Being the ocean 71% of the earth surface and the main source of life on earth…we are still wondering how is it possible that there are so many people in the world that haven’t discovered the scuba diving world yet….We have been asking around for the main reasons why people scuba, so we can put them all together and try and convince more people to join us in our passion! Eventually, we have come up with a few...

1. Travelling:

It opens a new whole world of possibilities…you will all agree that your travelling destinations are most of the time planned around the best diving spots.
​And this takes you, sometimes, to undiscovered places that leave you astounded as a result (see post about Papua New Guinea).   ​

2. Peace:

​whether you work in the diving industry or diving is just your hobby, we can all also agree that everyone enjoys the peace and tranquillity that making bubbles brings you.  Under the water, it is just you and your thoughts. No words can be used (hence the hand signal communication) and you will find yourself focusing on your breathing, and therefore, letting yourself go with every thought that comes to your mind. Note on this, how important is a relaxed breathing pattern, which will not only allow you to enjoy more your dive, but will highly improve your air consumption.

​3. Discover a new world:  

The underwater world! We all grow up watching movies and documentaries that gives us a hint of what is hiding in the unknown and mysterious underwater world, but what better than discovering yourself!
From Shipwrecks, forgotten cities, endless kilometres of coral reef, caves, or the dark and deep blue and all its creatures….just to name a few! ​

​5.  Sunsets and sunrises: 
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​Now… I dare you to say that you have seen more breath-taking sunrises and sunsets than the ones you stumble upon at sea! No way! That is a privilege that you only get when you scuba dive! 
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​6.  Become environmentally aware: 

​Once you learn what is beneath the surface and all the human threats it is encountering, it encourages you to become much more environmentally aware.
This is the main reason why we strongly believe that more people should join the diving world.
​The more people enjoying scuba diving and learning about the ocean and its threats, the stronger the fight against environmental causes will be. 

April 2014, Koh Tao, Thailand.

Another beautiful day in my favourite island in Thailand. It was a special day because I just finalised my Dive Master Program at Phoenix Divers. It took me 6 weeks of diving, setting up equipment for customers, assisting diving courses, doing dive briefings and servicing equipment, among other job duties. 
I learnt so much during those 6 weeks, I gained all my diving experience and confidence day by day and finally...I became a dive professional!

The most exiting moment ever for a  new Dive Master is leading your first customers under the water! I will never forget that experience....and here is why!

My first dive as a dive leader was at shark mountain in Koh Tao. It was a sunny day, the sea was calm and we had about 10 meter visibility. 20 minutes into the dive, at 12 meter depth, I turned around to check if my 3 customers behind me were ok. 
I felt very good - the 3 of them, close to each other and right behind me (all what you want as a dive leader!), I knew the direction back to the boat (my biggest fear, get lost on the first dive). Everything was going great so far...so I turned around again and just saw a Triggerfish swimming straight into my direction like a torpedo! 
That bastard didn't even give me a second to think about what to do.
He crashed straight into my forehead and gave me a nice welcome bite!
Awesome!!  Apparently I invaded his home!

Patrick, one of my divers had his camera ready and filmed everything after it happened..click the button below.                                          

The tradition states that every dive master trainee must finish their program with a snorkel test!

So after I returned from the doctor with 3 stitches in my head, we all got ready for a big celebration. 

Dressed up as a fairy (trigger fairy) we played several drinking games and the final snorkel test! 

Mask on, snorkel in and drink whatever your DMT mentor pores in your snorkel! 

Welcome to the world of a dive professional!!

After all, I think we shouldn't be afraid of the Triggerfish at all, we should respect them same as every other marine life. Be aware in which environment you dive and be alert of fish like the Titan trigger.

It is not our natural environment so we are just their guests!

Let me introduce you to one of the best boys I have ever met: Matty 'dread logs' Alexander! 

When I started working for this company, 2 years ago, he was one of the dive master trainees with not much diving experience but already with his long weird hair.
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Unfortunately, after only a couple of weeks into his training he decided to jump into a tender and break his ankle.
That meant a little break from work and diving for young and wild Matty.  However, after he recovered, he was back with us, better than never before!

Last but not least..a little mention of another key member of  the A-TEAM:   Jai Holland!   

​I had the best time of my life working with these two legends! 

It was always a pleasure to work with you guys! #seriousdiving    #seriousfun   

Time to move on, safe travels and best luck in western Australia Matty!   Send us some photos of the Whale-sharks!

Have you done -naked- dive number 100 yet? Or are you thinking  about becoming a dive professional?
No worries, contact me for more information!

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world. It is larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space. The great barrier reef is the world’s largest individual formation created by living organisms.

As the largest coral reef in the world, the Great Barrier Reef includes over 900 islands, over 2,900 separate reefs, and supports one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world.

The reef stretches 2,300 km along the north eastern coast of Australia and it covers over 133,000 square miles (344,000 sq km).

Time to explore!

The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps.

A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism.

The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality.
​Nowadays the Reef is a very popular tourist destination especially from Cairns and the Whitsundays. 

Did you know that over two million people are visiting the Great Barrier Reef each year?? 
​Good connecting flights from Europe or America and cheap direct flights from Asia or Indonesia transfer hundreds of tourists to tropical Cairns everyday. 

Check out below my latest introductory dive team who just arrived yesterday to see one of the natural wonders of the world!

Have you added trying scuba in the Great Barrier Reef on your bucket list? 

If you haven't, remember this 3 golden scuba rules for your upcoming dive adventure!

Rule 1 - NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH!

Rule 2 - Equalise your ears

Rule 3 - stay close to your instructor

Easy as that! 

