Dolfijnen en meer Dolfijnen

De tijd vliegt nog steeds voorbij, waar zijn al die weken gebleven?!

Maandag arriveerde de volgende nieuwe stagiaire, Carl, een PADI Master Scuba Diver uit Engeland van 35 jaar. De ochtend begon met een skillsessie in het zwembad, voor mij alweer een tijdje geleden.

Dolphins and more Dolphins

Time still flies by, where have all those weeks gone?!

On Monday the next new intern arrived; Carl, a PADI Master Scuba Diver from England. 

The morning began with a skill session in the pool, which for me, was quite a while ago. Melissa, Chris, George, Carl, Pete and I got into the pool to see where our skills were up to. 

For Melissa, it had already been more than a year since her last skill session, for Chris and George this was all still new and for Carl it was also difficult, because he learned his skills a different way at another dive center and with another instructor. 

The session went very well, and after a welcome cup of tea, everyone except Pete and Carl, who had an induction morning, went to Abades, where Chris and George were doing to do two dives. 

I unfortunately had to skip these dives because my arms and legs were completely covered with a horrible rash, and I was afraid to make it worse. Whether this is due to an allergic reaction to my last week's antibiotics, something I ate or the cleaner for wetsuits (as it is only my arms and legs) I don't know, but hopefully it will get better soon. Melissa and I enjoyed some biscuits and hot chocolate on the terrace, while studying our Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving. 

Meanwhile, Chris and George had to really lovely dives and claim to have seen an Angel Shark and Stingray. However, as we all know: "No Picky No Believy".

The next day we left with the whole group for two dives, again with the exception of Pete, who stayed behind in the shop. We had heard of a beautiful dive site, El Poris, but didn't exactly know where that was. 

After a long drive we found the little village 'El Poris', where we discovered that it would be a long walk on the beach before reaching the water. It was a small bay that looked very shallow, which meant that had to do a long surface swim to actually get to the dive site. So we decided that is would be better to go to an other dive site to have more valuable dive time. 

We went back to Abades, where Chris and George had seen a lot of beautiful things during their dives on the previous day. For me this was only the second time to this dive site. The last time was with Rachel and Helen. Although it was a cold, cloudy day, it was a lot warmer than last time so we got in the water to explore this beautiful dive site. 

The first dive was to the right side of the bay, where we followed the rocks on our right hand side. I had never been to this side of the dive site and was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of the aquatic life. We saw a pink colored Octopus, a Black Sea Hare, a lot of common Sea Hare's, numerous Nudibranch, Annulated Brittle Stars, Blue Starfish, Lightfoot Crabs and much more. After 40 minutes we had seen so much despite the fact that we had only swam out about 30 meters. 

For the second dive, we decided to go to the left side of Abades, where we soon found ourselves surrounded by Jellyfish. Melissa, who led the dive and wasn't wearing gloves or a hood, decided it was best to get out of the water as quickly as possible, to avoid anyone to get stung. We had only been underwater for 12 minutes, so this 'dip' was actually not a dive, as it was shorter than 20 minutes, so we could not log this dive in our logbooks.

Wednesday I got the chance to conduct another PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience for Rebecca and a PADI Scuba Tune-up for her boyfriend Andy. Both sessions went well. Immediately after we were done in the pool, it was time for the real thing, the dives itself! These dives were, as we usually do for new divers with us, to Yellow Mountain. The first dive went fine, although the sky was filled with increasingly darker clouds and Rebecca didn't feel well and decided not to do the second dive. 

During the dive, towards the end, I took a photo of the group divers underwater, and the flash suddenly went off even though I had turned it off. I looked up to the surface, and it became clear that it was a thunderstorm, even though the sun had been shining when we left. The flash appeared to have been lightning, and during our trip back to the Marina, rain and hail was pouring down on us. Chris, who had stayed on the boat during the dives (as there always must be someone present on the boat) had not taken his wetsuit with him on the boat. We found Chris laying down on the floor in fetal position wearing only his shorts. 

We think next time he'll probably remember to take everything with him, as Pete always says: 'All the kit, all the time'...

Thursday we got into the water again, this time with Alvaro, a PADI Open Water Diver and Livio, a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver with over 300 dives experience. Livio dived in a drysuit, something Chris, George and I have not seen before. The difference between a wetsuit and a drysuit was not as big as I had imagined, and the difference in exposure protection seemed to be only slight, as Livio still felt cold. The dives itself went fine, Chris led the first dive, to Alien Rock, where we spotted a huge Brown Moray Eel, a Snake Cucumber and Red Reef Lobster. That was the first lobster I have encountered here in Tenerife. The second dive was to Swim Through followed by Crocodile Rock, where we saw a Sea Hare and Nudibranch, plus all the fish that we literally see on every single dive, like the Parrotfish, Ornate Wrasse, Trumpet Fish, Blue-fin Damselfish, Atlantic Damselfish, Arrow Crabs and many more.

Friday morning we practised our pool skills again in the pool, and Chris and George are doing very well, their skills are really improving, keep it up guys! The rest of the day we did some work in the shop, as well as some more studying.

Saturday Sophie and Marie were back, to finish their PADI Advanced Open Water course. Philipe and Livio also accompanied us on this dive and Melissa stayed on the boat. The first dive was the PADI Deep Dive, Adventure dive, to Poco Naufragio. Since Philipe was a PADI Open Water Diver, and thus limited to 18 meters, we split the group in half and I stayed with Philipe and Livio above 18 meters. 

We spotted a large Octopus and a Common Eagle Ray. Halfway through the dive we were joined by the rest of the group; Sophie, Marie, George and Pete. After a quick change of tanks on the boat, we were off for the second dive, the PADI Drift Dive, Adventure dive. 

During our trip to the dive site, we suddenly saw a group of dolphins in the distance! Pete did not have to think twice and immediately decided to turn the boat to have a closer look.

It was a group of hunting Dolphins, that had 2 or 3 babies with them. For about 15 minutes, our boat was surrounded by Dolphins and we were able to see them up close in the wild.

After this pleasant surprise it was time for our dive to Nelson's Point. It was a beautiful dive, and very different than what I'm used to, since we were at a depth of 15 meters, swimming mid water in water of about 50 meters deep. Pete had his SMB (Surface Marker Buoy) up throughout the dive, and at the end of the dive I also let my SMB up and we were picked up by the boat.

That evening we celebrated George's 19th birthday at Big Al's, where George, whose nickname is Zippy, got a Zippy cake with a rainbow on it that Melissa got him. Later that evening we went back to the karaoke bar where we had a really nice evening.

Sunday was my day off, and I also got Monday off to visit Teide Divers in Puerto de la Cruz. Sunday morning it was very early in the morning when it was time to go to the North of Tenerife together with Jackie. I spend the majority of the day in Loro Parque. It was very special to see the park again. It has been exactly 2 years since I've done my 4 week internship there.

I had a beautiful day and tomorrow I am going to do two dives with Teide divers Jackie and Phil!

Keep reading, more next week!

Love, Alice

What no Hash Browns!

Friday 13th, despite its reputation for being an awful day for the superstitious people among us, was a pretty good day.

Us interns were in the pool for some skill circuit training. The required skills are getting easier now and practicing them can be quite good fun as well as beneficial. After the skills session it was time for some more swimming stamina training. My time is now down to about 7:30 (ish), which I’m quite pleased with considering I couldn't swim 100m when I first got here!

A well received fry up courtesy of the Aberdeen was next on the agenda, which is never disappointing, unless they forget to include hash browns! Sometimes they do this and as we all know, a breakfast just isn’t the same without hash browns! This was washed down with a practice at demonstrating kit assembly and a 5 minute presentation on ‘What I plan to do with my Divemaster qualification’.

Note to self; Never make a fry up with out hash browns.

Saturday had arrived…… A day that Zippy and I had been waiting for and talking about for the best part of 3 weeks…… That’s right, it was the day when we would be eating our ‘BIG AL’S MIXED GRILL’. An early celebration of Zippy’s birthday next week, which was being held in the place where the food always smells soooo nice!

