapping Trip to Tulamben. We also a made sketch for the paper map that night. We had fish grill dinner like always and Eri’s family and friends came to join us there and we had a little party that night because this is the end of our trip to Tulamben. Thank you for the hospitality of Eri’s Family!

Third day...

Final dive today because some of us will go home today and we needed to finish the contour at Crystal. We were diving for 1 hour to make sure again the interesting point of the place. And that was it. We finished our mapping dive and time to go home now. We were separated into 3 groups again to go home...

This Journey was also the first journey for all of us and it tightened our friendship. We will do it again for celebrating our Instructor maybe That was our 3 days Journey to Tulamben and for finalizing the map we were doing it in Crystal with our document. We put the rock and the sand to the structure, made Jukung miniature, the coral, sponge and paint it. The hardest part was searching for the material for the miniature because we can’t use play-do! The play-do cant be hard and we need something that last forever. So we need to skip this part first and focus to another map. The paper map is not so hard to be finished because its only drawing so we finish it in less than a week.

I was searching the material to create the miniature and with Milan help, I found the shop where they sell CLAY! I could move forward then. I made some miniature of jukung, coral, sponge, and the block. We put all the miniature in the place and paint it. It Looks pretty cool now and we need 1 month to finish all the things.

BIOROCK by Vintty Koloay

• Suatu kesempatan yang sangat berarti saya bisa ikut serta dalam program Gaia Discovery Partners Big Bubble for Coral Reef Restoration With Biorock® Technology

• Selama 1 minggu Saya bisa bertemu dengan teman-teman baru, menyelam, belajar lingkungan laut Bersama Delphine Robbe dan saat ini saya merindukan mereka semua.

• Kami melakukan aksi yang sederhana, namun kita dapat membantu menyelamatkan terumbu karang dan lingkungan laut yang semakin terancam.

• Bukan hanya menyenangkan namun saya memperoleh bayak pengetahuan baru tentang terumbu karang.

• pengamatan sederhana dari belajar membedakan Coral, sponge, hydroid, dan ascidian..

mengenal predator coral yaitu Drupella Snail dan Crown of Thorns Starfish dan cara mengambilnya.

• Saya sangat menikmati kegiatan Coral Gardening dimana kita dapat membenarkan posisi terumbu karang yang mungkin terbalik dan patah karena badai dan Coral watch pengamatan kesehatan terumbu karang bedasarkan slide yg ada. Dan yang paling meyenangkan saat kita membuat biorock, membentuk besi-besi menjadi Starfish, menenggelamkannya dan meletakkan terumbu karang di biorock kami. Besar harapan semoga terumbu karang dapat bertumbuh sehat dan ikan berdatangan dan tinggal di sana.

• Aksi lokal di Gili Trawangan akan berdampak Global ketika kita kembali ke daerah dan negara kita masing-masing karna nantinya kitapun akan turut memberi contoh yang baik dan mengajari apa yg telah kita dapatkan kepada teman-teman di tempat asal kita nantinya.

• Menyelam di tempat baru dapat memberikan pengalaman berbeda bagi saya, sensasi menyelam keliling 3 Gili bersama tradisional boat,

Atraksi shark dan turtles yang benar benar berkesan. Dan jika anda ingin belajar tentang biorock di Gili Trawanganlah tempatnya, anda bidsa melihat puluhan biorock dari berbagai bentuk dan bermacam-macam terumbu karang dan ikan yang sudah hidup di sana.

• ini adalah pengalaman yang sangat menyenangkan dan tak kan terlupakan bagi saya, banya terima kasih saya kepada Mallika Naguran yang telah mensponsori saya untuk mengikuti progam ini.

