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IDC August 2013 ~ Opening Day

aug 14, 2013   //   by supernova   //   Blog  //  No Comments

Here we are at Crystal Divers and time to do another IDC. This time we have : Sabrina and Astrid from Germany, Julie and Stefano from USA, Josephine from Hong Kong, and Kiyoshi from Japan. In staff instructor side will be Rakhmat from Indonesia and Indo from Australia.  Mari, Greg, Robin and Wulan will be on and off for staffing.  Of course under our Course Director Minni and Taka.

It will take 16 days and 3 days for IE. They will develop their knowledge, skills, and attitude during these days and of course afterward.  These 3 elements work together but the most important is attitude, with a good attitude you will be a good instructor for your students and your surroundings.

The course starts with orientation, this time you need to introduce yourself, where do you come from and why you want to become an instructor. Minni and Taka gave presentations for the IDC candidate as well as assignment during the presentations. Greg explained us about learning, instruction and PADI system nicely and finally we learn to make Knowledge development. The IDC candidate got their very first assignment for the Knowledge Development Presentation. Let’s the fun begin!

14-August-open-day-IDC

Join Crystal Divers and the evolution on ScubaEarth!

Dec 13, 2012   //   by supernova   //   Blog, Crystal Divers  //  No Comments

Join Crystal Divers and the evolution!

Join Crystal Divers crew on ScubaEarth™ is your one-stop resource for everything scuba related and where you can research, plan and share your dive experiences. Search more than 50,000 dive sites, find PADI Dive Centers and Resorts, connect with new dive buddies, log your dives, upload your dive photos or videos and more.

Find all Crystal divers staff on Scuba earth share logged dives and pictures you enjoyed together with us.

Join crystal Divers on ScubaEarth community (it’s free)

• Find current weather information and recent dive conditions for your favorite dive sites.
• Explore more than 60 dive destinations around the world to help plan your next trip.
• Join Crystal Divers dive crew your favorite PADI dive shop in Bali
• Track your scuba gear purchase dates, service dates and more in your gear locker.
• Keep a digital logbook of your dives and associate photos with those dives.
• Contact or leave messages for your favorite dive buddies and PADI dive shops.

Register

Get started on this exciting, valuable social dive experience together with Crystal Divers now:

1. Go to www.ScubaEarth.com or click the ScubaEarth logo below to register

2. Select your experience level andselect Register

3. Enter your details and select Register


Select Crystal Divers as  Primary Dive Shop

ChoseCrystal Divers as your  PADI dive shop as your primary dive center. Choosing a primary shop center means you’ll see our upcoming activities and programs. Edit Your Profile Info Tab Upload a profile photo to your profile. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be the same one you have on your certification card. You can also write a brief description of yourself, the kind of diving you enjoy or just about any other fun facts you want to share with your buddies. As you upload photos to share, the three most recent ones will appear at the top on your info tab.

Start Your Logbook

Your logbook is a collection of all your dives logged in ScubaEarth. Click the blue “log a dive” button at the top of any page to log a dive. Choose the dive site from the map (you can search by dive site name or location). If the dive site doesn’t exist, you can add it by entering the GPS coordinates. Once you’ve selected the dive site, enter your dive details. You can be detailed right away or just log the basics and come back later to add more. You can also upload images and associate them with your logged dive. You can also choose to have your logged dives and images display on the community dive map.

Stock Your Gear Locker

Add the equipment you dive with to your virtual gear locker. You can also keep track of purchase and service dates. A well-stocked gear locker also makes it easier to track which gear configurations you use when you log your dives.View Your Certifications All of your PADI certifications are automatically displayed, which makes it simple to replace a certification card if you need to. Add Media Show your dive buddies your cool dive experiences and associate the pictures with your logged dives.

Research Featured Destinations

Find more than 60 featured dive destinations with essential information like the best time to visit, what to expect, any iconic marine life and the top sites at that location. This is just about everything you need to know about a dive destination at a glance.

View Dive Shops

Find all PADI dive shops not only Crystal Divers, view their profiles and join their dive crew to stay up-todate on their activities and events so you can keep diving.View/Add/Edit Dive SitesView, edit or add dive sites around the world. You can look at recently logged dives for each dive site to get an idea of the dive conditions and get current weather information to plan your next dive. Don’t forget to log your dives and share your experiences.

Teaming up for our Ocean

maj 31, 2012   //   by supernova   //   Blog, Crystal Divers  //  No Comments

World Ocean Day beach cleanup and Project AWARE fundraiser!

