Want to Dive Around the World? Bali, Maldives, Red Sea — Take Your Pick! Dune Group Makes Your Dream a Reality!

Many divers become instructors simply to make a living from a skill they love — but the Editor has also met friends who have used their dive instructor credentials to travel the world, not only drinking in the underwater scenery of country after country, but also immersing themselves in local cultures and, above all, making friends from every corner of the globe. What a rich and colourful life that must be! We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to invite Karl Singery — Bali Manager and Course Director for 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 ten years. He completed his Divemaster course at Dune in 2012, earned his dive instructor certification the following year, and has worked as an instructor at the Dune dive shop ever since. In 2019, at the remarkably young age of 29, he attained his Course Director rating, and two years later became the manager of Dune Group's Bali dive shop.

Why did Karl choose to settle in Bali? He believes the island offers a highly international environment, with infrastructure far more developed than most other Indonesian islands, and the local people are wonderfully welcoming. Most importantly, from Bali it takes only a very short time to reach big-animal dive sites such as Mola Mola and manta ray encounters. If you're a macro photographer, the nearby macro site of Tulamben enjoys world-class renown. Thrill-seekers can head to the Gili dive sites to experience exhilarating currents and chase Whitetip Reef Sharks. For all these reasons, Karl chose Bali as the launchpad for his diving career.

The advantage of basing the Dune dive shop in Sanur is that the furthest surrounding dive site is only a 2.5-hour drive away, while a speedboat to Nusa Penida to see the big animals takes just 40 minutes. For divers who want to experience multiple types of dive trips in a single visit, planning an itinerary simply couldn't be more convenient.

Of course, as a world-class dive destination, Bali has an enormous number of dive shops — Nusa Penida alone has more than 20 dive operators, and the whole of Bali has over 50. How to differentiate and attract divers is a challenge Karl has been thinking through continuously with his team members and group executives since becoming shop manager. Given the high daily volume of guests, ensuring smooth operational flow is a fundamental requirement: from hotel pick-ups and risk-statement signing at the start, through equipment rental procedures and dive briefings, to gear check-in and cleaning at the end of the day — during our visit we got a thorough sense of just how systematically Dune operates.

The pandemic hit Bali's heavily tourism-dependent economy hard: the island was closed to foreign visitors from mid-2020 until early 2022. Even today you can still spot certain commercial areas where businesses have shuttered and have yet to recover.

Karl believes Bali's dive industry was less affected by the pandemic than other regions of Indonesia, largely because Bali sits at the transportation hub of the Indonesian archipelago. During the pandemic, dive shops pivoted to serving domestic Indonesian tourists. This convenient geographic position, combined with Bali's rich and varied dive environments, provided a more stable customer base that kept the dive industry fundamentally operational. As a result, once travel restrictions lifted and the borders reopened, the local dive industry was able to welcome divers from around the world almost immediately.

Q: Besides Bali, What Other Dive Destination Would You Recommend?

The French Dune diving group has bases across the globe, 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 archipelago of elongated islands scattered across the Indian Ocean like pearls; through Dune's premium liveaboard programme, you can arrange an 8–11-day dive trip to explore it at a leisurely pace. Depending on the season and route, Maldives liveaboards are divided into three itineraries: the South Atoll route, the Deep Blue route, and the North route, each offering different marine life encounters. Whale Sharks, Tiger Sharks, sharks, and manta rays are practically guaranteed sightings — Karl considers it an absolute must-visit destination for any diver!

Q: If I Want to Dive My Way Around the World, What Should I Do?

Karl started diving at age 12, and from an early age he loved travelling and living by the sea. Before becoming a dive instructor, Karl worked as a bartender in the south of France. He began thinking about how to find a job that would let him travel freely and keep him close to the ocean — and so he made the leap and became a dive instructor. Karl also encourages young people in Taiwan: after you graduate from university, take time to think about what you truly want from life. If your goal is a stable job, marriage, and starting a family, then pursue that wholeheartedly. But if you want to experience life while you're young and feel the impact of different cultures around the world, why not give yourself a few years (a Gap Year) to go out and explore? 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 — managers and instructors generally find this quite easy to obtain. And since increasing numbers of Asian tourists are visiting Bali, instructors who can speak Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other Asian languages are highly sought after. If you eventually want to work on a liveaboard in the Maldives, holding an instructor rating is the basic requirement — but Karl recommends advancing to a management or Course Director level, as this will help you stand out from the crowd of dive instructors and make your dream a reality!

Related links:

• Dune Atlantis Bali
• DUNE MALDIVES LIVEABOARDS
• 【Indonesia · Bali】 Crazy Water Temperatures from 21 to 29°C! Diving in Bali is All About the Manta and Mola Mola feat. 海島瘋
• 海島瘋 Enjoy Islands
• 海島瘋 Enjoy Islands Facebook Page
• Looking for Your Life's Purpose? Come Do an Unforgettable Dive Work-and-Travel Experience in Australia!