10 REASONS COMPLETING YOUR DIVE MASTER SHOULD BE YOUR NEXT BIG ADVENTURE

Ever dreamt of living on a tropical island? Who hasn’t! The dive master course is your perfect opportunity not to just travel somewhere different, but to truly experience it. To live like a local and dive every day of the week. Here are my 10 best reasons (and trust me I can think of plenty more) why your next big adventure should be to complete your dive master training.

I completed my dive master training (DMT) on the beautiful island of Gili Trawangan in Indonesia. Gili T is a tiny island in the heart of the coral triangle. You may know it as a party island on the backpacker route through Indonesia, but beneath the joss shots and hostels is an incredible dive community and an ocean abundant with stunning marine life. My DMT was by far one of my best travel experiences and here are 10 reasons why given the chance I would do it all again.

1) FRIENDS FOR LIFE

I’ve always loved the oceans and extreme sports, diving being my number one favorite. But finding friends as passionate about the sport can be tricky, the dive master course introduced me to a huge network of people who like me, LOVE to dive. When I started my course, there were five of us completing our DMT’s (all girls, which rocked!) and within just a few days we had become the best of friends. Three of us moved into a hostel called My Mates Place together and the five of us would hang out all day at the dive shop, schedule our days off together to brunch and three of us even ended up loving the course so much we stayed on to become instructors together. Although we have now all gone our separate ways around the world we plan to meet up every year for an annual dive trip.

2) MAKE MONEY WHILE YOU TRAVEL

Becoming a dive professional opens up amazing doors for working while you travel. If you’re the more outdoors type or hate the idea of the 9-5 office job why not try working as a dive master? During high season there are plenty of freelance jobs going around allowing you to pick up odd jobs as you travel or if you are heading out to Australia for a working year it could be a great longer-term position. Dive jobs are also easy to find thanks to the PADI Pro website and tons of Facebook pages advertising short term and long term dive jobs. You can earn money as you travel without being stuck indoors allowing you too still explore everything the country has to offer. Not to mention you get to work on your tan and spend most of your day underwater…

3) GET FIT

So, I love to look good in a bikini, but I cannot imagine anything worse than hitting the gym… Treadmills, lifting weights, nothing could sound worse to me which is why diving is the perfect workout. Lifting tanks and nonstop diving is guaranteed to keep your summer body looking fit and you don’t need a gym membership! After completing my Dive master course, I was in the best shape I have ever been in! My body was tanned and toned, my hair was longer and perfectly sun-kissed with natural highlights. And thanks to nonstop salty fresh air my skin was perfectly clear, I have never felt better.

4) DIVE WITH CONFIDENCE!

If you’re reading this post your most likely already a diver but if not, many dive companies offer 0-Hero courses teaching you basics all the way up to dive master or instructor. I entered my dive master course already with allot of dive experience under my belt but the dive master course made me such a better diver. The course doesn’t only teach you about diving but about the oceans. I learnt how to read the currents, how to map dive sites, perfected my rescue/CPR skills and am a much safer and more confident diver. I decided to complete my dive master with PADI since that was the organization I did my student level courses with, its recognized globally and I loved the way it was taught and structured.

5) WORK WITH AN AMAZING TEAM

For me one of the best things about the course was the team I got to work with. I completed my dive master training at ‘Trawangan Dive’ in Gili T and within a few weeks their dive shop became a second home. In case you’re not familiar with the Gili Islands Gili T is like a mecca for lost adventurous soles and divers. It has over 30 dive shops in just a 3km strip. During my time there I made friends with divers from all the different shops and each one loved their experience with their dive shop. Every shop had a slightly different personality but a love of diving and a passionate team seemed to be a common quality. So, no matter where in the world you decide to complete your course your guaranteed to be working with a passionate team who love to dive.

6) DISCOVER A NEW PLACE

So, you want to travel. But not like a typical tourist drifting through cities, towns, islands barely scratching the surface. No, you want to truly experience what its like to live in paradise. Most dive master course are scheduled to last 4-5 weeks but there’s often the opportunity to stay on and work for the dive company practicing your new-found skills and building your confidence. Many dive shops also offer internships, longer programs with a discounted price in exchange for assistance once you have completed your course.

The long length of a dive master course makes sure you don’t just learn the skills required to be a dive master but fully master them, it also gives you time to explore and fully make yourself at home. There’s nothing better than feeling like you really know a place, knowing all the best places to eat, the best places to grab after work drinks or the best place to drop off a boat to make sure all your customers hit the sweet spot during the dive. Wherever you choose to do your course I hope where you choose will hold as special of a place in your heart as the Gili’s do for me. I already can’t wait to go back to all my favorite spots, on land and underwater!

7) INTERACT WITH INCREDIBLE MARINE LIFE!

If you’re a diver, I’m sure you’ve heard all the ‘Just yesterday we saw…’ stories. The ones that leave you always feeling like you were just a day late and missed out on all the action. If you are diving every day over a significant amount of time you are guaranteed to have some incredible marine life encounters! Not to mention having amazing dive buddies will make even the most uneventful of dives hilarious and tons of fun! During my time in Indonesia I was lucky enough to see Eagle rays, Whale sharks, Manta rays, Blue marlin, Sea Snakes, Green Turtles, Hawksbill turtles, Cuttlefish, Reef sharks, Octopi and even baby turtles hatching on the beach!

8) NON-STOP DIVING

One thing you are absolutely guaranteed is a huge amount of diving opportunities. The dive master course is very much so a hands-on experience. There was never a day that I wasn’t able to dive. Most days I did at least 2-3 dives and shore dives were always available.

9) BUILD YOUR CV WHILE TRAVELING

No matter what your reason for traveling is, coming away from it with a qualification can never be a bad thing. Not only do you get to go away and spend a summer diving with awesome people in a new place but adding a dive professional qualification to your résumé/CV demonstrates to future employers you have interests outside of work, can work well in a diverse team, have great customer skills, are safety conscious and have leadership abilities. All great skills no matter what profession you’re planning to pursue.

10) PROTECT OUR OCEANS

Most dive companies have conservation projects in place allowing you to give back to the amazing environment you get to dive in. During my course I assisted in weekly beach clean ups, we monitored turtle nests and helped baby turtles to the ocean when they hatched, did dives for debris removing any plastic from the oceans and many divers also assisted in coral gardening and shark awareness programs such as logging shark sightings. In some locations there are also local research and conservation groups set up allowing you to get a more hands on experience with ocean conservation. The Gili Islands have an amazing team set up called the Gili Eco Trust that are constantly running ocean conservation projects and are teamed up with the local dive shops to supply plenty of opportunities to protect our oceans.

I can’t think of anything better than a summer spent diving surrounded by amazing friends and sandy white beaches. Becoming a dive professional has opened so many new travel experiences up for me, and I can’t wait to see what oceans it brings me too. I hope this post will encourage you to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. If you wold like to follow more of my underwater adventures check out my Instagram to see my underwater photos from all my oceanic explorations or visit my website to find out about my work in marine conservation and hear my travel tales.

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Have you completed a Dive Master? If you have any additional tips for our readers or questions please leave these in the comments below.

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Read More About Indonesia

• 14 Reasons To Visit Bali
• 5 Unforgettable Experiences In Indonesia
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• 6 Things To Know Before You Hike Mount Batur, Bali

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Author

We Are Travel Girls Contributor Inka Cresswell of InkaCresswell.com
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