 

I was on duty in the shop in the morning while everyone else was out diving. I put my sales techniques to the test and really enjoyed selling dives and also a couple of PADI Scuba Tune-ups, as well as a Padi Discover Scuba Diving course. In between customers, I was going through kit assembly, preparation and disassembly with Rodders, which was getting close to demonstration quality. As soon as everyone was back from diving, My kit set up demonstration was scored and I got a 5/5. The practice definitely paid off!

I spent the rest of the afternoon constantly reminding everybody in the shop that I was looking forward to my mixed grill later on in the evening, which couldn’t come soon enough!

Later on we met Phil, Jackie and Lauren from Teide Divers, Lauren’s dad Barry and Dave from Pro-sub for dinner. I had my mixed grill and was in no way disappointed, which was topped off with a few cheeky pints and a bit of karaoke.

Note to Pete and Melissa; Did I mention I was having a mixed grill?

Sunday = A bit hungover. Enough said.

Monday morning (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZIPPY) I was leading the PADI Scuba Tune-ups (with Monica and Shaun) and the PADI Discover Scuba Diving (with Catherine) pool sessions, that I sold on Saturday. Putting my skills to the test aswell as the ‘dealing with customers’ part of the process was good fun and good practice. Helping the customers brush up on their skills went quite well for a first attempt and they were quite happy with their performance, as was I.

We got out of the pool and changed kits over, then Melissa and I headed off to El Puertito with Monica and Shaun, in the hope of finding some Turtles. I led the way on the dives and knew where I was (most of the time), which meant my knowledge of dive sites was getting a lot better. We also found a Turtle and spent a little while with him, which never fails to be an amazing experience.

In the afternoon my 400m swim was timed (4/5) and my sewing skills were put to the test, as I repaired a shoulder strap on one of the BCD’s. A fine job was done (even if I do say so myself).

Note to self; If dive career fails, fall back on sewing skills.




Tuesday, 4 weeks and 5 days into my internship. The day I became a PADI Divemaster! A scored skill session in the pool, with Jackie and Phil from Teide Divers in attendance, went really well. I managed a 5/5 on every skill apart from three of them, which I scored 4/5 on. I for one am not going to argue with that!

I completed the 15 minute tread water exercise and didn’t drown which is always a bonus, which completed the list of everything that was required for the Divemaster certification.

The afternoon was spent typing up a list of Do’s and Don’ts for Pete and Melissa, which I found quite amusing. There are certain things you learn about how the shop is run, how everybody takes their tea and little tips that can help you along the way that will hopefully will be beneficial for future interns. A little bit of reading and studying thrown in for good measure finished the day nicely.

Wednesday morning Zippy, Alice and I were down in the pool to have a go at filming our own take on the PADI skills videos. Alice was on camera duty while Zippy and I performed skills in a demonstration manner, some were serious, some had rather funny and obvious mistakes and some were simply outtakes.

Zippy for example filmed an entire skill underwater with his snorkel in and holding his breath!  It was good fun doing these videos, hopefully soon we will have a complete set of skills recorded and ready to use in the shop, to show future interns how it is/isn’t done. Alice on this occasion held the camera the wrong way round, which meant our videos were on the side and too difficult to rotate. We will get it right next time!

We spent some time in the afternoon taking old Divemaster exams, seeing how much we knew and what areas needed some work. Thankfully I have been doing a LOT of reading recently, which paid off as I didn’t do too badly.

Note to self; Think of more stuff for video outtakes.

Thursday Pete gave Zippy and I the pleasure of cleaning the boat in the morning. In a weird way I find it rather therapeutic! We were joined down at the marina by Phil, Jackie and Lauren from Teide Divers.

Jackie was finishing off the last couple of bits and pieces that she needed for her Divemaster qualification, while I timed Lauren doing her 800m Snorkel stamina test. We left there and headed straight for the Aberdeen for a cheeky breakfast, to celebrate a successful week of Divemaster certifications.

The day had been going well up to this point, but then it all went massively wrong. NO HASH BROWNS!!!

I spent the afternoon on a little errand run with Melissa, dropping tanks off to be filled and picking up some things and doing some stuff. A trip to Pro-Sub to see Dave for some things, was as painful as it always is. Walking into that shop is like going to Toys’R’Us when you are a young child.
You want to buy EVERYTHING but you just can’t. The stuff we picked up included my IDC pack, which is the paperwork for the Instructor Development Course. I start training to become an Assistant instructor next week, which I am really looking forward to. Hopefully this will lead me on to the path of becoming an Instructor sometime soon!

Note to self; Wait outside Pro-Sub next time we go.

Bungle

Did I mention it is my birthday?

Another brilliant week over, here in Tenerife and the best so far.

Starting where I left off, and only three days until my birthday and the mighty old age of 19.

Friday began with a slight lay in until 7.30am, and then it was time to get our kit ready for the pool skill sessions that lie ahead. Whilst assembling our kit Bungle and I took the opportunity to run through a demonstration of the ‘Perfect’ kit assembly (required for our Divemaster certification) with Pete observing our efforts. First attempt and it didn’t go very well, resulting in a string of errors to improve on.

Next, Bungle and I had Pete watch our pre-dive safety check’s in which again I successfully managed to ‘naff up’. Then it was off to the pool with Bungle and Alice to run through a skill’s circuit, which went surprisingly well. Upon returning to the shop I demonstrated my Pre-Dive Safety Check once again to the ‘all knowing’ Pete, in which I finally managed to score a 5/5. That’s more like it.

After some more kit assembly practise, it was time for another lovely 400 meter swim in which I managed to beat my previous time. Thankfully. The day finished with a well deserved breakfast at the Aberdeen followed by a good de-brief.

Saturday and I’m sure it’s someone else’s birthday today however mine is in two days which takes priority. Today was the day Bungle and I had been looking forward too since arriving in Tenerife, the day we got to treat ourselves to a Big Al’s Mixed Grill which had tempted us for 5 weeks with its excellent smell.

Excited, doesn’t even come close. However before we could enjoy this we had to get work out of the way first. The day began with assembling and packing all of the kit, shortly followed by meeting Marie, Sophie, Philip and Livio who where all returning customers coming back to enjoy some more fantastic diving and to complete Maria and Sophie’s PADI Advanced Open Water Courses. The first dive found me assisting Pete with Marie and Sophie’s Deep Dive for their AOW, where we managed to spot three Rays who seemed very interested in what we were doing. After returning to the marina to pick up some more cylinders we left to find a massive pod of Dolphins, so we followed them for around twenty minutes before thinking we should probably do some more diving. So cool.  The second dive was a Drift Dive in which the whole group participated including Alice, Pete, Philip, Livio, Sophie, Marie and I. The day concluded with some swimming and de-brief.

After work it was time for MY birthday celebrations to begin. We started at Big Al’s where Bungle and I destroyed the long awaited mix grill which was even better than expected due to Bungle being a top LAD and buying mine for my birthday. Followed by the presentation of a brilliant Zippy cake, Awwww cheers. The cake was delicious and much appreciated. Then it was off to karaoke to embarrass our selves, the rest is a blurry history but many thanks to everyone involved.  Good night.

Sunday was a much needed day off to recover from the night before. A good lay in, followed by breakfast at the Aberdeen courtesy of Rodney. After a ‘relaxed’ start to the day, yet more swimming, eating and reading followed. Oh have I mention it’s my birthday tomorrow?

On to Monday and more importantly my BIRTHDAY.
My birthday started at 7am to get kit ready and head to the pool for Monica and Shaun (a couple from America) Scuba tune up, as well as Catherine’s Discover Scuba Diving experience. All went well and Pete, Catherine, Rodders and I headed off to the marina to give Catherine an insight into the underwater world.

