Last October we were lucky enough to get interviewed on the history of Symi. Whilst we are by no means history experts, we do know diving. I hope you all enjoy and maybe, just maybe we have convinced some of you to come explore the still existing history beneath the waves!
We’re Hiring – 2023!
Blue Lagoon Divers is Hiring! So if you have a passion for diving and would like to live on our idyllic little paradise in the Aegean. This might be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.
Firstly, a little about diving in Symi, Greece.
Diving on the island hasn’t really been done since the days of the old sponge divers in brass suits, meaning to this day we are rediscovering new places to dive each year. Just last year we found 3 new sites to dive, including a lost WW2 German Eboat! Diving here really is one hell of an adventure.
What we looking for:
We have 2 positions available: Fluent English is a must, as is the ability to legally live and work in Greece ie. an EU citizen. The season starts in May/June and ends in late September/October.
1)
We are looking for a hardworking Dive Instructor with a relaxed personality, but a strict follower of the PADI standards set out for dive professionals. Safety will always be our priority at BLD. Having said that, we also want someone we can chill with after a long day diving with a cold beer.
Our school is a small family run center with already 2 instructors.
We provide a competitive living wage + commission, cheap (subsidized) rent for staff accommodation and at least 1 meal a day whilst diving. Mostly breakfast or lunch. We also do a weekly staff meal/drinks to discuss work related topics at a local restaurant/bar/coffee shop which is on us.
You will also be given a national insurance paid by the dive center, which contributes to your Greek pension and health care.
2)
We are also looking for 2x DiveMaster trainees to take part in our seasonal internship over the duration of the summer months. Prospective applicants must be at least familiar with diving and be confident to take up the challenge of being a dive professional.
Whilst this is undoubtedly the best career in the world, being a professional diver comes with its own risks, long days and a need for a level of professionalism with our fellow divers. Interns will be given free shared accommodation near the dive center, and commission whilst in training. We cover the costs of all Dives through the season, equipment use, PADI materials and courses. We have no minimum requirements of dives or qualification level, but a little experience in diving is a must so that you know if you enjoy it or not.
PADI’s DiveMaster application fee is not included and neither is your yearly membership fee. For more information, check out this link. https://bluelagoondives.com/become-a-pro/
This is your opportunity to move abroad, spend every day at the beach and gain real world experience in Diving (a job that will take you all around the world).
Important: At the end of the training, once certified, we will add you to the staff to receive a standard wage in addition to the commission you are already earning and a valuable CV reference as having worked in Europe for a season.
All applicants, please send us an email with a cover letter and CV to bluelagoondiveschool@gmail.com.
Thank you for a great Summer!
This summer was a super exciting season for us! We hope you all enjoyed it as much as us.
With the help of some of you, we managed to: rediscover a German E-boat sunk by allied aircraft during WW2; we found a brand new cavern system with a beautiful open fresh air pocket; we discovered sites laden with previously hidden historic gems that we are now in a position to protect and many more fantastic new sites to dive.
Still on the to-do-list: rediscover the crash landing sites of at least 2 WW2 aircraft; to map and establish safe routes in some other caverns for Certified Divers; explore some more of the island still left unmapped.
We hope you will all continue to join us on this journey.
So whilst many of you have gone home now for the end of your holidays, we’ll be keeping the Dive Center open during the winter. Soon enough our boat will be back in the water after the end of season servicing for some exciting boat dives for any of you brave souls wishing to dive in a slightly chillier ocean.
See you all very soon I hope!
Vasilis and the rest of our team!
Turtles. Turtles everywhere.
So this is exciting. Really, really exciting.
We now have a local dive site where we can regularly see Loggerhead turtles. How amazing is that?
There are of course good times and bad times of the year to see these wonderful creatures. Unfortunately the chances are a little lower in the peak of high season (July and August), but almost guaranteed during the months of September and viewable year round.
Here’s a link for those interested in learning more about Sea Turtles in Greece and the efforts of the WWF working to protect them.
Check out the footage one of our divers took at our very own Turtle beach.
The amazing thing about this site is that its lovely and shallow, calm conditions and has some wonderful rock features to swim through. Side note, divers call these “swim throughs”, we’re not an imaginative bunch to be honest.
This makes this site an amazing location for experienced divers and beginners alike. How amazing would it be to have a chance to see turtles on your first dives!
Let me know what you guys think to this news.
If your interested, feel free to get in touch with us for more details. Here
We’re Moving to the Symi Harbour!
In order to best provide for our divers, that trust us to provide the best possible service and support, we have decided to move to a bigger location in a more central part of the harbour.
As we have reached PADI 5* status in just our second year, we felt it was time to upgrade our facilities and downgrade the distance it take to walk to us from the harbour (bye bye steps!).
The new facility is right next to the new Amphitheatre in the harbour, and whilst we will be busy the next few days getting the place ready, business continues as normal.
So why not come visit us in our new location, grab a coffee and lets talk DIVING!
Diving Underway!
Well the weathers warming up and we’ve already got some dives under our belts here Blue Lagoon Divers in Symi. Our doors are officially open so why not pop in and have a chat with us, or get your courses booked in, in advance of your holiday and get the theory work done at home before you arrive.
Many of you will remember Nana, who is back with us for another season of Guiding and Teaching. We also have our new instructor Antonio who is currently learning all the best places to find marine life around Symi, ready to show you all as you arrive this summer.
You might also find during the summer, my lovely wife (also a dive instructor and very camera shy) in the dive centre chatting away with the newest addition to the diving community in her arms.
Regardless of who you find around the island, teaching or helping the locals with their anchors, we’re all eager to welcome you back into the fold.
Lets get back in there!
What to expect from our second year?
We love our divers,
Its because of all of you that we made a small dream a reality.
