Snorkeling à Nusa Penida

I recently took part in an IDC held by Dune Atlantis Bali. It was excellent and i would like to highlight the great job done by course director Patrick and staff instructor Karl. What i was most impressed with was their focus on not getting us to pass the IDC and the subsequent Instructor Exam, but to create good instructors. I would highly recommend them to anyone interested in doing IDC.

Hard to know where to start. . .

After emailing several dive centres around the world, I decided to do a 2 month Divemaster internship with Atlantis. The emails received from Jerome and Marie were so helpful and friendly, answered my many, many questions and made me feel confident I had chose the right place.

They arranged everything and gave a price that included all required (advanced open water, EFR, Rescue and Divemaster courses, learning materials, equipment rental AND accommodation) – no surprise charges when I got there. They picked me up from the airport, took me to the dive centre for a little tour and then onto my guesthouse – absolutely no stress involved. All the staff – the drivers, the equipment guys, the office girls, the divemasters and instructors were so nice and made me feel relaxed and very welcome straight away.

The scuba equipment and speedboats are in excellent condition and the equipment guys move all the tanks and wash your equipment for each dive so you don’t have to!

All the instructors and divemasters are experienced and very capable as well as friendly and funny. The courses are taught well and they go well beyond what is required from PADI – they want you to be a good divemaster, rather than just a divemaster. The office staff are fantastic and make everything happen – the organisation is always perfect, and there is a lot of organising to do on busy days!

It goes without saying the dive sites in and around Bali are excellent and as a divemaster trainee you get to go to all of them, many many times. I dived almost every day I was there – the only exceptions were when there were classroom/pool days and when I asked for days off to go exploring.

The dive centre, training and equipment are top quality. What really makes Atlantis special though is the people. After a while the staff stopped seeming like staff and more like friends. At the end of the 2 months, I finished the DM course, was originally intending to travel on to Vietnam and Cambodia for my final month of holiday. . . but I was having such a good time with Atlantis, I stayed 🙂 .

At events I heard people from other dive centres referring to the ‘Atlantis family’. . .which to begin with sounded a bit cheesy to me. . .but it’s true and I will miss them all very much. It’s no exaggeration when I say that it was the best three months ever and I can’t wait to get back out there at the earliest opportunity.

I could write for hours, but will stop now. . feel free to ask me for advice 🙂

Thanks for everything Atlantis.

The Atlantis dive master intership is a fantastic, hands-on experience that leaves you feeling confident in your skills whether you plan to continue onto IDC or work as a dive master in the industry. In addition to quality education, the people at Atlantis welcome you to their dive family and introduce you to the life in Sanur Beach. You also get to experience a variety of fun dives in addition to their training for the dive master certification.