On the other hand Bungle, Melissa, Monica and Shaun headed off to El Puertito to try and find the Turtles. We left the marina and headed out to Yellow Mountain to swim with animals of the fish variety.
A good mornings diving all round, leaving Catherine wanting to complete a PADI Open Water Course and Monica and Shaun thrilled at seeing the turtles. After washing the kit, it was back to the shop for an afternoon of catching up on paperwork (Admin) and timed swimming in which I managed to finish in a time of 7.40 ‘ish’, qualifying for a 4/5. Pleased with my time and with no aspirations of continuing the rigorous swimming routine I settled for a 4/5 on my 400 meter swim. However, next Bungle, Rodney and I had the 15 minute tred-water to complete, which consisted of staying alive in the swimming pool for 13 minutes without touching the sides or bottom immediately followed by continuing not to drown for a further two minutes with our hands out the water.  All was going well until the final 2 minutes with hands out of the water came around, when I managed to successfully sink and nearly drown, much to Pete’s amusement. Both I and Bungle managed to fail the final two minutes ‘just so we could ruin the 100% pass rate that preceded us’. It was deliberate I promise. The day concluded with a beverage of the beer variety at Big Al’s and discussing how old age has started to affect me. A.k.a almost drowning.

Did I mention that it was my birthday yesterday?

Although no longer my birthday (which was yesterday if you didn’t know) Tuesday turned out to be a brilliant day. In the shop for 7.15 to get all of our kit together, ready for a pool/skills session. We met up with Teide divers (Jackie and Phil) and after a cup of tea Jackie, Rodney, Bungle and I headed down to the pool to prepare for our skills circuit and adjust our weight shortly followed by my best friends for the day Pete and Phil who would be marking our efforts. The skill circuit went very well and the practise paid off with all of my skills scoring 5/5 apart from 6 which where disappointing 4’s. Not everyone can be as perfect as Pete I suppose. After returning to the shop for a quick cup of tea and to warm up it was off to the pool again to perform Bungle’s and I’s Kit exchange which we executed perfectly and scored a 5. Pleased.
After all of us managed to successfully complete the kit exchange it was off to the Aberdeen for a VERY well deserved breakfast. Jackie and Phil headed back up north and Pete, Bungle, Rodney and I headed off to the marina to give the ’15 minute ‘avoid drowning’ another go and for Rodney to attempt the 800 meter snorkel.  Bungle and I finally managed to complete it without causing serious harm to our selves or putting our hands under the water.

That was it ...

All of the work leading up to this day ...

Divemaster Course COMPLETED for me and Bungle ... YYEAAAHHH!!

We headed back to the shop pretty pleased with ourselves, to finish the necessary paper work to make it official. I also discovered that my 100 meter diver tow was the fastest recorded here at Dive and Sea to add to the brilliant day. The day concluded with a celebratory beer and some more smiling.

The day began with Bungle, Alice and I assembling our kit and heading to the pool to film the first instalment of our fantastic ‘Divemaster Intern’ skills video. The skills session was hilarious and produced about three good videos out of the ten filmed. Upon returning to the shop we had the surprise of sitting several exams to test out knowledge from the old Divemaster exams. They went ok but show what I need to focus my reading on. During our exams we received the prized Divemaster T-shirt much to our delight, which I immediately changed into. The day finished with a bit more paper work and some general boasting about now being a Divemaster.

Today and a good lay in to start the day arriving at the shop for 9.45am. Lovely. A nice slow start involving writing this blog and a few other tasks. Then the peace was shattered as Tiede Divers turned up, including Phil, Jackie, Lauren and Barry. After a good laugh and a cup of tea it was time for Jackie to complete her kit set up whilst being marked by Pete and Phil. Then it was off to the marina to clean the boat and for Tiede to complete the remaining skills for Jackie’s Divemaster course as well as good practise for Lauren. The boat now gleaming and Jackie finishing her Divemaster it was off to the Aberdeen for yet another well deserved ‘reward’ breakfast and beverage of the beer variety.
The day concluded with finishing this blog and a bit more of tea making practise as well as reflecting on how good a Divemaster I am. Confidence is key, says Pete.

Many breakfast’s later and another week completed. Without a doubt the best week so far here in Tenerife filled with success and tea making. Our Divemaster courses completed, now Bungle, Jackie, Melissa and I can move swiftly onto our Assistant Instructor courses. Time seems to be moving along very quickly and myself and Bungle only have around three weeks remaining, however I already cannot wait to start the AI course and tackle any challenges thrown my way.

Adios for another week

George , aged 19 :-)

Schotland komt naar Tenerife

Wat een week! We kregen een grote groep duikers hier die een week naar ons en Teide divers kwamen voor een duikvakantie. Helaas kon ik door mijn oorontsteking deze week niet duiken en belandde ik van maandag tot en met donderdag in de shop.

Scotland comes to Tenerife

What a week! We got a large group of divers for the next week, nicknamed The Strathclyde Posse.

Teide divers joined us so that we could split the 12 divers-group in two to have a more manageable-sized group. Unfortunately I was a bit unlucky with having an ear infection, and now I won’t be able to dive for a week. I’m on antibiotics and hope that my ear will be better very soon.

I don’t have a lot to tell you about Monday to Thursday, because I spend these days in the shop. For your own good, let’s just skip these days in the blog and carry on with my first next day I was diving again.

Marie, who came to us for her PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course, joined us on Friday. After what seemed like ages, I was delighted that I could finally start diving again! For these dives, we went to Yellow Mountain, where we started off with the PADI Navigation, adventure dive. After a brief practice on land, Marie gave navigation a shot underwater. After a few tips, she soon got the hang off it and was able to use natural navigation and an underwater compass for navigation.

For the next dive, the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy, adventure dive, we got our brand new hoops out to give Marie the opportunity to improve on her buoyancy control skills. The most hilarious moment of the day was when a White Bream, after hesitating for a few minutes and staring at the hoops, gracefully swam through the hoop.

The last dive of the day was the PADI Underwater Naturalist, adventure dive. I led this dive to Swim Through, where Marie identified Fireworms, Wide-eyed Flounders, Atlantic Lizardfish and Greater Weevers.

Saturday I was leading the lovely Carol and Monika on two dives, with the assistance of George. The first dive was to Nelson's Point, this was the first time for me to lead a dive on this dive site. Pete dropped us off from the boat, and during the dive we made our way to Yellow Mountain, where the boat was moored up. We swam into the bay, got to the boat and changed tanks for the next dive. During the dive we saw a large Octopus, a Cuttlefish, a huge Scorpionfish and I saw a school of Needle Fish for the very first time. The second dive was to Swim Through, where we spotted Nudibranch, Trumpetfish, Ornate Wrasse and Blue-fin Damselfish.

Sunday we didn’t get the chance to take the day off , because we were so far behind with some tasks.
We spent the morning cleaning all of the shop’s diving boots and regulators, followed by cleaning the shop as well. The next day would be the first day of a new intern, so we wanted to have everything clean before his arrival.

Despite the days without diving, and the fact that I had barely seen The Strathclyde Posse, I had a nice week and I hope I’ll do a lot more diving during my last few weeks in Tenerife. At the end of this week, I suddenly realised that I have done 87 dives now, quickly getting closer to the magic number of 100 logged dives!

More next week, keep reading!
Love, Alice

Almost a PADI Divemaster!

The start of one more Friday in paradise and no sign of a lay in, being in the shop for 7am.

After assembling most of the kit for the days diving, we met Martin from the U.K shortly followed by Monica and Karol a couple from the U.K of Polish decent. After a cup of tea and finishing packing all of the kit we split into two groups. Pete, Alice, Maria and I making one group and Martin, Melissa, Bungle, Monica and Karol making the other. I headed off to the Marina with my group to take Marina’s diving adventure to the next level through the PADI Advanced Open Water course. Whereas Bungle and the others where off to try and find the turtles at El Petito. I spent the first two of Maria’s dives on boat duty, then managed to join in on the third, to the Swim Through as part Maria’s PADI Naturalist dive. A fantastic dive and plenty of aquatic life around. When I returned to the shop it was a quick log book update and assisting Maria with working through her knowledge review as part of her PADI AOW. The day concluded with a delightful cylinder filling mission with Melissa and a de-brief.