This year, we are hoping for a nice hot summer with lots of sun, warm water and some fantastic dives. Let’s be honest though, that’s every summer on Symi since time began. So in addition, to make this summer that much more special, we’ve planned some things in addition from last year.
Firstly, we now have our own dive boat.
This is a huge investment for us, but also such a crucial one. We now have the ability to explore more and more sites around this beautiful island that we all love.
This spring, we will be looking to discover a brand new ship wreck that we suspect is off the coast of Symi, map some cavern dives off the west coast and see if we can’t find some more of those amazing wall dive sites we all crave for when diving.
Second, we will also be taking on new staff this year including some Dive Master Trainees learning to become professional divers and another experienced instructor.
Thirdly we have 2 LARGE projects in the works for the diving community. These are in progress and have the potential to put Symi on the Map as a tourist landmark around the world. The long term aim of the dive centre has always been to help Symi develop and to support the locals with whom we are sure we are not alone in considering one big family.
This coming year is shaping up to be a great year for Symi. I hope we will see a lot of you this summer around the island or under the water! Thank you for your continued support!
We’re Hiring!
This coming season is hopefully going to be a better one, with less Covid and the anxiety that goes along with traveling during the pandemic. We’re optimistic for the coming year and would like to take on a few chilled dive professionals and novices to join our crew. So if you have a passion for diving and would like to live on our idyllic little paradise in the Aegean. This might be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.
What we looking for:
We have 2 positions available: Fluent English is a must, as is the ability to legally live and work in Greece. The season starts in April and ends in late September.
1)
We are looking for a hardworking Dive Instructor with a relaxed personality, but a strict follower of the PADI standards set out for dive professionals. Safety will always be our priority at BLD. Having said that, we also want someone we can chill with after a long day diving with a cold beer.
We currently have 2 full time instructors and a part timer already on staff. You would be joining an already established team, so being able to take advice about dive sites and the best places to run your courses is a must.
We provide a competitive living wage + commission, cheap (subsidized) rent for shared staff accommodation and at least 1 meal a day. Mostly breakfast or lunch. We also do a weekly staff meal to discuss work related topics at a local restaurant which is on us.
You will also be given a national insurance paid by the dive center, which contributes to your Greek pension and health care.
2)
We are also looking for 2x DiveMaster trainees to take part in our seasonal internship over the duration of the summer months. Perspective applicants must be at least familiar with diving and be confident to take up the challenge of being a dive professional.
Whilst this is undoubtedly the best career in the world, being a professional diver comes with its own risks, long days and a need for a level of professionalism with our fellow divers. Interns will be given free shared accommodation above the dive center, and commission whilst in training. We cover the costs of all Dives through the season, equipment use, PADI materials and courses. We have no minimum requirements of dives or qualification level, but experience in diving is a must so that you know if you enjoy it or not.
PADI’s DiveMaster application fee is not included and neither is your yearly membership fee. For more information, check out this link. https://bluelagoondives.com/become-a-pro/
This is your opportunity to move abroad, spend every day at the beach and gain real world experience in Diving (a job that will take you all around the world).
All applicants, please send us an email with a cover letter and CV to bluelagoondiveschool@gmail.com.
The Seasons over.
I’d like to start this post with a heartfelt thank you to all our divers from both near and far who came to us with an interest in diving with us on Symi. You’ve kept our little dive center open and we are grateful.
I’m sure many of you know, its been a big year for our little family dive center, with us opening in June, getting married in June and having a baby by July. But thank you for being patient and baring with us when we were only getting a few hours sleep over August.
We’ve had a lovely time diving with you all, it’s been a fantastic journey over the summer. Together we’ve discovered a few new wrecks, some beautiful dive sites and some underwater locals to keep us entertained.
We will be closing our doors largely over the next few months, but still be available with plenty of notice over the months of November and December for those locals who didn’t get a chance to dive over the summer months due to work.
Our dive center will be open again in April ready for you all with some newly discovered locations for diving. I’m 100% sure I wont be able to explore the whole island over the winter by myself though, so for those of you who are more adventurous, I’m sure there will be some amazing places to discover over the summer months together.
We have some big plans in the works over the next few months also that will hopefully bare fruit by the summer, so keep an eye open for that.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the summer as much as we have.
Keep blowing bubbles.
Vasilis William Zoyroydis – Owner and MSDT at BLD
Need a change? It’s not so difficult…
The World needs more Dive Professionals! Covid-19 has been tough on a lot of people, but people in the tourism industry were hit really very hard by the Pandemic.
With border closures, travel bans and a fear of people from other places gripping the world, a lot of divers have decided to pack it in and get a “normal job”. More fool them.
With the end in sight, vaccines being distributed and people travelling again, the Diving Industry is currently desperate for divers.
Check out this classified section of Dive Centres looking for PADI instructors currently. New posts are being added daily and there are a large portion of them available here in Greece.
Now is the perfect time to break the rut you may be in and teach the world to dive. I know for myself, when living in the UK, I found myself looking for something more (mostly Sun to be honest). Teaching diving was the opportunity I needed, to travel the world, meet new people and cultures and do a job with a physically/mentally demanding/rewarding aspect to it.
We are very lucky in our first year of opening, to have a good friend of mine join us. He is a PADI Course Director and TecDive instructor with a lifetime of experience under his belt. He will be offering this year an opportunity to develop your skills as an instructor and push yourselves in ways you never thought possible. So regardless of experience level, if you want to spend the day teaching people to dive in the beautiful blue Mediterranean and celebrate another successful day of work with a beer on a beach. Diving might just be for you. If you might be interested in changing career, travelling the world for work or just get out of the same old routine back home, send us a message and we’ll give you the “gods honest truth” about what you can expect from a career as a PADI Pro.
No pressure except the pressure underwater.
Will.