“欢迎来到美娜多：世界潜水圣地”
“Welcome to the world’s diving paradise: Manado”
I’ve watched a youtube channel of a chinese travel influencer when he visited Manado for diving. He has travelled to many places and he said Manado is one the best and the most beautiful diving spot in the world. In the opening he said that sentence. I finally proved that by myself on June 2022 when I took a diving license and witnessed Manado’s eternal beauty by myself. I couldn’t agree with him more.
I recently completed a wonderful SSI Open Water Diving Lesson that spanned over three days. What made the experience even more special was having the opportunity to learn from the renowned dive instructor, Reinhart Garang. His wealth of knowledge and years of teaching experience were truly inspiring. It was an absolute privilege to be under his guidance during the course.
I reached Manado from Jailolo by local ship (We call in Kapal Motor or KM). In East Indonesia, local ship is a common transportation due to unaffordable airplane tickets. People are forced to exchange their time than to have to pay 3-4 times more expensive for airplane tickets.
I chose go to Manado by ship because I wanted to press my budget. Since the ship’s facility was still bearable, I dont mind to spend a night on sea.
Day 1 – June 20th 2022
Early in the morning, the ship finally arrived at Manado Harbour. The harbour is located in a small gulf, right under the bridge, Soekarno Bridge.
maps regularly to find out my current position. Woww
and turned out, I was almost there! ^0^
Just arrived Manado, I went to Malalayang directly (where Minanga Divers is located). I was so lucky, the student was only me, so it would be a private lesson ^0^ While I were waiting for om Reinhart, I had breakfast, a Manadonese yellow rice. Yellow rice in Manado means a package of rice, a boiled egg, shredded fish at the top and also chili sauce (for sure). It is so common here to have fish with rice.
Because I was given diving theories throughout SSI app just when I registered, so the first day of theory class was short, I just got several educating videos to watch and introduced to all diving equipments.
After all the theory classes and equipments introduction, we moved to the shore to practice in shallow waters (5-6 metres). Minanga Divers’ basecamp is right next to the shore. There is no pool class like any the diving class I’ve ever heard of. I was a bit nervous to directly go to sea. But everything went smoothly. I was too excited to go deeper next day!
Day 2 – June 21st 2022
The sun was so bright but I was so ready to go to the sea. The second day we dove twice in 12 metres depth for 45 and 35 minutes. We walked towards the sea from the stoney shore. Malalayang shore was a nice place for learn to dive.
Day 3 – June 22nd 2022
The last day of my dive certification class! We went to Bunaken National Park by boat.
After 30 minutes, the boat stopped at a certain point and we did preparation and a short brief. First dive point was Fukui. We had 40 minutes dive along a gigantic magnificent wall. The wall holds a lot of biodiversity. From various sizes of turtles, many shapes of hard and soft corals, and colourful fishes! Feels like swimming in a enormous aquarium! I was trying to manage my oxygen usage by inhale and exhale smoothly, but sometimes I couldn’t handle it when I saw a group of colourful fishes or a weird-shaped corals. Diving is like enter a totally different world, see countless creatures that we’ve never met before. It was a totally awesome experience and now I’m officially addicted to dive!
After lunch break (and also do surface interval), we continued for the second dive. Second dive was at Muka Kampung dive point. ‘Muka Kampung’ means ‘In front of the village’. As the meaning, the dive point is located in front of a village. Muka Kampung dive point is also along the wall. We dove until 16 metres depth for 45 minutes. I was so lucky, the weather was clear and the sea waves were calm. 45 minutes were so short! I wanted more dives, LOL.
After we went back to the basecamp, we directly washed all the equipments with plain water. It is also part of the dive lesson, not only check all the function of the equipments, but we have to take care all the equipments also because they are our life when we dive. Then I were asked to fill a form to complete my registration. After two days, I received my digital diving certificate, and by the end of the month, I received the certificate shipped to my address.
Yellow Rice aka Nasi Kuning with Bunaken National Park as the background
Take diving lesson: Mission Accomplished!
There is Advanced Level after the Open Water Level, but Advanced Level is eligible for those who hold Open Water Certificate that have completed 12 logs dive. But I am not in rush to reach advanced level, I want to dive as more as I can and learn as much as possible.
I have been dreaming to dive for years, but after so many struggles finally I’ve unlocked it. Maybe it sounds cliche, but by continuously dreaming and trying, we can definitely make our wishes come true. And we have to still grateful for any chances that ever came and be brave to grab those chances. Thanks for come by and read my blog!
The Travel Journey of Audrey Tanzil 
2 responses to “First Time Visit Manado: Dive Lesson Experience”
Every day the yellow rice breakfast makes you miss going back there :))
Hopefully I can visit there too :’)
wkwkwk