The first day of the weekend and surprisingly more diving for the team today, again we had the pleasure of diving with Karol and Monica from the previous day.  The first dive of the day found Alice, Karol, Monica and I exploring Nelsons Point another dive site at Yellow Mountain, one which I had never been to prior. A fantastic dive seeing so much life including a GIANT octopus, (at least the size a bus) which appeared to be asleep so we made sure it stayed that way and moved swiftly on.

After surfacing and receiving some counselling from Pete on coping with our octopus sighting it was back under the water. Next we headed off to the Swim Through. Another excellent dive and the best dive of the trip according to Monica and Karol, no octopus this time but we did manage to see a ‘smiley’ Moray Eel. After returning to the shop it was time for me to drop the couple back to their hotel for the final time and say farewell hopefully not for long. Then back to the shop for a cup of tea and a de-brief. All in all a great day.

The final day of the weekend and a nice lie in until 10am. No diving today, however still a lot to get done, catching up on cleaning after the busy week just gone. We began by heading down to the marina to clean kit as well as the boat whilst Alice and Melissa cleaned the shop. Upon returning to the shop we met Carl (aka Nemo, Rodney or Uncle Albert) the new Divemaster intern, it was a pleasant early finish at around 2pm. The rest of the day consisted of chilling, reading and swimming. Easy peasy, looking forward to teaching Rodney the ropes.

The start of another week in Tenerife and another Monday. The first day for Rodney and nothing like an easy start, with a pool session to practise our skills (required for our Divemaster Certification) which turned out to be an eye opening experience leaving me in no doubt I needed to practise. After getting back to the shop it was time for some real diving, off to Abades with Bungle, Alice, Melissa and I, leaving ‘Rodders’ to go through the introduction with Pete. In turned out that only Bungle and I dived, two amazing dives in which we managed to see a great Angle Shark glide bye as well as two Sting Rays. Some of the best dives so far. Upon returning to the shop I had the lovely surprise of a Rescue Exam to complete, in which I got a disappointing four questions wrong. Bummer. The day concluded with a de-brief and a beer to officially welcome Rodney to the Dive and Sea Team Elite.

7am on Tuesday, first on the agenda was to get all of our kit ready and pack into the car all set to go to Poris for a mornings diving. However after driving around the whole of Poris at least 5 times, we decided that Poris was rubbish and headed off to Abades again to try and see the allusive Angle Shark. We arrived at Abades and jumped in for one excellent dive, however when we got 5 minutes in to the second dive there was a noticeable horde of jelly fish coming to attack us. So we finished the dive early, at least no one got stung. Next we packed the kit and headed off to the marina to get it all washed, shortly followed by a spot of lunch. After lunch Bungle, Rodney and I had to complete a 400m timed swim, in which I scored a disappointing 3. Not happy. We finished the day by a trip to the pool to practise our skill demonstrations and a de-brief in which Bungle was decided to be the culprit for the Jellyfish incident. Not a brilliant day but not bad.

Almost the end of another week in Tenerife and a nice lay in until 7.30am. First on the agenda was getting all of the kit ready for the day of diving ahead. First Alice led Andy’s PADI Scuba Tune Up as well as Becky’s PADI Discover Scuba Diving Course, assisted by Bungle and I. Both naturals under water and everything went smoothly so we swapped our kit over and headed to the marina to prepare for their open water section.

Two brilliant dives followed which I led the first around Alien Rock and the second out to the Swim Through back past Crocodile rock. Bungle was assigned to boat duty, which he decided only swimming shorts would be adequate. However he did not expect the heavens to open, resulting in him getting soaked, ohh and cold.
The boat journey back in to the marina found Bungle curled up in the foetal position at the front of the boat much to Pete’s amusement. After eventually returning to the shop it was time for some much needed lunch. After Rodders, Alice and I headed to the pool to once again brush up on our demonstration skills. The day concluded with a de-brief and a beer.

The end of another blog and the end of another week in Tenerife. Today began bright and early at 7.15, when we assembled and packed all of the kit into the Jeep ready to go down to the marina. Two dives followed with Bungle leading the first round Alien Rock and myself leading the second to the Swim Through and around Crocodile Rock, the group included Livio,

Alvalro two divers joining us for a spot diving. Both where brilliant dives and we managed to see a Black Moray Eel as well as a Fang Tooth Moray Eel. Upon returning to the marina Bungle, Carl and I had a timed run through of our 100m Diver Tow with Alice helping by simulating a victim. I managed a brilliant time of 2.03 awarding five out of a possible five points for that skill. Really pleased. We returned to the shop to find Phil and Jackie from Tiede going through Jackie’s skills for her Divemaster Course. The day concluded with Bungle, Carl and myself running through our own skills and a de-brief. Another Brilliant day in Paradise.

The Divemaster certification is so close I can almost taste it, hopefully it will be done by the end of my next blog allowing me to move onto the PADI Assistant Instructor Course. I look forward to the week ahead and can’t wait to obtain the PADI Divemaster qualification.

All the kit ALL the time!

Friday morning Karol and Monica were diving with us again, as well as a man who many people know as ‘Martin’ (mostly because that is his name). The first part of the morning was spent bundling kit and loading the car, then with Martin on board, he, Melissa and I were in the van and on our way to El Puertito via collecting Karol and Monica. The car journey was fun as we were so busy being interested by Martin telling us about his very interesting job (genuine), that we missed the turning for the Tank filling Station and almost got to the dive site with no full air cylinders. The mistake was quickly rectified and we arrived at El Puertito with everything we needed for some potentially Turtle spotting dives.

Turtle spot we did, also finding Octopus and a lot of other wonderful things along the way, much to the liking of our 3 customers. I led the first dive and managed some confusion with directions, but we easily made it back to the shore with the help of the dive sites resident expert, Melissa.

Note to self; Don’t get lost when there is people following you!

Saturday was Karol and Monica’s last 2 dives with us, but I unfortunately wasn’t there to see them through it. Zippy and Alice took them on a tour of Yellow Mountain, while I had the pleasure of leading a Snorkelling excursion for Hamish and his son, fish spotting and watching the divers from the surface. I really, really enjoy snorkeling anyway so this was a great day for me. Every body who was being showed round by us wonderful interns enjoyed their trips and headed off happy.

The afternoon was equipment maintenance time. We started with Alice and I washing all of the BCD’s thoroughly at the marina, then zippy and I tagging and recording the stock of the freshly cleaned jackets.

Note to self; Don’t be so sarcastic.

Sunday was a short day, a little more equipment preparation and cleaning was on the cards. We took all the booties and regulators down to the marina and gave them all a thorough clean. Zippy and I then had a scrubbing session on the boat and that was about that.

More reading of the ‘Encyclopedia Of Recreational Diving’ finished off the afternoon with style!

Monday morning and Pete, Melissa, Alice, Zippy, Our new intern Carl (who we are calling ‘Rodders’) and I were popping down to the pool to give demonstrating the required PADI Divemaster skills a go. I had done the skills before in my PADI Open Water Course, but not at this level before. It was very beneficial watching everybody else do the skills and having Pete there to talk about them with. I learned a lot about how to demonstrate and also what was expected.

Once out of the pool, Melissa was kind enough to take Zippy and I to Abades so we could do a couple of dives. We went out, didn’t get lost, saw lots of amazing things that we cant prove (an Angel Shark and 2 big Sting Rays) because we didn’t have a camera with us, had a bit of a laugh and found our way back. Great Success!!

Later on in the afternoon, Pete had all of us interns sit a final exam paper from our previous training. I got the easiest one which was the PADI Open Water Course final exam and managed a 49/50. I knew the answer to the lone question that I got wrong, but for some reason ticked a completely different box!

Note to self; Tick the right box!

Tuesday Melissa took us to Abades again. Rodders and Alice came too and we all went diving together. The first dive of the morning was great, with lots of cool things to see and some good conditions. The second dive wasn’t as successful, after swimming straight into a swarm of 1,000,000 Jelly Fish (that’s an approximate amount, I didn’t have time to count properly) and deciding to end the diver, rather than having someone get stung.

