Two years ago when my life as a scuba diver officially began. I had taken up my Open Water (Level 1) certification with French Kiss Divers Koh Tao in Thailand and I was perfectly delighted about their method of teaching the fundamentals of scuba diving, most especially with safety. I’ve had a couple of dives since then but with the restrictions of going down only up to 18 meters due to my certification level. So, this year, I had decided to take it to the next level by passing my Advanced Adventurer (Level 2) certification with another branch of French Kiss Divers in Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia to be able to dive up to 30 meters as well as to improve my skills.

My loyalty lies with French Kiss Divers as I have witnessed their sincerity about keeping in line with the rules of diving, safety standards and top notch customer service. They offer a wide range of courses in different languages providing special attention to diving school standards. With their excellent reputation, it is inevitable for them to grow exponentially over the last few years.

In 2012, world traveler and scuba diving Instructor Trainer Wilfried HERVE founded French Kiss Divers in Koh Tao, Thailand. Traveling the world for many years, Wil has gathered substantial knowledge and experience to create an outstanding diving empire that caters to multi-lingual and multi-cultural customers. In less than 5 years, French Kiss Divers became the first French CMAS Training Center in Koh Tao and one of the top dive centers in the island providing high quality personalized training courses, excellent service, reliable equipment and fully equipped boats.

In 2014, French Kiss Divers expanded its international network to the Philippines. It opened 2 new locations in Malapascua and Mari Pipi. It extended the same concept as in Koh Tao and became quickly one of the best dive centers in the area. Malapascua is one of the places where you can spot tresher sharks all year long with excellent biodiversity. FKD Malapascua is also an ITC and Diamond Dive Center, run by Karim BELLI and Jean-Christophe CHAUVEL.

Finally in 2017, French Kiss Divers has branched out to another excellent diving destination in Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia. Lembongan is a little piece of paradise offering a wide range of dive sites with the opportunity to dive with Manta Rays and Mola Mola.

These three countries where FKD networks are located offer the best chances to see the largest biodiversity of marine species especially rare pelagic fish. I can safely say that it is only logical to arrange a diving trip among these destinations in your life as a scuba diver.

If you aren’t quite ready to take the plunge into a certification course, doing a try dive is a good start. Don’t be scared and let the misconceptions about scuba diving hold you back!

Everyone may have different motivations for taking up scuba diving. Some people are interested in wildlife, while others might be looking for new ways to challenge themselves and overcome fears. I was a little bit of both. Therefore, I’ve had mixed feelings about scuba diving in the beginning. I love to see the wonders of the underwater world, the absolute freedom from gravity and how it’s all so peaceful down there while on the other hand, I was beating myself up for breathing my tank out way too fast, forgetting the order of setting up my own equipment, not carrying the right amount of weight or even kicking my buddy in the face. It might sound horrible than it is but, it is a rite of passage!

No scuba diver starts off as autonomous. In fact, the goal is to become autonomous.

Hence, it is necessary to get the right certification from a reputable dive center and I highly recommend French Kiss Divers!

Take note that I did not specify a particular branch, only because the FKD spirit and standards are true to all of its branches. And since we were in Bali already, my husband and I had decided to cross the sea and head over to Nusa Lembongan to chase down the closest French Kiss Divers branch.

Prior arrangements through email has been done swiftly and smoothly before we hit the island. In fact, it is best to get in touch with them beforehand as they can get fully book especially during high season.

Since I haven’t dived for more than 6 months, I had been advised to take up a Refresher Course to help me summon back my scuba skills and get comfortable underwater again. The next few days were dedicated to sample various specialty courses such as deep diving, navigation, computer diving, perfect buoyancy and drift diving. These set of specialties were perfect groundwork for our upcoming trip to Komodo afterwards.

My instructor Greg has been delightful all throughout the course.  I truly appreciate all the constructive criticisms and words of encouragement that he imparted in between dives. Diving with him was such a joy as he is excellent in spotting sea creatures especially nudibranchs and sharks.

 

I only have high praises for French Kiss Divers for outstanding management, instructors, dive guides, equipment, boat, crew, everything! In fact, I have been thinking about taking up some specialty courses with them, this time perhaps in another FKD branch, in Malapascua. Then, maybe I’ll be one of the firsts to take up courses with them in all 3 countries… I think a membership t-shirt will be in order! 😉