Leonie| SSI Divemaster

Hey, I'm Leonie!

From November 2023 to April 2024, I did my Divemaster internship at Porto Mari, a period that truly marked the beginning of a great diving adventure for me. After my internship, I returned to Curaçao a few more times. First for a nice, lazy diving holiday—because honestly, the island and the diving here keep calling me back. And at the beginning of 2026, I came back again, this time for a sort of working holiday at the dive school. Simply because working as a divemaster is so much fun… and I realized I had actually missed it quite a bit.

At home in the Hoeksche Waard, I work as a veterinary assistant and love spending time with animals. I have my own horse and am a real animal person. That’s why I immediately felt at home at Porto Mari—not just underwater with the fish and other sea creatures, but also above water. I got along great with the pigs Willy and Woody, and at Annidas, the turtles were always my favorite to visit.

During my last visit to Curaçao, I also switched to SSI, and secretly I’m thinking about maybe taking the step to Assistant Instructor next time.

One of the funniest moments from my time at Porto Mari was when I gave first aid to someone who had swum into the tentacles of a rare jellyfish. Very carefully, I removed all the stingers one by one and treated the area as it should be. Mission accomplished, I thought… until I absentmindedly sat down right on those same stingers with my own butt. The result: a little while later, I needed first aid myself.

During my internship, I also went to Cartagena in Colombia for a few days with Caroline. We didn’t go diving there, but we did go horseback riding—which, for me, was just as much fun. It’s exactly those kinds of moments, together with the team, the animals, and the diving, that keep making me want to come back to Porto Mari.