Not long after getting back, Pete had us at the pool for a timed 400m swim for the stamina test part of the course. Zippy and I were both disappointed with our times and performances, but having had a week off from training while being busy at the shop, it was almost expected. I had another pool skills session with Zippy and Rodders later in the afternoon, where we all demonstrated much better than before.

Wednesday we were joined by Andy and his girlfriend Becky, as well as Felipe. Andy was here for a PADI Scuba Review, Becky was doing a PADI Discover Scuba Diving course and Felipe is a certified diver, here for a couple of fun dives. Alice was leading the pool skills for the couple, with Zippy and I there for support. The pool skills went swimmingly (pun intended) and then it was time to get all of the equipment together, before heading out for a couple of dives.

I had the pleasure of boat duties, which is usually fine and nice and relaxing while waiting for those diving to surface. Today however, wasn’t. I had decided to go out in shorts and a T-shirt, as it was sunny and warm when we left the shop. 10 minutes into the second dive, the skies opened and I got very wet and very cold, very quickly. Pete was there on hand to laugh at my situation and offer me a plastic bucket to put on my head, which I did, much to his amusement. I learned today to always have something warm to wear on the boat, just in case.

I spent the afternoon in the wonderful company of Melissa, popping to various shops and places to do a variety of things and stuff. One of these stops was to see Dave at Pro-Sub, where I treated myself to some new booties and a shorty for extra warmth in the water.

Note to self; ALL THE GEAR, ALL THE TIME.

Thursday morning I was back in the water, nice and warm because of my nice new ice vest! Diving at Alien Rock, Swim Through and Crocodile Rock with Alice, Zippy, Rodders and 2 customers Alvaro and Livio. I led the first dive and found my way round Alien Rock well which was pleasing. We saw plenty of life including Moray Eels and Nudibranch. Alice claims she also saw a lobster, but doesn’t have photographic evidence. No piccy - No believey!!

The afternoon we spent watching a DVD on how to perform and demonstrate skills. It was beneficial to point out all the mistakes that the demonstrators were making, so when Zippy and I got into the pool afterwards we wouldn’t make the same errors. We spent an hour in the pool practicing and are definitely getting better, which is good as it is scoring time next week!!

More later

Bungle / Chris

DSD, PADI Rescue cursussen en de verloren Duck!

Mijn eerste week van mijn extra 5 weken begon niet zo super, omdat helaas mijn nek weer opspeelt. Ik heb zo'n 9 jaar geleden een whiplash opgelopen en zo nu en dan heb ik daar weer last van.

Maandag zou ik met Melissa, Chris, George en Phil naar Abades, een kustduik, gaan. Helaas moest ik vanwege mijn nek thuisblijven en de duik overslaan. Bij een kustduik moet je namelijk een eind over het strand lopen met alle duikapperatuur op je rug en daarna een stuk aan de oppervlakte zwemmen voordat je aan de duik kunt beginnen; niet zo'n goed idee voor mijnnek dus. Hopelijk voel ik me snel weer beter!

DSD's, PADI Rescue Courses and the Lost Duck!

The first week of my additional 5 weeks didn't have a very good start, because unfortunately my neck is hurting again. I've had an accident and suffered a whiplash about 9 years ago, and every now and then it just starts to hurt again and then I feel like I can't do anything. Annoying...!

On Monday Melissa, Chris, George and Phil went to Abades, which is a shore dive location. Unfortunately I had to skip this beautiful dive because of my neck. On a shore dive you walk from the car to the water with your scuba kit on your back, followed by a surface swim, before you can descent. This would probably not be a good idea for my neck. Hopefully I will soon be better and be able to do the shore dives again!

That afternoon we were off to Yellow Mountain for the second part of Chris and George's PADI Rescue Diver course. Because this is a boat dive, it is not a problem for my neck because I won't have the weight of the kit on my back at all. This part of the course consists of two Open Water Scenarios. The first was a so-called "missing diver" scenario, just like on my own PADI Rescue Diver course only a few weeks ago. It was up to me to hide Ducky, Dive and Sea's loyal rubber duck, anywhere within 10 meters of the boat. I found a spot for Ducky and went back to the boat.

Then Chris and George got in the water to try to find Ducky as soon as possible. After about 15 minutes of searching, unfortunately, Ducky still wasn't found, and we decided it would be better to stop searching because it was just taking to long. When I swam out to get Ducky, I found myself a bit disorientated because the wind had turned the boat around. I was using the boat, that normally points in the same direction every time, for navigation. I also found out that I had hidden Ducky further away than 10 meters from the boat. This was of course the reason that Chris and George weren't able to find Ducky in the first place. As a result we had lost a lot of time and because it was already so late (as we normally dive in the morning) we couldn't finish the course that day. Mildly said, I pretty much ruined the whole day and we are now behind on schedule!

Tuesday, a new day, new chances. I felt like I really did have to make up for the previous day and try to get back some of the time we lost. I got that chance with the PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience of Hannah. Early in the morning we went to the pool, with Pete keeping an eye on us, and Chris and George joined us to assist if needed.

Everything went fine, Hannah did well and soon it was time for her two first dives in the sea. Pete led the dives while I stayed close to Hannah and controlled her BCD for her. During the dive we saw Yellow Goatfish, Trumpetfish and an Octopus. We brought Hannah back to the Marina, where she was picked up by Melissa.

After that, we went straight back to the sea for another attempt to complete Chris and George's PADI Rescue Diver course. Again we started with the Open Water Scenario: "missing diver" (Ducky), and this time I made sure I did not go beyond a couple of meters from the boat. This time, Chris and George found Ducky very quickly without any problems and we could finally continue the course and do Open Water Scenario 2. The scenario was "Unresponsive diver at the surface," which we did twice to give both Chris and George the opportunity do practice their "Responding to an emergency" skills. First it was Chris's turn to 'save' George. Chris took the situation very serious and jumped into the water to rescue George. When he reached the victim, he gave a real rescue breath into the pocket mask on George's face. George managed to stay ion his role and remain fairly unresponsive. After that, George's turn to save Chris. Fortunately everything went well and the PADI Rescue Diver course is now completed!

Back on the boat, I discovered that sometime during the PADI Rescue Diver course, I lost my diving knife.

Pete decided that there was still time to do an extra dive to find my knife. Chris, George and I soon found my knife back and continued the dive with a small tour to Crocodile Rock.

Wednesday morning we went to the Marina to start the 800 meter snorkel that is part of Chris and George's PADI Divemaster internship. I didn't have to get in the water because I already completed all my stamina tests. Immediately after the 800m snorkel, the 100m Tired Diver Tow followed, which is a very heavy stamina test. Chris and George both managed to get a good time.

Then we got on the boat and headed for Yellow Mountain. During the boat trip, Chris and George practised their dive brief for the very first time, and did very well. The three dives that followed were three additional mapping dives, to collect the final details needed for the maps. The first and second dive were to Alien Rock and the third to Crocodile Rock. I led the dives and found my way without any problems. During the dive we saw a Brown Moray Eel, Red-Backed Cleaner Shrimp, Fire Worms, Pearly Razorfish, Cardinal Fish, goby, Starry Weever and much more.

Thursday Hannah was back with us to do one more dive. Pete led the dive to one of our newest dive sites; Gijarro Arrecife. Chris and Hannah buddied up and I was at the back. It was great to explore this new dive site. We saw an Octopus, a large number of Moray Eels and a beautiful Black Dotted Sea Slug! After the dive, we brought Hannah back to the Marina, and on our way back, we came across someone that needed a hand to free his boat. One of the ropes got entangled around the propeller of the motor. Chris got into the water, and eventually managed to free the propeller by cutting the rope.

After a quick change of tanks and a goodbye to Hannah, we went straight back to the sea again for another dive. I led the dive to Pequeño Valle. Pete stayed on the boat while I took Chris and George along underwater. We had a wonderful, relaxed dive that I really enjoyed. We saw an Octopus, Moray Eel Brown, Black Moray Eel, Grunt Bastard, Red Starfish and I spotted a tiny Round Stingray, which Chris and George didn't see. Fortunately, I managed to get a picture this time to proof what I had seen.