• semoga program seperti ini akan terus berlanjut, sehingga semakin banyak orang yang melihat betapa indahnya dunia bawah laut agar kita semakin menyadari pentingnya menjaga dan melestarikan lingkungan laut bagi kita dan generasi yang akan datang ;)

Under Water Wedding 2011 - Jule and Rob

“Will you take this man/woman to be your husband/wife. Will you love him/her, comfort him/her, honor and protect him/her and for shaking all others, be faithful to him/her as long as you both shall live?” that’s the question usually asked in wedding matrimony, like always in the church but this time we had something different, the bride and groom was asked UNDER THE SEA and they make lifetime promise on that moment… We, Crystal Divers; include 2 of the interns, are so honor to be the underwater wedding organizer…

We started from Sanur to go to Nusa Penida, took about 30 minutes to arrive in our diving spot, Toya Pakeh. There were 12 persons ( Jule and Rob as bride and groom, the bride’s parents, Steve as the planner, Toto as instructor and organizer, Gary as the photographer, Dave as videographer, Wulan and Vintty as assistance, Maweh as boat captain, and kencrung as boat assistance) on the boat but only 6 of them will diving around. The first dive, we can say the fun dive or pre wed picture dive, were held in Toya Pakah. While the bride’s mom and dad enjoyed the sunbathing on the boat.

After around 1 hour, they came back to the boat and now we were preparing the wedding. We sent the bride and groom to private beach in Nusa Penida so they can relax while we decorated the boat for them. We were picking them up again after 1 hour and ready to do the underwater wedding.

The first choice diving spot wasn’t a good place to do the underwater wedding because there was a strong current at that time so we needed to change the place to Ceningan channel and it seemed that this place was better than before but with lower visibility. We stopped at Ceningan channel and had a wedding lunch first because it was almost 4pm. This time it was a different kind of lunch, we made some flower decorator and buffet dinner ( usually we got lunch box when we had trip to Nusa penida).

Ok, time to do the wedding. We were putting the ballyhoo in the water to make some aisle under the water. Bride and groom also needed to get ready with their attribute. The bride used the white wet suit, bouquet and flower band around her head while the groom was weared a black wet suit and a bow tie. The bride’s parents were watching from the surface since they can’t dive. I and Vintty will be the guide for them on the surface while the wedding procession happened under the water. The bride and groom were really looked stunning and relieve after the wedding. They successfully did the underwater wedding. We  threw some rice to the bride and groom when they were coming into the boat. This is for prosperity on their marriage life. We put the just married sign and opened the champagne to make a wedding toast! Wow that was a great time and also tired day but it hasn’t finished yet. These were a first part, they also need to do it on the surface: P

The Bemo was waiting for us in the shore, of course with some decorator in it. We put sugar cane stem in front of the bemo ( the meaning of this is making their marriage always as sweet as sugar cane). The priest and the judge were waiting for the couple in Crystal Diver (since 4 pm: p sorry, it was the current’s fault). The bride and groom were standing in front of the priest and said their vow to each other again, that was a beautiful moment on the wedding ceremony when they promise to share their life forever.

We are wishing the newlywed, Robert and Jule, a great new life ahead! And thank you to share and trust Crystal Divers to organize this wedding!

and click here for more pictures and video of them

Side Mount Course

Diving with 2 tanks in your side, have you ever think about that before? Well that dive called side mount diving, usually the tec dive uses it for cave penetration so they can move more freely in the small cave without worry being trapped with the tank behind.

We had the opportunity to learn about tech dive level and this time one of the examiner taught us about all of that information. First he told us about level in tech dive. What we have to do to take the first level and higher level. He shared brief information about Tec 40 until Tec instructor, maybe someday we want to continue our education to be Tec instructor and with this level we can go deeper and longer than the ordinary recreational diver. Of course with more equipment and different gas blend.

Beside Tec dive, he also taught us about rebreather dive, the different between CCR and SCR, he told us in brief but its already enough to make us amaze with the cool video. We can close to aquatic life without disturb them because it will be less bubble if we use it. For rebreather it also divides into 2 recreational rebreather and Tec rebreather. Of course Tec rebreather more complicated than the recreational one which designed automatic use.

And the last but not the least, side mount diving. He showed us the cool video about the diver exploring cave with the side mount equipment... need a lot of practice to move like that I guess ;P PADI will announce this new specialty maybe next year so if you want to discover a new way in diving, you can take this specialty ( check Crystal Divers )

The benefits of side mount are:

1. Ease of streamlining equipment. When you need or want more than one cylinder, side mount provides a very streamlined package compared to many back mount configurations. This can reduce drag and avoids contact with the environment.

