Hi everybody, welcome to my second blogpost here on the Mares blog!
In my first blog I wrote a bit about myself and started to talk about my journey to becoming a dive professional. If you haven’t read it yet, check it out here!
My first dives
I was in secondary school (at a vocational business college) where I had two teachers who started a scuba course for the students. I know this doesn’t happen very often, so I was already lucky that I had the chance to try this in my school years, but I come from a very big family, and we had never much money. I told my teachers I would have loved to take part, and that I loved the idea, but that I couldn't participate beacuse the costs were too high. It was also around the time that I was financing my driving license. My teachers decided to give me the chance to do it anyway, and I thank Steffan Link and Markus Lang so much for helping me to start this adventure!
I did the pool dives, but the open water dives still awaited me. The closest place to do them was in Bodensee in Germany, but I never did them...
Seastar Discovery, an action and modelling competition
I saw an advert on the internet for an action and modelling competition. The advert said that it would take place in Thailand where they planned a diving course for the competitors, with the winner getting a complete set of diving equipment!
I sent an application, just to try, and I hoped that I would reach at least the semifinal to get my diving certification. Also, I had never been to Thailand! I had no experience modeling, but I had always liked being in front of the camera or taking pictures.
I was invited to take part in the casting, and I came closer and closer to the semifinals. It all become a lot better than what had actually been advertised in the beginning! The plans changed, I reached the semifinals in Egypt with 9 other competitors, and it was there that we got our certification. Following this, myself and 3 other competitiors were invited to the final in Thailand!
The other competitors already had a lot of modelling expereince on TV or with agencies, but somehow I won the competition and got my first set of dive gear!
Here I also want to say a big thanks to Martin Helmers who organised the Seastar contest, allowing so many of us to get out dive certification whilst having a nice time!
Seastar Girl 2015
What happend after Seastar Discovery?
I finished my apprenticeship as saleswoman in a clothing boutique. I still had one more month to go, but had already planned with Volker Clausen, the owner of Orca Dive Clubs, to start as a receptionist in the diving center where I did my openwater certificate - Orca Dive Club Somabay.
He is also one of the people I want to say thank you to! He told me to do the Divemaster course (Dive Guide + Science of Diving), and to be honest, before then I had no clue what a Divemaster does! I did a lot of online research, but nothing I found could really help me imagine just how beautiful this job could be! Today I know that you have to try these things by yourself. ou No website can ever tell you how amazing it is to be a Divemaster!
Now you know how everything started. Let me know if you want to know more about the Seastar Discovery Contest.
In the next blogpost I will write about my work in Somabay.
Semra
5th November 2018
