Diving In Wonderland

14/03/2021

Do you ever dream about quitting your 9-5 job and turn your passion for scuba diving into a career? Getting a clear overview of everything you need to know to make a well-informed decision can be overwhelming. To make your life a bit easier, I put together everything you need to know to become a dive instructor.

Do you ever dream about quitting your 9-5 job and become a dive instructor? Find out all you need to know about this life-changing career.

02/03/2021

I love writing for other websites, and especially when it's about diving in my own backyard. Check out my latest blog about scuba diving in Dauin and Apo Island, and why you should add it to your scuba bucket list right now!

Diving in Dauin offers world-class muck dives sites, while diving at Apo Island will blow you away with some of the top coral reefs on earth!

20/02/2021

The most hated dive skill of all times.... mask removal!
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Well, at least it was by me, when I did my Open Water Course. Not sure if my instructor still remembers, but I was VERY close to bursting into tears and and abandoning the course altogether. All because I had to remove my mask underwater 😆
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Years later, I don't really mind anymore, but to say it's my favorite thing in the world? Nah. (I mean, look at my face.)
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As much as I can totally relate to students who shoot up to the surface coughing and gasping for air the first time they take their mask off underwater, it has to be done. And they all do it, eventually! And then it becomes one of the things they are most proud of at the end of their course.
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Who else hates/hated mask removal?

18/02/2021

The story of how I became a dive instructor...⁠
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My bio says 'office girl turned dive instructor' and one of the questions I get asked most is HOW did that happen?⁠
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I'm afraid it's not a very exciting story, and it's certainly not unique! I used to work in marketing, and after more than 10 years spending the majority of my days in an office, I got fed up with it. Surely this was not the way I wanted to spend my life? Knowing what my life would look like in 10 years made me seriously anxious and extremely bored at the same time.⁠
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So I quit my job to go travel the world for a year. That sounds very impulsive, it was quite the opposite - if only for the fact that I had to save money first. My first destination was the Philippines, for the simple reason that I hadn't been there before. Taking a divemaster training had been on my bucket list for a long time, so I would start with that. But it was never with the intention of actually working as one.⁠
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When I first arrived in the Philippines, I didn't even like it! I was this close to moving on, but I changed my mindset and decided to give it a real chance. The result: more than 2 years later I'm still here (sorry mom)! I fell in love with the place, the lifestyle and - to my big surprise - with teaching. Ok, I also fell in love with a guy, but that came later :)⁠
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So yeah, it certainly wasn't a conscious decision, it just sorta happened! But that's life isn't it - it doesn't always go according to plan. To me, that's a very good thing!

16/02/2021

Check out this blog I wrote for TDI about the biggest (and somewhat painful) lesson from my technical dive training!

If you’re an experienced diver thinking about making the leap from sport diving to technical diving, this article is for you. Learn more about how this long-time instructor was served some humble pie in her first-ever technical diving course. We can all learn a lot from those who are willing to ad...

13/02/2021

Have you been out of the water for a while? Are you worried you don’t remember everything from your dive course? Or are you just curious about diving and what you will learn in a dive course? Take this quiz to test your knowledge and learn a little (or a lot) along the way!

How much do you know about scuba diving? Take this scuba diving quiz to test your knowledge and learn a little (or a lot) along the way!

30/01/2021

Trim is one of the four fundamental skills in scuba diving, yet there are many divers who don’t always have good trim. Why is that, and is it really that important? Find out all you need to know about trim!

Trim is one of the four fundamental skills of scuba diving. Find out what it is, why you should care, and how to achieve perfect trim!

26/01/2021

Spaceship coming in!
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Aren't cephalopods the coolest creatures ever? After staring me down for a minute or two, this cuttlefish decided to come over to say hi. I was convinced we made a connection, but a fellow diver thinks it was probably just protecting its nest 😐
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Although it's much more plausible, I still prefer my version 😆 What do you think this cuttlefish was up to?

22/01/2021

One of my biggest worries in my early scuba days used to be if I’d be able to go down. There’s nothing that says ROOKIE more than a diver splashing around at the surface, while all his buddies are already halfway their descent. So to avoid that, I heavily overweighed myself. It worked: I always sank down like a rock before anyone else. It wasn’t great for my ears, and I repeatedly crash landed on some corals, but hey, at least I got there. Besides the destruction of marine life, there are other reasons why this is ALL WRONG.
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The first one is that you have to drag all the extra weight around your whole dive. The extra effort this takes will make you go through your air supply much faster than if you were properly weighted. But besides the extra work there’s also a safety concern: if there’s an emergency, the excessive weight will prevent you from getting back to the surface as quickly (and safely) as possible. Depending on how much you’re carrying, you may not make it at all…
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As I became more confident as a diver I slowly started to get rid of those unnecessary kilos (on my weight belt - not the other ones). I was amazed by how much of a difference it made! I was less tired and my air consumption and trim improved dramatically. As soon as I ditched the excess weight, my dive skills improved almost immediately.
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Before you ditch all your weights: not carrying enough can be equally hazardous! You want to carry enough weight to help you stay down at the end of your dive, with an almost empty tank.

18/01/2021

The world of technical diving can be intimidating. It looks cool, goes deep and involves a lot of tanks, but do you know what it is exactly? Find out everything you need to know in this beginner's guide to technical diving!

The world of technical diving can be intimidating. Find out what exactly is technical diving - and if you're ready for it!

15/01/2021

Never have I ever...
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touched marine life! Have you? I mean, we all know that we shouldn't touch marine life, but maybe there was a good reason for it, like freeing a turtle trapped in some trash. Or maybe the temptation was just too strong (hello whale shark!).
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I personally have never touched marine life intentionally. But it has definitely happened by accident - more than once. I have bumped into corals because I wasn't in control of my buoyancy. I have hit a triggerfish in the head with my fin because he kept attacking me. And very recently, I was stung by a sea urchin because I wasn't paying attention. So yeah - definitely guilty!
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How about you: have you ever touched marine life and if yes, what's the story?

11/01/2021

That time I left my tank standing up and walked away...
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One of the things you learn in the Open Water Course is to never leave your tank standing up unattended. If you need to leave it, put it down on the floor so it can’t fall over. It’s one of those things that probably makes you think ‘oh well, how bad can it really be?’ Well, I learned that the hard way.
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When I started my divemaster training all my gear was brand new. I knew not to leave my kit standing up unattended, but surely a few seconds wouldn’t be much of an issue. Right? So I sprinted to the equipment room to grab some weights, and BANG. I turned around, and saw my tank and shiny new gear lying on the floor. The tank seemed to be fine, although it would need a visual inspection just to be sure. But the first stage of my regulator was badly damaged. The DIN screw was bent, and therefore did not fit the tank valve anymore. I had it fixed, but I kept having occasional problems with leaks for a long time. And my shiny new reg had a major dent in it. Whenever I look at it, it still hurts…
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Check out my stories to see the damage :)