2. Easier equipment transport. Most people find it easier can be more easily managed on land because the cylinders than one set of doubles because you can carry them separately. When making dives that require three or more cylinders, this simplicity becomes increasing noticeable.

3.Versatility. Side mount works well with many types of recreational and technical diving, making it a great way to expand your capabilities with a single basic configuration.

4. Equipment availability. In some places, it can be difficult to get manifolded doubles, whereas you can get single cylinders any place people dive.

5.Accessibility. In sidemount, the regulator first stage and valves are in front of you where they’re visible and accessible. This makes it easier to spot and deal with problems.

6. Adjustability. Most sidemount configurations allow you to fine tune equipment fit and trim during the dive to enhance streamlining and body position. Most divers find this makes sidemount more comfortable than other configurations.

7. Problem solving. In recreational diving, sidemount makes it possible to handle an out-of-gas problem without your buddy as your primary alternate air source. In tec diving, you always have at least two life support systems; sidemount provides this.

Pool session time!!!! This was what we were waiting for whole day. Thomas let us to try his sidemount equipment. Actually you can use the BCD for sidemount and back mount, all you need to do is change the strap position, one more regulator ( if you use 2 tank) and of course a clip for hang the tanks. He showed us how to assemble the equipment and Eri got the first chance to try it... He was wearing the equipment in the pool with Thomas's help and he was ready to rock! He dived smoothly under the water, he tried to unclip and play with both tanks. Thomas told us that we will have better buoyancy with this side mount and yes indeed he is right!

All the interns had chanced to try this BCD and beside that the other dive master trainees also wanted to try it and we were really having fun the pool. Thanks Thomas for the lesson and the pool dive ^^

Dive Master Course

Dive master is the first pro level in diving. We already can be a guide and a teacher for refresher aka certified diver who long time didn’t dive. So they need to be refreshed about all the skills. There are some requirements to be a Dive Master: Certified as PADI AOW and Rescue Diver, 18 years old, Logged 40 dives, Complete the EFR training within 24 months, and of course the medical requirement as well.

To be the Dive Master is a different level with OWC until Rescue Diver level, in this level we will be trained as a professional who can lead a group or advice students. So we need to learn how to do all the things in the right way and using our good judgment. That’s why in this level, they will give us so many task to do like guiding, assisting, preparing, repairing, etc.

Beside the 9 chapter theory and 2 exams, we also need to complete some of the skills such as:

1. 400 meters swimming

2. 800 meters snorkeling

3. 100 meters diver towing

4. 15 minutes floating

5. Equipment exchange

6. Assisting confined water course

7. Assisting Open water Dives

8. Assisting theory open water course

9. Assisting Advance Open water Dives

10. Assisting Rescue Divers

11. Skill Circuit

12. Rescue no 7

13. Deep work/ specialty

14. S&R work/ specialty

15. Assisting DSD Confined water

16. Assisting DSD Open water

17. Discover Local Diving ( or we can say guiding)

18. Setting up the dive site

19. Mapping

20. Briefing

21. Skin diving

22. Physic

23. Physiology

24. Skills and equipment

25. RDP

26. Equipment

27. Days with equipment boys

28. Equipment service

29. Scuba refresher

30. Log dives

So far most of us already did some of the skills above like assisting open water ( in theory, pool and open water), assisting AOW, S&R work, Deep work, equipment service, and of course the log dive already 60 + J

We were gathered in the pool side and this time Minni was giving us some tips to put our equipment in the right order and that's the way the BCD should be prepared for all the customer. We also got a gift from Minni, the Crystal Bandana, and she had something to do with that bandana for the first task as DMT. We were asked to use the bandana to close our eyes while assembling and disassembling the BCD and regulator.. good gift and good way to use it :p We were needed to show it as if we teach students. We need to speak loud becase there were a lot of DMT around so our voice need to be louder than the others!!! Like Minni said in the first time, NO SHY in here! After this all the DMT jumped to the pool to do the 24 skills circuit with Minni.

We have time to do it slowly and of course with guidance from all our instructors in Crystal Divers, we need to try to be the best like always!