Friday was the big clean-up day because on Sunday, a large group of 12 divers will arrive for a week of diving with us and Teide divers. We cleaned the shop and the cars and worked on our blogs. When I was hoovering the car, unfortunately some water got into the hoover and it obviously broke... The worst part is that while Harry and Moniek were hoovering the car just a couple weeks ago, they broke the other hoover, so now we ended up with no hoover at all. I want to go and get a new hoover as soon as I can, preferably a pink one of course!

Saturday morning Melissa, Chris and George left together with Teide divers, to dive to a new dive site, that was a shore dive. Because my neck still hurts a lot, I had to skip this dive as well. Therefore I had the morning off, and in the afternoon we did some grocery shopping and bought a new hoover. We also went to the pharmacy, because it seems I have got an ear infection. They told me that the only thing I could do is taking antibiotics, but I'd have to go to the doctor for that. Luckely, they had a doctor almost immediately available (at least that'swhat they told me) and I would only need a quick check and signature. After an our of waiting, I finally got to see the doctor who signed the paper after some very useless and unnecessary tests... Hopefully my ear will feel better soon because as long as I'm on antibiotics, I am not allowed to do diving!

Sunday was the big day, the group of the Sterling University, consisting of 12 divers, had arrived in Tenerife the previous night. We started our Sunday with completing all the paperwork. That took quite a while with such a large group, but as soon as we got it done they headed to the Marina for the first two dives with us. The group was split in two, half of them did their first few dives with us and the other half begin their diving adventure with Teide divers.

DSD's, Dive Clubs and Exams!

Hannah came back for another dive after enjoying her PADI Discover Scuba Diving course earlier in the week.
Pete, Alice and I all got geared up and headed down to Gijarro Aricefe with Hannah, where we dropped in and explored the relatively new dive site and showed her some more of the underwater world.
The Dive went well and we bumped into an Octopus along the way, as well as some beautiful Sea Slugs and plenty of the usual suspects.

After dropping Hannah off, we went back out for a cheeky dive to Pequena Valle. This is one of my favourite sites and I was taking some references and points that I could recognise, so I would be ready to lead dives there and hopefully not get lost. Alice, Zippy and I found a Portugese Bag’O War (inside joke), a bunch of Trumpet Fish and a rather hostile Moray Eel.

As we were heading back to the marina, we were stopped by a man on a sailing boat that had rather clumsily managed to get a static rope trapped around his propeller (silly man). He asked if we could help and helpful people as we are, I got kitted back up and spent the next half an hour freeing his boat from a massive tangle of rope.

Note to self; If I ever buy a sailing boat, don’t let that man drive it!

Today was strangely a day of no diving… There was plenty of cleaning to do though so it was still a busy day. The boat got a good scrubbing in the morning, the shop was cleaned thoroughly, the cars were treated to a mini valet and the customer kit was all cleaned and greased up.

With everything tidy, Zippy and I sat our PADI Divemaster final exam papers. Both of us did really well and only got 3 questions incorrect out of 120. GO US!!!

Tidy Friday.

Saturday was a day off for us, but we had the option to go diving (just for fun) if we wanted to. Zippy and I chose to go diving. Phil from Teide Divers had stumbled across a rather interesting pipe line at Las Eras, so we went to meet him and Jackie with Melissa, to go and check it out. It proved to be a great untouched site, with loads of life to see including Rays, Octopus and Nudi Branch. We did a couple of dives and then headed back to enjoy the rest of our day off.

Late on Saturday night, a group of 11 divers and 1 non diver arrived, ready for 5 days of diving shared between Dive and Sea and Teide Divers. They were all met and checked in to various apartments and would be ready for diving early Sunday morning.

Sunday was the first day of diving for the group now named ‘The Stirling Posse’. After a welcoming brief from Pete and Melissa at the shop, I was going with 5 of them and the Teide crew back to Las Eras for a couple of dives, including the newly discovered pipe line. Plenty of Sea Hares, Nudi Branch, massive Scorpion Fish and a cheeky Ray made the dives great fun and everyone seemed to enjoy. The rest of the afternoon was relatively quiet, but it was the calm before the storm as this big group would be providing us with a busy week.

Monday I was off with Pete and an Instructor by the name of Felix for a PADI Advanced Open Water course with the Monroe Family. Mum, Dad and their 3 children had chosen to do the following adventure dives; PPB - Peak Performance Buoyancy, Navigation and Deep Dive. Not long after entering the water, Mummy Monroe alerts us to the fact that one of her fins had fell off. I was already in the water so dropped down to go and retrieve it, but after a 30 minute search I came back empty handed. Bye bye fin… I did spot a big Sting Ray when I was looking for the fin in question but I wouldn’t like to strap that to my foot and try to swim with it! I gave one of the girls my fins (how nice am I!), then joined Pete on the boat while Felix had the family swimming through hoops.

Later that afternoon, I was back out on the boat with Pete, Melissa and 5 of the Posse. Zippy had forgot to include a mask in one of the kit bundles so I forfeited mine and sat the first dive out. Zippy got a beer fine and had to walk down to the marina with a spare! I went down on the second dive at Starfish bay which was a nice conclusion to a long day!

The next morning the entire group were being taken for a couple of dives at El Puertito. Everybody except for Pete and Alice headed off for a couple of dives to try and find the Turtles.

Find the Turtles we did and they were fantastic. Diving with such beautiful creatures is an amazing experience and everybody really enjoyed it. There was plenty of Starfish, Anenomes and Cuttle Fish to add to the list aswell. Phil and Melissa were leading these 2 dives and Jackie, Lauren Zippy and I were holding the fort at the back of the pack. There were a lot of divers in the water but it was a great day out none the less.

Later that afternoon and well into the evening, Melissa, Zippy and I had the privilege of washing all 18 sets of kit, which was great fun and not tiring at all, followed by a nice, cold, pint.

Next day I was down in the pool nice and early with a family of 4 who had come in for a DSD - Discover Scuba Diving experience. Felix was back to instruct the course and Melissa and I were there for support. Pool skills went well and we headed off to Abades for the Open Water dives. Shortly after descending though the daughter had a problem with equalizing so I surfaced with her and headed back to shore. The second dive I made it down and helped Felix show the family around.

The afternoon was spent back out in the water with Felix and the Monroe family who were back for the Deep Dive part of their PADI Advanced Open Water course. We dropped down to deeper waters, they performed the tasks required and that was that. Congratulations Monroes!

Thursday Morning - the morning I would be leading my first dive! Pequeno Valle was the destination, 3 of the Sterling posse were kitted up and on the boat, Zippy was following behind and my memory of the site was being put to the test! It went really well, I didn’t get lost and was a good confidence boost. Seeing things from the front of a group of divers is a lot different to following others. We were treated to a variety of critters including Octopus and a Moray Eel.

The second dive of the morning was at Starfish bay, where there was quite a strong current. We found a nice Round Ray on the way to the site and once we got there it was easy to just drift round the rocks and see what we could find on the way.

In the afternoon I got to lead even more dives. Being joined by Zippy, Karol and Monica, it was back out to Pequeno Valle and then Alien Rock. They are diving with us a few times and really enjoyed this afternoon, so smiling faces all round!

After another busy, busy day, a few well deserved cold ones at the Aberdeen went down a treat!!

Bungle / Chris

Another brilliant week in the Canary Islands

Another brilliant week in the Canary Islands and most of my PADI Divemaster course ‘in the bag’.

Another Thursday and another early start to prepare for the busy day ahead. The morning began with the welcome surprise of Hannah returning to enjoy some more open water diving with her PADI DSD qualification. We all headed off to the marina and where quickly on our way to Yellow Mountain for some more underwater fun. Unfortunately I remained on boat duty whilst everyone else enjoyed the morning’s diving. Upon returning to the marina it was time for Hannah to leave us, for now at least.

Then Bungle, Alice and I had the choice of any local dive site we wanted to go too, so we decided upon Pequeno Valle. Which turned out to be a fantastic choice, Alice managed to see a Ray and Bungle and I amused our selves by generally fooling around. When we returned to the marina for the last time of the day we washed the kit and headed back to the shop. Where I spent most of the afternoon catching up on paperwork and logging recent dives.