Crystal Divers Bali and Blue Season Bali  are joining forces with some help from PADIProject AWARE and Divemasters Bali to support ocean conservation and celebrate World Ocean Day! The 2012 theme is Youth: the Next Wave for Change.

World Ocean Day Beach Cleanup

During the daytime (from 930 to 1130am), we will be conducting a beach cleanup with 100s of kids from Sanur Independent Schools. During the cleanup, we will host some fun games and educational activities.

World Ocean Day Barbecue and Project AWARE Fundraiser Party

On the evening of June 8th 2012, we are hosting an enormous Barbecue and fundraiser event where we will be auctioning awesome prizes to raise a huge amount of money for Project AWARE. Last year we raised over $7000 so this year we are raising the bar and aiming for $10,000!

As well as raising money, we will of course have a fabulous fun packed night with great food, drinks, games and challenges… If you want to join us for this amazing evening you need to buy your tickets in advance from Crystal Divers, 100 000 for all you can eat Barbecue per person!

The more people that signs up NOW the better the prizes will be, so get your tickets TODAY ! email minni@crystal-divers.com to get you signed up !

Just to mention some of the prices:

  • Titan LX Regulator from Divemaster
  • Wine from Hatten
  • Lots of drinks from Coca Cola and Carlsberg
  • 2 nights stay at 16 Kejora villa for up to 6 people
  • 2 nights stay at Villa Poulsen for up to 4 people
  • Full IDC Crewpack from Padi
  • Tickets to Gili’s from Get Away
  • 1 day with Manta Trust for research
  • Rafting tickets from Sobek
  • Mountainbike trips
  • Elefant ride from Bali Adventure
  • 3 hours Royal Spa treatment
  • 1 night at Rumah Cantik in Lovina.
  • 2 day / 1 night trip to north Bali with Nick Tours
  • 1 days of car rent from Nick Tours
  • 2 nights at Bayu Cottages in Amed

… and there will be more!

Scuba Diving Summer Fun Kids Program

Beyond the events on June 8th, Blue Season Bali and Crystal Divers will be conducting a summer long Bubblemaker and SEAL Team scuba diving program for kids age 8 to 9 years old and Junior Open Water Diver courses for kids between the age of 10 to 14 years old. These special multi-day programs will run from June 16th to August 5th 2012.

For more information, please contact:

email holly@Crystal-Divers.com or phone + 62 (0)361 286737
or
email Robert@BlueSeasonBali.com or phone +62 (0)361 270852


Every End Has A Start

apr 23, 2012   //   by supernova   //   Blog, Crystal Divers, Interns Blog  //  No Comments
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 5th 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 journey 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 atTulamben 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

Crystal Diver’s Shout Out For Sharks

apr 23, 2012   //   by supernova   //   Crystal Divers  //  No Comments

A desire to protect sharks and have fun led the Crystal Divers team to organize a massive month of fundraising for the Big Shark Shout Out.

Holly and Crystal Divers launched their Big Shark Shout Out month with a huge barbecue and shark themed drinks night. The shark shots proved very popular and 76 people enjoyed the amazing barbecue, with even more for drinks!

A try dive day in Crystal Divers pool with Poseidon’s new rebreathers raised more money and our yoga teacher Pinglan is very generously donating all of April’s class fees to the cause.

“Our sincere thanks go to Bali Crystal Divers.  The Foundation relies on champions like Holly to go above and beyond and raise much needed funds for our ocean. Holding fundraising events is a great way to get your dive community together for a good cause,” said Joanna McNamara, Coordinator Project AWARE Foundation.

The Big Shark Shout Out is a shark month of action aimed at protecting sharks from overexploitation – overfishing, finning and bycatch.

This Earth Day and throughout April, Project AWARE and divers worldwide call on local communities to rally support for the protection of the world’s most vulnerable shark species by signing and organizing petition signatures to protect heavily traded species.

Well done Crystal Divers. Over 1000 signatures for the shark petition and over $1,200 raised so far to protect sharks.   Keep up the fantastic work.

Crystal Divers Shout For Sharks!!

