Many divers become instructors because they want to make a living with a marketable skill — but the Editor has also met people who use their dive instructor credentials as a passport to travel the world. Beyond feasting their eyes on stunning dive sites across the globe, they get to experience unique local cultures and, above all, make friends from every corner of the earth. What a rich and colourful life that must be! We are honoured this time to have invited Karl Singery — Bali Manager and Course Director of the French Dune diving group — to share his diving journey with us.
Q: Why Did You Choose Bali?
Karl has lived in Bali for more than 10 years. He completed his Divemaster course with Dune in 2012, earned his dive instructor certification the following year, and went on to work as an instructor at the Dune dive shop. In 2019, at the remarkably young age of 29, he obtained his Course Director rating, and two years later became the manager of the Dune group's Bali dive shop.
Dune's dive shop sits at the southern tip of Bali, with big-animal and macro dive sites radiating out in every direction.
Why did he choose to settle in Bali? Karl feels that Bali offers a highly international environment, with infrastructure that is relatively well developed compared to other islands in Indonesia, and locals who are genuinely warm and welcoming. Most importantly, it takes very little time to reach big-animal dive sites featuring mola mola and manta rays. If you are a macro photographer, the nearby macro site of Tulamben enjoys an international reputation. Thrill-seekers can head to the Gili dive sites to experience exhilarating currents and chase Whitetip Reef Sharks. All of this made Bali the natural starting point for his diving career.
The advantage of basing Dune's dive shop in Sanur is that no surrounding dive site is more than 2.5 hours away by road. A speedboat ride to Nusa Penida to see the big animals takes only 40 minutes — making it far easier for divers who want to pack multiple types of dive experiences into a single trip.
Systematised service workflows have kept Dune competitively strong ever since it was founded in Bali in 1996.
Of course, as an international-calibre dive destination, Bali is home to a very large number of dive operators — Nusa Penida alone has more than 20, and the whole of Bali has over 50. How to differentiate and attract divers is a question Karl has continually worked through with his team members and group executives ever since becoming shop manager. With high daily guest volumes, keeping the in-shop flow smooth is a fundamental operational requirement — from the initial hotel pick-up, risk statement signing, equipment rental procedures, and dive briefing, all the way through to the post-dive equipment check-in and rinse. During our visit, we got a full sense of just how systematised Dune's operations really are.
The pandemic hit particularly hard: Bali was closed to foreign visitors from mid-2020 until early 2022, dealing a severe blow to an economy heavily reliant on tourism. Even today, you can still spot shuttered businesses in some of Bali's commercial districts that have yet to recover.
Founded in 1996, Dune provides comprehensive dive hardware support and the backing of experienced instructors.
Karl believes that Bali's dive industry was less severely affected by the pandemic than other regions of Indonesia. The reason, he explains, is that Bali sits at a transportation hub in the centre of Indonesia; during the pandemic, dive shops pivoted to serving domestic Indonesian tourists. This convenient location, combined with a richly diverse diving environment, provided a more stable customer base that kept the dive industry fundamentally operational. As a result, once borders reopened after the pandemic, the local dive industry was able to welcome visiting divers from around the world almost immediately.
Q: Besides Bali, Where Else Would You Recommend?
The French Dune diving group has locations worldwide, including Bali in Indonesia, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Maldives. Karl's personal top recommendation — after Bali — is the Maldives. The Maldives is an elongated archipelago comprising countless small islands scattered across the Indian Ocean like pearls. Through Dune's premium liveaboard programmes, you can arrange an 8–11 day dive itinerary and explore the Maldives at a leisurely pace. Depending on the season and route, Maldives liveaboards are divided into three circuits: the Four Directions Route, the Deep Blue Route, and the Northern Route — each offering a different cast of marine life. Whale Sharks, Tiger Sharks, sharks, and Stingrays are practically guaranteed. Karl considers it a destination every diver simply must visit!
Karl found his direction and purpose in life in Bali, Indonesia. How about you?
Q: If I Want to Dive My Way Around the World, What Can I Do?
Karl started diving at the age of 12 and has loved travelling and living near the ocean ever since. Before becoming a dive instructor, Karl worked as a bartender in the south of France. He thought long and hard about how to find a job that would let him travel freely while staying close to the sea — and ultimately made the switch to become a dive instructor. Karl also encourages young people in Taiwan: after you graduate from university, take time to think about what you want from life. If you want a stable job, marriage, and children, then go after that wholeheartedly. But if you want to experience life while you're young, to feel the impact of different cultures around the world, why not give yourself a few years (a Gap Year) to venture abroad? That journey will almost certainly become one of the most unforgettable experiences of your life.
Using working in Bali as an example, Karl explains that you first need to obtain an Indonesian work permit — those in management positions and instructors generally find this permit quite easy to get. Moreover, as the number of Asian visitors to Bali continues to grow, instructors who can speak Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other Asian languages are in very high demand. If you eventually want to work on liveaboards in places like the Maldives, an instructor certification is the baseline requirement — but Karl recommends advancing to a management-level position or earning your Course Director rating, as this will help you stand out from the crowd of dive instructors and make your life dream a reality!
Related links:
- Dune Atlantis Bali
- DUNE MALDIVES LIVEABOARDS
- 【Indonesia · Bali】Crazy Water Temperatures of 21–29°C! Diving in Bali Is All About the Big Animals — Manta Rays & Mola Mola feat. 海島瘋
- 海島瘋 Enjoy Islands
- 海島瘋 Enjoy Islands Facebook Page
- Looking for a Life Goal? Head to Australia for an Unforgettable Dive-and-Work Visa Experience!