Join me on the next dive adventure at the Great Barrier Reef and learn more about scuba diving!

Please contact me for more information. 

Right after finishing her SSI Instructor Course, Anna had the opportunity to come to our live aboard and put into practice all she learnt over her training. Whilst being Dive Master, she was in charge of already certified divers only, taking them for dives, looking after them and showing them around the best spots on the reef. 

This time however, she was involved in a real mission! Getting newbies to learn how to scuba dive from scratch and make sure they both felt comfortable enough performing the skills and able to keep diving on their own in the future. 

The first introductory dive was challenging, since it was the first time ever that they put scuba units on and breathed under water. One student was slightly more comfortable in the water than the other, which made it a more interesting course to start with for Anna. Having two different students with different levels of confidence lets you have a better understanding of the importance of having a good group control and accommodate to their needs. 

Dive after dive (9 in total!) they both exceeded our expectations and improved a lot, reaching a satisfactory level of comfort in the water in order to get certified as SSI Open Water Divers. 

Practicing all the skills from dive one in the Great Barrier Reef allows you to become more confident for your future diving adventures. The first few sessions are the most important and are always performed in confined open water, but that means you are in a real environment rather than in a swimming pool. Plus, you also get to see stingrays swimming around you whilst you perform the skills, like Elmira and Heather did! 

All in all, Anna did very well for her first Open Water Course and her students left super happy and excited for future diving adventures.

If you're interested in your personal dive experience, feel free to contact me! 

Big applause for our biggest ITC in Australia!!

Check out the new and good looking generation of SSI dive Instructors just certified in Cairns!
Scubabo, with the collaboration of Hostel Reef Trips, organised the biggest ITC ever carried out in Australia, and it turned out to be a great success! 

Nikki, Justin, Anna, Matty & Jackson just completed their 3 months dive master training before on our over night boat. 
Giving certified divers dive briefings, guiding certified divers, preparing the dive sessions which includes filling scuba tanks and writing dive logs..all these is part of the program. 

The final step to become a assistant Instructor is to assist a full Open Water Course with our high qualified dive Instructors. Assisting scuba skills update program and at the end an In-water teaching evaluation which means learn how to brief and teach unexperienced students who never dived before and get them ready and excited for these great adventure. 
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All 5 of them have done very well and got nominated for our first SSI Instructor course in Cairns! 
Congratulations guys! 

​The course consisted in 10 academic and pool training days course and ended up in beautiful Fitzroy Island for the open water evaluation. The 9 participants chosen were employees from Scubabo Underwater photography Art and Hostel Reef Trips, who had previously completed their Dive Master Traineeship with either companies. 

After a stressful too weeks, big smile on all our candidates faces! No more preparing presentations, online studying or skills practicing because everyone has passed the course! Wuuuup wuuup
Speedboat back from Fitzroy to our base in Cairns! Already a couple of drinks in and ready for a big night out in town!!

Big thanks to these 3 SSI legends! Joel (Scubabo), Macca (Hostel Reef Trips) and Paul (SSI certifier) who allowed me to follow the course and the final IE on Fitzroy Island! 

My next step is gonna be the Instructor Trainer course in May 2018! 

Do you want to live and work in paradise like our latest SSI diving instructors? No problem, contact me here to get more details! 

I would like to introduce you to Reto, who decided to sign up for his Open Water Course on our live aboard Reef Encounter. Only after 3 days and 2 nights, including 8 day dives and a final exam,  Reto was an Open Water diver!
The course started with his first open water dive in our beautiful reef location Norman Playgrounds. 
Usually the first confined session is the hardest,  performing mask and regulator removal under water is not an easy task but guess what? Reto smashed it!  So we were able to continue  the session as a fun 30 minutes dive!

Watch out for our new SSI assistant Instructor Justin! Well done mate, 3 month of dive master training inlcuding your training for your assistant instructor . Good job my friend, continuously gaining your diving experience and working hard on the boat day in day out. 
Always keen to learn something new and ready for new challenges.
A few weeks to go until you start your instructor course, thank god we had to do the in- water teaching evaluation  again to make sure you're well prepared for it! 
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Thanks a lot mate, it was always a pleasure to work with you! Best luck for your Instructor course next week!

Send me your details if you want more information about our dive professional training program on the Great Barrier Reef!

Piotr just finished his open water certification after 2 nights 3 days on our live aboard on the Great Barrier Reef. First time breathing under water is hard for everyone. Piotr pushed himself and made it! Well done mate. Dive after dive he got more and more comfortable with himself under water. Now 7 dives later he is certified to go diving around the world for his whole life!

Start your own diving adventure here

In November 2014 I became a diving Instructor in Koh Tao, Thailand! I was not expecting to work in the diving industry long term - go diving every day, meeting people from all over the world, living in paradise was for me 2014 an unrealistic thought. Now 3 years later, I am on a 2 years sponsorship contract in Cairns and work on one of the natural wonders of the world!
On our live-aboard Reef Encounter we're offering all year, every day introductory scuba dives, personalised ​open water- advanced adventure- stress & rescue- and a lot of other speciality diving courses. 
So feel free to join me on the next available course.

Are you interested to learn how to dive or want to become a dive professional?
No worries, leave your details here and I will send you more information! 

Thanks for everyone's support - keep following, sharing, liking!

Introductory diver Carlos from Spain came on our over night boat for 1 night- 2 days. Seeing sea turtle and reef sharks was another great experience while breathing under water for him. 
Super happy and excited from his whole trip, he even ask me to stamp his passport. 
Carlos you legend, safe travels!! Hopefully see you back soon!