Just off the coast of northern Borneo lies the tiny island of Pulau Tiga. The location of TV's "Survivor" Game Show, it's one of three islands that make up the Pulau Tiga National Park in the South China Sea. Originally formed after a volcanic eruption, Pulau Tiga is a haven for wildlife and ringed by a 7km shallow, healthy coral reef with crystal clear water. Travellers and the Pulau Tiga Resort have put together a Work Experience placement at the Resort’s Diving School to give diving enthusiasts the chance to gain experience alongside a dive master.

OVERVIEW

On this placement you'll learn to dive and guide new divers. If you are not already qualified you will take a PADI Open Water Diver Certification course on your arrival with the resorts dive school. Novices can explore the many dive sites once completing the basic PADI qualification. Seasoned divers will find the reefs first-class and a number of unexplored diving locations are available for day trips.

Your experience will include some or all of the following:

• Have work experience of running a dive centre and, if you are able to stay for a period of three months, you'll have the opportunity to do a total of 60 dives as a prerequisite to the Dive Master Course.
• Assist the Dive Master in the daily running of the centre. Responsibilities include: taking care of the Dive Centre, guiding and assisting new learners, handling customers' inquiries and reporting to the Dive Instructor.
• Develop your diving skills by taking several courses – i.e. PADI Open Water, Advance Open Water, Emergency First Aid Response, Rescue Diver etc.

Around the island of Pulau Tiga, visibility ranges from 6 to 20 metres and schools of tropical fish can be seen from the surface, even without snorkel equipment.

The island's landscape is dramatic, set in the midst of lush rainforest, including mangroves, swamps and lowland forests for a total of eight square miles. Within this enticing habitat are more than fifty different species of trees, countless plant species and an array of fauna such as macaque monkeys, monitor lizards, sea turtles as well as many other colourful species and birds. A rich variety of marine life can be seen including barracuda, bamboo sharks, cuttlefish and marbled stingray.

The Dive Centre that we work with developed a resort on the island in 1998 to accommodate tourists in a variety of wooden cottages. This peaceful destination is home to many outdoor activities and Scuba diving in the marine park is heavenly.

OUR PARTICIPANTS SAY

“Our two month placement in Pulau Tiga Resort has been a wonderful experience. The Divemaster section of the placement ran very smoothly with expert instruction and guidance from Julius. The Water Sports Team have been great along with all of the other staff at the resort in welcoming us, integrating us, and guiding us through our duties and responsibilities along with providing us great friendship which has made living and working here a wonderful experience which comes highly recommend to others.

We would also like to thank the water sports team for working with great patience and understanding while we were asked to be in charge of the day to day running of the Centre and to all the other staff for letting us help out in various ways and making our stay a very enjoyable one.”