Christmas in Velidhu
Santa Claus was bringing to all the guests the traditional ginger bread and had in the same time the occasion to felicitate Rob who finished his Rescue Diver Course at Christmas and Annette who got certified Open Water Diver the same day !
In the evening we were spoiled with a very nice dinner prepared from the Velidhu kitchen crew.
Mantas are already back!
Even if the manta season is not officialy started by now, we already tried 3 times to dive on Maavaru Manta Point and we were recompensed with a visit of 1 or 2 Mantas dancing over the cleaning station !
Bored and burnt out of the stressful life in Holland, I quit my job as Manager Back Office & Finance and I went to Curacao for holiday. On this tropical island I took my first breaths under water with Instructor Marc, who is still my buddy in life.
The golden rule with scuba-diving is “never hold your breath” and so is my saying “Just B(-reath)” stay in the moment.
That trip changed everything. Since 2014, I visited more than 50 countries in three continents. Diving came into my life in 2015 when I decided to finish Open Water Course in Thailand – that time I spent all my money on that and had to hitchhike from Thailand to Russia for 1 month! Besides Thailand, I gained experience in Egypt, Colombia, Spain and Vietnam.
2019, 2020, 2021 – still in Maldives, enjoying what I love the most. Diving brings me peace, teaching brings me joy by seeing my students learning how to dive, experiencing new world, improving their skills and overcoming their fears.
My last job before diving instructor was Senior HR Specialist in a clinical trial company in Beijing, China. Since I had my first diving experience in Vietnam as a tourist, I couldn’t forget this magical sensation underwater and I ended up spending all of my holiday’s diving in Southeast Asia. It was at the moment when I found “holiday diving” couldn’t meet my passion anymore, that I decided to become an instructor.
If you like immersive experience, scuba diving is definitely the best one among many others; If you like traveling around the world, you would love to see the 70% of the planet which is underwater; If you want to experience the feeling of being weightless, scuba diving is the best option as walking in the space still takes time to realize; If you want to disconnect, to escape, to forget, to calm down, to cheer up, to release stress, to clear your head, go diving.”
Im sonnigen Süden (Ägypten) lernte ich im Urlaub die unglaubliche Unterwasserwelt bei einem Schnuppertauchgang kennen und lieben.
Anfangs arbeitete ich im Tauchcenter im Büro, mir wurde jedoch schnell klar, dass ich die Gäste nicht nur über Wasser sondern auch unter Wasser begleiten wollte. Somit machte ich die Divemaster Ausbildung.
I studied Hotel management and ended up working for several years in different Hotels/Resorts around Italians seaside where I spend my days off diving and achieving the Dive Master rating.
The biggest challenge currently we have (like many others) is to survive the Covid times, however, we remain positive and hopeful that tourism will bounce back sooner or later and we will be able to dive with our international friends as we did pre-covid.
But diving was not at all my purpose of the journey, in fact I was not even a diver yet, I became a diver after I got passionate in freediving in Egypt in 2012 while freediving with dolphin in the wild, eager to become a snorkeling guide, I did my life guard licence and then my PADI open water!
I am a scuba instructor since 7 years, I have been working with Euro-Divers since in Egypt then later they gave me the opportunity to work in the Maldives where I still live. As a female diver I’ve never had any trouble in this activity, neither since I am instructor. Generally, in the diving industry, you will find yourself outnumbered more by men than women so that can be intimidating at first but hey! guys have realized by now that us girls can be as good (if not better) as them underwater 😉 !
I decided after my hospitality studies to enter this fascinating new world. I have started my career in Club Med as Guest Service and had the opportunity to travel some of the famous destinations for diving or snorkeling. That’s how I end up in the Maldives, Club Med Kani, where I was approached by one of the dive instructors to start my new addiction!
I am the perfect example of someone who was scared of diving, the only advice I could give is to believe in yourself, diving is for anyone who want to go above their comfort zone and achieve what you think you are not able to do. The best evasion of the mind is to be underwater but also to share this passion to others.
But since I was young, I knew I wanted to travel the world, to go on adventures, have fun and meet people from everywhere. Unfortunately, those jobs didn’t give me the opportunity to do it so after 5 years I decided to move to Thailand.
Becoming a diver gives you the chance to feel, to live, to explore, and to admire this unique underwater world. Just jump, open your eyes, and take your first breath in the Ocean. And, when you will be surrounded by those beautiful aquatic creatures you will understand how it is like to fly in paradise.”
During this time, I wanted to try something new, so I started scuba diving and I will never forget my first underwater experience. I felt nervous at first but at the same time a lot of excitement.
Like everyone has different food taste, everyone can find different diving taste, not only for the depth and time, also finding different big/small animals, corals, topography, enjoy the silence, zero-gravity, water flow etc. Diving can be your lifetime activity. Come and join us for your diving experience. It can be a chance to find new step!”