On to Friday which consisted of cleaning in preparation for the arrival of a group of 12 on Saturday evening. Surprisingly no diving today, instead we sat our PADI Divemaster final exams in the afternoon, which both Bungle and I passed, only getting 3 of the 120 question incorrect. “sigh of relief”, and one step closer to becoming PADI Divemaster’s. To add to the day’s events, upon returning from lunch Bungle and I were told we were moving out for the week ahead in order to make room for the large group arriving Saturday. An unexpected surprise to say the least. However a benefit to moving out was the use of a car (the Pat Mobil) for the next week to get to the shop and back. Can't complain. So after some more tea drinking we finished up at the shop and headed back to the room to pack, sleep and eat.





Instead of a day off on Saturday, Bungle and I, choose to ‘unusually’ go diving to Las Eras, accompanied by Phil, Jackie and Melissa. Just as well, because both dives where fantastic, the first to a new site discovered by Phil the day before, consisted of swimming over and around a pipe line running away from the shoreline.

We found a whole host of aquatic life including Moray Eels, Sting Rays and huge Scorpion fishys. The second dive out to an existing reef dive site, again a brilliant dive and well worth using our day off to visit. After returning from Las Eras it was off to the marina to wash all of the kit, followed by a much needed breakfast at the Aberdeen. On returning to the shop my eyes lit up with the site of our new automobile, a bright red Renault Kangoo van. Life does not get much better than this. Then we headed off to our new apartment with our new wagon (aka Postman Pat Mobil) loaded with our stuff. We arrived at our new apartment, after not really unpacking we grabbed some food and an early night for the long week ahead.

Bright and early Sunday morning Bungle and I headed to the shop and didn’t get lost on route, surprisingly’. We met up with Tiede Divers (who where on time) and prepared all of the kit for the arrival of the uni students (aka the Strathclyde posse). All of us introduced ourselves to the group and let them know about the week ahead. It was then time for the first diving of the week to begin, so the group split between Dive and Sea and Tiede Divers subsequently Pete, Melissa, myself and our half of the posse headed off to the marina to kit up and go to Yellow Mountain for the Scot’s first experience of diving in Tenerife. Following two great dives, we all returned to the shop and relaxed with a cup of tea. That afternoon we discovered Alice was now the proud owner of an ear infection, which meant no more diving for the rest of the week (she was less than pleased). The day concluded with a de-brief and some more tea drinking.

The following day and another early start for the Dive and Sea team. After assembling all of the kit it was off to El Puertito with all 12 of the Sterling Posse as well as Tiede divers. Two brilliant dives included seeing the Turtles. Absolutely amazing.
After finally returning to the shop, we were redirected to the marina where we met Melissa and set about washing all 18 sets of kit. Knackered. The day concluded with a quick beer and listening to Pete moan about his ‘mangled foot’, which seemed to be solely blamed on Bungle.



Dive and Sea welcomed the Monroe family whom where with us to complete their PADI Advanced Open Water Course’s. We began their advance under water adventures with the PADI Fish Identification adventure dive as part of the advance course joined by Felix (PADI Instructor), in which I also led my first dive out to the Alien Rock dive site and managed to find the my way back to the boat. So pleased.

The second dive, and again I led the group to the Swim Through and Crocodile Rock (two dives sites at Yellow Mountain) as part of the PADI Boat Dive adventure dive, again I successfully found the boat upon return. A great learning experience for my Divemaster duties. After the very successful morning, followed a not so successful afternoon in which I managed to forget a mask in one of the kits for the Scottish group diving in the afternoon.
As a result Bungle missed a dive and I had the walk of shame down to the marina to give over the missing mask. Plonker!
The day concluded with washing kit and a de-brief of the day’s events.

It was now time in which Dive and Sea and Tiede Divers swapped the groups over making up the Scottish Posse. Surprisingly more diving, including two dives led by myself to three different dive sites.
I successfully navigated back to the boat on all occasions, a big weight off of my shoulders. Pete took us all back into the marina to unload and wash the kit. The rest of the day was mainly spent drinking tea and writing various extracts for use on the website. The day finished with a de-brief and listening to Pete reiterate just how smashed his foot was.


Finally on to today, concluding a hectic week in the Canary Island of Tenerife. Another ‘lovely’ early start prior to two more dives with the Scottish contingency. The first dive to Pequeno Valle with Bungle taking the responsibility of leading and I assisting, in which we stumbled across and angry looking Fang Tooth Moray Eel, the first I have seen.

The second dive, a short boat journey away to Starfish Bay where again Bungle led the dive and I assisted. Lots of aquatic life including a Common Ray, Octopus, Starfish, Trumpet fish as well as all the usual suspects.
After finishing the last dive of the morning, the Strathclyde Posse celebrated with a deserved can of beer.

The Afternoon began with meeting Karol and Monica a couple out on holiday from the U.K. Again two more dives in the afternoon with Bungle leading and I assisting, to Pequeno Valle and Alien rock. Being used to the cold, murky waters of the U.K, the couple found the 20 degree water of Tenerife tropical in comparison.  Both dives where fantastic and left all of us waiting to get back in the water again.

One more week completed and only 5 weeks left of the internship. I’ve gained some valuable experience this week as well as meeting some great people. I look forward to the weeks and challenges ahead.

George aka Zippy

Time to go home.................. or not! :-)

Week number nine has arrived, which should have been my last week. 

However, a few days before my flight, and originally meant as a joke, we came up with the idea to let me stay a little bit longer. 

Because I reached my required 60 dives only a couple of days before the end of my internship, we decided that it would be a good idea to gain some work experience now that I am a certified PADI Divemaster. 

This opportunity also increases my chances of a future job in the dive business. 

The time to say goodbye had almost arrived, and now I can once again enjoy the fact that I still have enough time in Tenerife to learn a lot. 

My flight has been rescheduled from the 22nd of March to the 26th of April, which gives me exactly 5 more weeks of diving experience. 

Many thanks and lots of love to Pete and Melissa, who are now stuck with me for another 5 weeks! XXX

The week began with my first ever PADI Scuba Tune-up, of Chris and George. During a PADI Scuba Tune-up all of the skills of the PADI Open Water Diver course are reviewed and repeated until they are performed correctly. Immediately after the pool session it was time for two dives to Yellow Mountain, which I led. 

Finally, I now begin to understand how I can navigate on a dive site. I found my way to Alien Rock and Crocodile Rock without any problems. During the dive I also took pictures; a good opportunity to practice my underwater photography skills. 

When I wanted to take some pictures of Chris and George with an Arrow Crab in their hands, they responded shocked and refused to touch the pool little creature. Later, back on the boat, their excuse was that the crab was very large (not..!), and that I was wearing gloves and they were not.

True, but many others and me often hold them in our hands without gloves. Hopefully Chris and George will quickly learn to have a little bit more faith in me. :-) 

Tuesday was my turn to stay on the boat while Chris, George and Pete were off for some more diving. I spend my time looking for shapes in the rocks, as you would do with clouds. I found a Dragon, a Turtle and a Dragonfly, on top of the Monkey, and the famous Cat, Dog and Duck that we had already seen.

Wednesday we were joined by David, a PADI Advanced Open Water diver, who came to us to celebrate his 100th dive. I would be leading these dives again. For the first dive, we headed to Alien Rock. David was very pleased with his 100th dive and we saw a Black Sea Hare, Fireworms, Blacktail Comber, Scorpion fish, and Streaked Gurnards. 

The next dive, to Crocodile Rock, was also a very nice dive. After just minutes, we came across a baby Angel Shark. During the rest of the dive, we spotted an Octopus and a large Blue Starfish. 

On Thursday we had a busy day again. We went back to Yellow Mountain where Pete started with Chris and George's PADI Surface Marker Buoy (SMB) speciality course. I stayed on the boat and got the chance to observe this course from the surface, which gave a very different perspective than when I did this speciality course myself. 

