Extreme job experience
By: Sophia Schmalzer [The Rasta Girl]
05.09.2019
It is my delight to provide Poseidon Dive Center with an excellent recommendation. I worked in this dive center for a period of two years as an administr ative assistant and had the pleasure to start a professional dive career as a PADI Divemaster in my leisure time. At the front desk I was in charge of dive bookings, general administration, accounting, sales and customer service. Furthermore, I must highlight that all work was performed in three languages, which was a big plus for my professional and personal growth in this industry. Especially, having an international workspace and getting to know people from all around the world, enabled me to discover one of my greatest passions and share it with other enthusiastic divers.
The dedication and professionalism of the crew truly fascinated me from the beginning and made me feel being in good hands. Everyone welcomed me with open arms, which allowed me to get established in a multinational team quickly. Generally speaking, Poseidon offers a relaxed and fun working atmosphere and required me to have a love for details. As soon as you enter the door, you can see the difference to other dive operators in terms of quality, safety and professionalism.
I came to Poseidon as a complete beginner, barely knew how to put a scuba gear together and got taught by patient and passionate dive instructors step-by-step. As I gained experience as a diver and at the front desk, I valued the monthly refresher exercises in First Aid, in and out-water rescue skills and CPR. This is a MUST in every dive center. Therefore, it was a big advantage to have a Dive medic and a PADI Course Director in the team, who made sure everyone is doing a great performance. We even made an excursion to the biggest Hyperbaric Chamber in South America, located in Santa Marta, do get a deeper understanding of DCI and DCS treatment. During my time at PDC, we performed various simulations of dive emergencies, collaborating with coast guards, port control, fire brigade and local hospitals.
At Poseidon you have the chance to continue your education and improve your diving skills and technique, never worrying about your safety. Due to up-to-date equipment that is well-maintained and serviced monthly, certified clean air in the tanks and a special dive pool for confined water training, you are in best hands! What’s so special to me is, that it has a wide range of offers, from zero scuba diving experience to advanced divers, to your IDC course and even technical diving with Trimix and CCR. I even got the chance to take my Gas Blender Course, Nitrox Specialty and many more. Marine biologists in our team always kept us on track to see the rare corral spawning in the Tayrona National Park and encouraged us to take part of numerous subaquatic beach clean-ups.
The variety of dive sites in the National Park amazes me. It has perfect conditions for beginners as well as experienced divers. Depending on the dive sites, you can find shallow calm waters, or deep and medium strong currents, for example at my favorite dive site “Morrito Largo”.
The groups are small (max. four students per Instructor) and they take care that you are in a group with same experience and certification level. EVERY diver gets a dive computer and for deep dives they always carry a small extra tank with them (in case of low air situations).
Outstanding at Poseidon was the LONG dives, we dove 60+ min (depending on the air consumption of our clients) and we went to other dive sites than other dive operators. Furthermore, the marine life is in good conditions, beautiful coral reefs and stunning biodiversity, such as turtles, seahorses, barracudas, lobster, octopus, dolphins, etc.
Poseidon provided me with essential knowledge for a successful career in-and out water.
I learned the values of professionalism, dedication, leadership, and the importance of sustainable environmental protection. Thanks to their massive support and believe in my abilities and talents, I was capable to achieve my dream of becoming a PADI Professional and being able to discover 71% more of this beautiful planet. I always felt like being at home, having fun with the instructors and having long conversations with the experienced crew. To sum up, Poseidon is a very professional dive center, and I strongly recommend to everyone who wants to learn how to dive or continue with their dive education.
I really enjoyed working for this great dive center and will always be grateful for having such a blast of time at Colombians leading 5-star dive resort.