Self reliant Diver Course

apr 4, 2012   //   by supernova   //   Blog, Crystal Divers  //  No Comments

PADI Self reliant Diver Course with one of the few platinum  Course Directors in the world, Minni Vangsgaard at Crystal Divers Bali

Do you trust yourself and your gear enough to become a certified PADI Self Reliant Diver ? This is not a speciality course for everyone, but is designed for divers who are often in circumstances when they do not have a buddy to rely on, in particular dive guides, photographers, videographers and instructors.  Self reliant training involves emphasizes the importance of effective dive planning whilst incorporating elements of tec training in calculating your bottom time. Training dives focus on how to manage a range of problems and safety drills using an independent alternate air source, thus expanding a divers skill basis and developing a new perspective on their diving. Overall, self reliant divers gain more confidence during any dive regardless of whether they dive with a buddy or alone. Also you ones your certified your insurance is more likely to cover you if anything goes wrong, since insurances normally states that your covered as long as you dive within your certification level which both divers on this course now will be next time they go on their own.

Our latest students were Darren, a very experienced diver  and keen  underwater photographer , along with Holly our very own Course Director who wanted to expand her own experience and continue to teach the self reliant course.

Early morning on a sunny day we started with theory , focusing on air consumption calculations, equipment requirements and what to consider when planning and conducting a self reliant dive.  Many of the points provoke interest and prompted discussions  and anecdotes based on different points of views of diving which added  to a very enjoyable theory session!

We then proceeded to plan for the logistics for our  3 Training dives in Tulamben the following day.

Training dives,

Awesome day, Sun was shining and visibility better than it has been for the last 4 weeks in Bali; I think we owe Darren a thanks for bringing some good weather with him to Bali. . . .

Dive 1

Self reliant diver course with Crystal divers Bali

Self reliant diver course with Crystal divers Bali

Dive 1: The Drop Off (Tulamben)

This dive was all about getting used to diving with the additional gear, practising buoyancy  control whilst carrying an independent alternate  air source and learning how to switch to a redundant air supply.  Darren and Holly then  performed a Surface Air Consumption (SAC) rate timed swim to determine their air consumption per minute whilst diving. To conclude the dive they made a safe ascent deploying a DSMB.

 

Dive 2: USAT liberty (tulamben)

Self reliant diver with crystal divers bali

Self reliant diver with crystal divers bali

 

The performance requirements in dive 2 focus on more on ‘diving your plan’  recording your depth and air consumption at pre agreed points throughout  the dive.  We also mask conducted a 2 minute swim without a mask, navigation skills and an out of air drill, all completed with no problems at all!

 

Dive 3:  5 Meter Reef (Tulamben)

Dive 3 was spent refining  the skills practiced so far and applying the air consumption calculations from previous dives to establish turn around pressure.

 

All 3 dives was very relaxed and the students had absolute TOP Score on all skills, Crystal Divers are proud to certify them both as Self Reliant Divers!

 

So  BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Darren and Holly!!!

 

 

Try the new rebreather on April 5

mar 26, 2012   //   by supernova   //   Blog  //  No Comments

 

Join us for a day to try out the new generation of diving

Be one of the first people in Indonesia to try the new recreational rebreather from Poseidon together with Crystal Divers. We will be having 2 pool sessions on April 5 where you will have the opportunity to experience rebreather diving! We will have rebreather instructors and technicians from Poseidon right here to look after you and answer your questions regarding the NEW WAY of diving.

Its a once in a lifetime chance so don’t miss it, for more information please contact us at info@crystal-divers.com or call us 0361-286 737.

There is limited spaces available so if you want a spot let us know as soon as possible.

 

Instructor Development Course

mar 9, 2012   //   by supernova   //   Blog, Interns Blog  //  No Comments
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 2nd of April and like Minni said not good luck because we all have the knowledge already.

Mapping Trip

feb 3, 2012   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

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.

Oxygen Provider in Crystal Divers

Dec 13, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Blog  //  No Comments

One afternoon in Crystal Diver when our Dive Master – Alex; Dive Master Trainee – Gael and Robin; Interns – Eri, Wulan and Imam; and our new Instructor – Tony and Milan; gathered in the class room to listen about oxygen provider lesson. Some of us already certified as oxygen Provider but it doesn’t mean we don’t need to refresh our skills for these lessons. We still need to practice more and more so we can be confident if something happened in the future.

 

Else taught us about Oxygen Provider while Taka was teaching the AI course for Yaiko and of course Mari with her Dive Master Course. We were not only set up the oxygen normally but we need to set up it blindly. It is because if emergency happened, it would not be in the calm situation so we need to handle any kind of situation that can be happened in the future. I can tell you that afternoon all of us did a good job for setting up the oxygen.

Thanks for the lesson and bandana Else!! And of course congratulation to ALEX and GAEL  for their Oxygen Provider Certified 😉 If you want to join us like that fine afternoon, just come to crystal divers and join our course here!

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