Apologies for my recent lack of posting. The wind up to the end of term was full of reports, coursework marking, meetings, assemblies, more marking, more reports, more marking, planning....the list goes on and on. Anyway, I didn't have time to breathe, let alone xmas shop or sleep. But now it's all over for a few weeks and I'm back for a brief stop back home in Canada to see the family, eat some cheese and prepare for New Years on Koh Tao!!! Yup, couldn't resist my favorite place in Thailand. What is New Years without diving and buckets right?? Me + whaleshark = best new years ever. Me + whaleshark followed by me + buckets = even better!!
Anyway, now that I have a few minutes to breathe I thought I would take a minute to write a bit about this mysterious place called Blue Season Bali (BSB) which is sponsoring the contest that I am fighting so hard to win. Ya, I like them because they have put together this amazing competition but it's not just the free dive internship that has me so stoked, it's the company that's putting it on that's made me dead set on winning. It's the perfect combination of the best programme, the best location and the best diving! HEAVEN!!!
So if you weren't sure why you should be supporting me before, I'm going to show you how freaking awesome this place is so that there is no way you can avoid supporting me.
Being a teacher, my head is never far from the relentless grip of academia so I can find no better way to approach the topic than to compare it to that which invades my subconscious endlessly.
Blue Season Bali - The Harvard of the diving world. A comparative study
Ahhh Harvard, the height of the Academic world. The pillar of brainwave activity and the birthplace of greatness. Harvard is the cheese, if you manage to get in there you're set for life. Award winning work, the best professors, the best courses, the best reputation, not to mention the lovely campus set in beautiful surroundings! It's the full package indeed.
Coincidentally, Blue Season Bali shares many of the same qualities!
Award winning work
Last Year Blue Season Bali was given the PADI "Platinum Development Award" for S.E Asia and they have also been awarded the PADI "Green Star Award" for their conservation and eco work around Bali!
Best professors
Considering Blue Season Bali's reputation, it's understandable that they only have the best PADI instructors and ECO specialists. BSB has the only full time multiple platinum PADI course director in all of Indonesia, some of the most experienced Tec diving instructors, as well as an in house marine biologist! Additionally, all the DMs and PADI instructors are top notch! I know, I've already dived with them. These guys know their stuff!
They are always ready to guide happy fun divers (such as myself) out to find Mola Mola, Mantas, turtles and all their friends. I've dived with Putu and Wayan during my two times out with BSB and these guys are the BOMB! On both trips I have seen amazing stuff, stuff that some people hope to see their entire lives but never do! Yes, yes I know it's all the luck of the draw and mother nature will put what she wants in front of your mask but having the knowledge of these guys guiding you can't hurt :) Being local they know these spots like the back of their hand. In Thailand you'd be hard pressed to find a local DM but everywhere I've dived in Indonesia there are plenty of local DMs who seem to know the reef and the wildlife better than anyone else. I'm so excited at the possibility of learning from these guys. I think there are certain things that only a local can teach, especially in a land as complicated and multi-faceted as Bali.
Seriously, who looks like more fun? BSB instructors or Harvard professors?
The best courses
If you want it Blue Season Bali can teach it! From Discovery Scuba for the freshies to OW and AOW to DM training, IDC, Tec diving and Eco courses they offer it all. They also have an amazing selection of internship programs that can take you from newbie to professional over a span of weeks to 7 months! (here's hoping those 7months are mine!!) Recently they've introduced a super cool Eco internship where you not only improve your diving but you learn all about reef restoration and protection and wildlife conservation. How cool is that! If the gods of SCUBA allow me to win this thing I am going to take advantage of everything this place has to offer. I'm going to be preserving and restoring and diving and Tec'ing - when at the Harvard of the diving world it makes sense to take advantage right?
The best reputation
When choosing an institution of higher learning you always want to be sure that it can deliver. Blue Season Bali has a 100% pass rate on their ICD PADI instructor courses. That means noone has failed! Compared to other shops they take a bit more time with their courses to ensure that students know exactly what they are doing. If you're going to invest your time and money in a course as intense as the IDC (instructor development course) you want to make sure that you're going to get the best. Clearly BSB delivers.
100% pass rate! Can't beat that!
Lovely setting in beautiful surroundings
Blue Season has not one but three different dive shops on the island of Bali. One in Sanur, one in Pura Jati (othewise known as PJ) and one near Menjangan Island. If I win I'll be spending most of my time at their shop in Sanur and living near there as well. The Sanur shop is where they do all their PADI development traning and their closest shop to Nusa Penida. The two times that I've dived with BSB I've left from here. It's a nice little centre snuggled off the main road in what I imagine used to be an old Balinese house. They've put in a nice deep dive training pool and have set up a really relaxed and friendly atmosphere for the people who are working, learning and diving there. I imagine that doing your PADI DM and diving instructor course can get stressful at times, lucky for those at BSB the shop is chill and there are tons of people around always (to help with those difficult assignments!) It's the type of place where you can feel comfy having beer when not diving, hunkering down in their classroom and getting things done or meeting the customers who come from all over the world to dive with Bali's Mantas, Mola Mola and other fishies inhabitants.
As for the lovely surroundings...well it's freaking BALI! Things don't get much more picturesque than that. Palms, temples, beaches, volcanoes, mountains covered in lush terraced rice paddies, islands, arid plains... it's amazing. You can't walk down the street in Bali without hearing the distant sound of the gamelan and smelling the insense rising from the hundreds of offerings that can be found on every street corner and shop front. Bali is a truly amazing place both above and below the waves!
I could post a million more photos here of how beautiful Bali is but I'm getting depressed looking at them as I sit here in the frosty, drizzly Vancouver winter so I'm going to stop...
So my faithful fans and friends, if you weren't sure why you should support me before, I hope this has enlightened you a little. Help me win! Send me to the Harvard of the diving world and help me live my dream!!
If you want to learn more about Blue Season Bali click HERE to check out all their programmes and courses. Check them out, get excited for me and help me win!!
To help me out here's what you need to do
1) join my fan page on FB HERE
2) visit my application page on the Best Dive Job blog HERE and leave a comment of support by scrolling waaaaay down to the bottom and telling BSB why I deserve to spend some quality time with them!
Keep checking back to the blog for other info and quality tidbits!
Cheers from the battlefield!
J
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