From the surface, it was easy to determine when the SMB's where properly inflated and when they were not, and whether the line was held tight. Next, I got in the water as well and we were off for three "mapping" dives. Just like I've made an underwater map during my internship, Chris and George have to do the same now. While I was leading the dives, they made notes of the area and collected all the information they needed. 

That afternoon we did the EFR course and AED course. Just like during Harry's and my internship, Chris and George must complete these courses for their PADI Divemaster internship. As always, this course was very informative, but with a lot of fun, practising chest compressions and rescue breaths on the dummy. 

Friday we went diving with a large group. David was back with us for two more dives, and we were joined by Phil from Teide divers, his intern Lauren, and three customers; Marc, Neil and April. Together with Chris, George, Pete and me, our group consisted of no less than 10 divers, with Melissa on boat duty. 

The first dive was to Poco Naufragio, where we unfortunately were not very lucky as we didn’t see a lot of Rays. We did briefly see a Common Ray, but no Stingrays this time. 

The second dive was to Pequeño Valle, where I spotted an Angel Shark in the sand that Pete, surprisingly, had missed. We also saw a Black Sea Hare, Octopus and Snake Cucumber. 

The new interns are making progress quickly, as they recently started on their PADI Rescue Diver course. Chris, George, Pete and I were off to the San Miguel Marina for the confined water sessions as part of the PADI Rescue Diver course. 

They did well on practising how to respond to various emergency situations in the water, and finding a missing diver (Ducky the rubber duck again) in a reasonable good time. 

The PADI Rescue Diver course always brings a laugh. The best moment of the day was definitely when I saw something floating at the surface, somewhere behind Pete. Pete turned around and looked at the unknown object in the water, and told us that is was a "Portuguese Bag of War". Chris and George were shocked as a "Portuguese Man of War" is a dangerous species of jellyfish (to be precise, this animal is not a true jellyfish, but if you want to know more, just search on the internet). 

After a petrifying 20 minutes, Chris and George were still very distracted by this "animal", and Pete could not hold his laugh any longer. It turned out that all the fuss was all about a simple plastic bag! 

Chris and George also took the opportunity to practice their 800m snorkel for the first time, which they did excellent with the following results: Chris: 18.37 minutes, George: 17.40 minutes. 

Sunday I spent my day in the sun by the pool and I am now finally catching up on my tan! 

Next week it's time for the rest of Chris and George's PADI Rescue Diver course, and at the end of the week a large group of divers will arrive for a week worth of diving with us and Teide divers. 

For me, the studying part is now finished, but the learning part definitely is not. 

I'm already looking forward to my next 5 weeks! 

Love, Alice 

Tijd om naar huis te gaan .................. of niet! :-)

Week nummer negen alweer, welke normaal gezien mijn laatste week zou zijn. Echter, enkele dagen voor vertrek, kwamen we oorspronkelijk bedoelt als een grap, op het idee om mij wat langer te laten blijven.

Another week completed and it just keeps getting better.

I will begin where I left off with Friday...........
Once again more diving however this time we had enjoyment of diving with Phil, Lauren, Mark, Neil and April from Teide Divers as well as David from earlier in the week. We began the day with sorting and packing the kit into the car followed by a cup of tea before leaving for the marina. After assembling and loading the kit on to the boat, there was no sign of Teide divers, leaving Bungle and I in our wetsuits in the blazing sunshine :-) Warm to say the least.

When Teide divers turned up, we went on two dives including a Deep dive for Bungle’s Advanced Open Water course at Poco Naufragio.  I buddied with David. Shortly after descending we came across a Common Ray, the first I have seen here in Tenerife. Very exciting.

The second dive of the day and this time we took a short boat journey to Pequeno Valle and completed another dive for Bungle’s AOW this time the Boat adventure dive. No Rays on this dive however we did manage to see an Angle Shark, Octopus and Snake Cucumber so all in all a fantastic dive. After returning to the marina Bungle and I had the surprise of a 100m diver tow to complete in which I did reasonably well and got a time of 3.12.
We finished the mornings diving and decided that a full English breakfast was in order so off to the Aberdeen  restaurant with Teide divers for a vital energy boost. A very good day indeed.

Saturday began with Bungle and I having to complete the confined water section of our PADI Rescue diver courses. In the marina we completed a range of tasks from cramp removal to finding the missing duck, simulating a missing diver. Whilst completing the second of our dives we found a terrifying Portuguese man’o’war (nasty jellyfish), or as it later turned out to be a Portuguese bag’o’war (Plastic bag), to Pete’s amusement.
After completing the confined Rescue dives myself, Bungle and Alice had the opportunity to practise our timed 800meter snorkel required for our PADI Divemaster course, I managed to obtain a time of 17.40. Not bad but could be improved.

Too add to the exhausting morning after completing our timed snorkels, Pete, Alice, Bungle and myself set about cleaning the boat followed by cleaning the shop upon returning from the marina.
The day finished with a quick 400 meter practise in the pool and a positive de-brief. Another good day in paradise.

Sunday already, another well earned day off to sleep, eat, read and swim.

Monday began with a nice late start of 8am, and then it was off to Abades with Melissa and Bungle. On arrival, we also once again met up with Teide divers which entailed more sweltering in a wetsuit whilst they assembled there kit's. Whilst at Abades we completed two shore dives which we had to map, so we could lead dives there in the future. However Melissa opted out of the second dive due to being unable to equalise, leaving Bungle and I at the mercy of Teide divers. Both dives where fantastic and we even managed to catch a glimpse of a Common Ray snoozing on the bottom.

Following a very successful morning, a not so successful afternoon followed. Once I and Bungle had returned from Abades it was off to the marina to complete our PADI Rescue course open water scenarios 1 and 2 with Pete, Alice, Bungle and myself. All was going well until the star of the show ‘ducky’, could not be located under / near the boat. The purpose of ‘Ducky’ is to simulate searching and rescuing a missing diver, however we did not find or rescue ‘Ducky’ due to being paced out of the planned search area. We eventually found our rubbery friend which Alice managed to place around 30 meters from the boat opposed to the planned 10 meters. This used all of the time we had planned for the scenarios to take, so we headed back to the marina to disassemble the kit and head back to the shop. Monday finished with an ‘interesting’ de-brief’ and a beer, paid for by Alice, to discuss the day’s events.

Another Tuesday in Golf Del Sur and surprise, surprise more diving. However this time we had the company Hannah, who was getting a taste of diving through a PADI Discover Scuba Diving Course which involves a pool session as well as two open water dives. Alice, Bungle, Hannah and I headed down the pool where Alice instructed the DSD course under the watchful eye of Pete. After the pool / skills session was over we stopped for a cup of tea, and then headed to the marina for Hannah’s open water dives. Hannah did brilliantly considering it was her first time under the ocean in scuba equipment and really enjoyed the experience.

Upon returning to the marina from Hannah’s DSD open water dives, it was straight back on the boat for a second attempt at mine and Bungle’s PADI Rescue open water scenarios. Second time lucky, we completed the scenarios without too much trouble, finding ‘Ducky’ quickly. We learnt a great deal about how difficult a rescue could be. Tuesday finished with another 400 meter practice in the pool and an encouraging de-brief.

Another week over and on to today.

Again a nice lay in until 8.00 allowed a bit of recovery from yesterday’s events. With three dives planned for the day myself, Bungle, Alice and Pete headed to the marina. However on arrival, Pete informed Bungle and I of the lovely surprise of 800 meter snorkel practise to complete, which I managed in a time of 17.49. Then it was finally time to hop on the boat and head out to Yellow Mountain to complete some mapping dives, necessary for mine and Bungle’s PADI Divemater course. All three dives went well and managed to record a lot of information. I also performed my first dive briefing which went surprisingly well, only missing a few details.
On return to the marina yet another ‘great’ surprise awaited Bungle and I. This time the 100 meter diver tow was in order, in which I didn’t manage to beat my previous time. Frustrating to say the least. Today finished with Bungle and I cleaning the boat and an informative de-brief.

Now, having completed all of the Rescue course requirements I hope to achieve PADI Divemaster status soon as I can, and start obtaining some ‘on the job experience’.

George / Zippy