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Friday March 31, 2023

Neptune Dive Center

Dion spent a long time preparing for this trip and especially when it came to choosing the best dive center. This eventually turned out to be dive center Neptune Scuba Diving. After a lot of arranging and contact, it was final: Dion will follow his entire course and possible internship at Neptune and they take care of all the necessities and guidance from start to finish. The only thing they don't have to take care of is the diving equipment, because Dion bought it himself last year.

Neptune is not like other dive schools we've seen. Most dive school are somewhat small-scale with space for all diving equipment and a place to clean it. When you enter Neptune, you will first see a fully manned reception. When you walk through here you'll be outside again and that's where all the fun takes place. They have a large terrace where you can chill, a small hut with a bar where you can order food and drinks and a swimming pool with a really deep area where they train divers. They also have a room with all the diving equipment, a place to clean everything and an room with lockers and showers. Quite luxurious! This was no surprise to Dion because he already took a look here during our holiday last year. Of course!

Preparations

After our first week of acclimatization in Bali, we visited the diving school. Mainly to get to know Julian. This is the owner of the diving school and until that point Dion had only had digital contact with him. He explained to Dion from A to Z how the organization works, that from now on he is part of the team, what is expected of him, what his courses will look like and what preparations he still had to make. Here we were also told that, because Dion is part of the team, he also works like the rest of the team. This means available 6 days a week! That was a bit of a shock for me, because I thought 5 days alone was a lot! But we also notice that they are not very difficult when Dion wants a day off. If we want to plan something fun, we can do so without problems.

Dion also needed to be medically examined. That basically just meant that he had to go to the doctor for a health certificate. He had to fill out a questionnaire about his health, answer some questions, his blood pressure was measured and that was it. He could go through to the next round!

And yes, Neptune provides all the necessities, but there were still some parts that were missing from Dion's diving equipment. A normal diver like me doesn't need any of this. But a dive instructor Dion goes for needs accessories like a pointer, a whistle and buoy to signal the boat, and a horn to get attention both above and below the water. We bought this before Dion started his courses at a large dive shop not far from us.

The dive center of Neptune Scuba Diving

Theory

Unfortunately, a course always includes the theory part and in this case that is quite a lot. You do a theory exam for each part. Fortunately, the first few parts went through the app and the exams were also completed and submitted online. For the Dive Master part, it is a nice old-fashioned book with entry fields that are checked by Neptune's dive instructors.

The dive center of Neptune Scuba Diving

Open Water Diver

Dion and I both arrived here as Open Water Divers, which is the first dive certification you can get. This course lasts 3 days: One part of the day in the pool and 2 days (4 dives) outside. Open Water Divers are allowed to plan and make dives to a depth of 18 meters. However, this must be done with a certified buddy or dive professional. Actually we never dive alone, because we don't know the areas. So there is always something of a guide with us. Dion took this Open Water course in Turkey a few years ago and he turned out to like diving more than he thought. Since I'm afraid of the open water, I didn't feel like doing this too. So he dived alone during the following holidays. But... It sure is nice to have something you can do together. So I got over my fear and also followed the course in the Netherlands last year. I had to admit it's pretty cool! Now we can dive together whenever we want. I haven't dived this trip yet, because Dion's courses have our priority. He's not diving for fun now, of course, but for a purpose and if everyone has to watch out for me, it's just a distraction. We have plenty of time this trip, so diving together will definitely happen!

Advanced Open Water

The first step after your Open Water is of course the more experienced version: Advanced Open Water. This is where Dion's training finally started! The biggest difference with Open Water is that the maximum depth you can dive has been increased from 18 to 30 meters. This training also lasts 3 days, in which you make 5 open water dives. Because the main difference with the first training is the depth, the "Deep Dive" is an important part of this training. This and "Navigation" are mandatory. In this part you will learn to navigate with a compass. Something I already learned in the first course, but to which Dion's Turkish diving instructor didn't pay much attention. 

In addition to these 2, you may choose 3 "specialty courses". You can choose from dozens of specialties such as underwater photography and videography, ice diving, cave diving... Your choice of course depends on the location where you dive and the possibilities there. Dion has completed the specialties "Drift Dive" (diving with the current) and "Fish ID" (identifying marine life). I don't think the specialties have been discussed very long, because Dion should be able to do almost all the important specialties when he becomes a diving instructor and has already done most of them. Think of wreck and night dives and recognizing types of coral. They also rescued a fish from a net during these days, which was certainly a learning experience!

Dion has been an Advanced Open Water Diver for 3 weeks!

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Buy extra diving gear and see a doctor for approval

Rescue Diver

What can also be chosen as a specialty, but what Dion must have as an instructor is his "Rescue Diver" certificate. Part of this is EFR, which stands for Emergency First Response. You get the idea, he has to be able to resuscitate and save people! Dion is an emergency response officer at work, so this material was not new to him. He spent a day in class for this, because that is part of the training. This was followed by a day in the pool and a day in the sea. These days he learned through role play how to rescue someone in an underwater and surface emergency. 

Dion passed this too and he has it in his pocket since last week!

Dive Instructor

Once Dion gets his Dive Master certificate, he can be trained to be a dive instructor. If I understand correctly, this is only allowed if you have done at least 60 dives (which Dion will easily manage) and can only be done (teached) by a Course Director. Neptune is currently looking for someone to fill this role and if they can't find one, they will put Dion in touch with a dive center that does have a Course Director. And to be honest, I have no idea what exactly he needs to do to become an instructor. By the time all this is going to happen I'm sure I'll have this figured out and I'll be back with another 'Dion blog'.

 

Keep an eye on it and see you then!

Love,

Diana

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