Surface swims and 800m Snorkels!

On our first day of the week we had a DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) customer, Nicola who was surprisingly calm and picked up the skills very quickly.The pool session was conducted by Aaron which allowed him to tick the last box in his PADI DSD leader qualification. 

We then went off to the ocean with Pete (Nicola’s husband)  and the first dive to Yellow Mountain. Nicola had a few problems equalizing but soon overcame these and started to relax. We then headed off towards Alien Rock where Nicola managed far better and really enjoyed herself.

The next day was spent doing our EFR course which we were not very good with the exams and needed some additional work on the theory. After resitting the exam all of the interns passed this time with Will by far the star pupil of the day with 100% in all three of the EFR exams (Bit too obvious who is writing this section of the blog?... thought so).

On Wednesday we had a two dives the most notable of which we noticed a Fangtooth Moray and an Octopus fighting over a spot within a rock. Pete (the customer) also joined us on these two dives and seemed to enjoy himself once again.  In the afternoon we started trying to come up with our interesting games for the Bubble maker course, we found it a lot harder than we thought it was going to be, the only inspirational idea that was made was a game named “Crappy Tappy” which by its name I am sure you can guess that it was appalling. 

It was Dive AWARE day and we headed to El Puertito with several bags to perform an underwater litter pick, some of the items that were found ranged from a glass, a full size table cloth, champagne bottles, huge water containers and even plenty of anchors without a chain which unfortunately would not fit in our bag. While picking up litter we did encounter the Turtles which occupy the site and got a pretty close look at them. Will was also certain that he had found something very rare or in hiding…but it turned it that it was a bit of coral which “looked as if it had eyes!”.

The sea had turned a bit choppy due to the high winds that we had on Friday, so much so that one of the interns had to stay on the boat for the second dive and hug the floor after an interesting dive to Poco Naufragio.  In the afternoon we found out how much harder the 800m snorkel is than it sounds and Pete heard a barrage of excuses as to why the times were so slow!

Jake managed to lose his SMB at the dive site nicknamed “Arise” because its Spanish name is too hard to spell for anyone who natively speaks English. This is perfect as it sets up a search and recovery dive of which we have been practicing (when Aaron doesn’t forget the lift bag and all of the other essential materials needed).

It was Jake and Will’s turn to lead dives on their own with no influence from Pete, Melissa or Alice. Abades was picked as the dive site because of how shallow it is which was perfect for a first dive lead as if anything happened an ascent would always be safe. Jake lead the first dive and it was fair to say that it was a right work out, Lewis Hamilton would have been jealous at the speed he navigated the dive site. After the dive Jake was slightly gutted that we had not managed to spot anything big such as an Octopus or a Moray. 

Will’s dive however was borderline perfect and the site was awash with interesting fish and finds (Still too obvious who is writing the blog?). We managed to spot two Octopuses on the second dive, one of which was a rare white spotted one. 

The most amusing part of the dive had to be the ascent, Will believed that we were reasonably close to shore, however we were probably closer to Dubai than the coast of Tenerife. This resulted in the world’s longest surface swim and Jamie almost drowning as her legs had given out, luckily the boys were on hand to tow her out.

More from us next time.

Time for some study, beer and a Vegemite sandwich

My first 2 weeks of being a dive intern in a nutshell…

So, flying in from Milan, Italy, after travelling Europe for 2 months, it was a relief to finally arrive in Tenerife, after months of emailing Pete and Melissa regarding planning, sorting problems, dates and visas etc etc…I was finally here!!

My first few days mostly involved observing the way everything works around here, and trying to remember who’s who and what’s what and which goes where…there’s a lot to remember! But I’m getting there, slowly but surely.

I have really enjoyed the dives we have been going on, seeing all the beautiful aquatic life, and breathing underwater feels amazing. After spending so much time on the surface surfing, seeing it from a totally different perspective is awesome.

We have been getting around quite a few dive sites; it’s fascinating to see the vast differences between different dive sites in the area.

You have Abades where you can follow the reef out, exploring all the cracks and crevices. Each dive I have had here, I have seen at least 2 Moray Eels, and huge amounts of fish also some Octopus, Cuttlefish and Cleaner Shrimp.

Next we have Yellow Mountain which I love for the huge rock reefs that are on otherwise flat sea bed, which you can swim up, over through and around.

Also Poco Naufragio which is on the marinawall, the main aspect of this site for me was the Stingrays, it is awesome to watch them gracefully swim around. I also found the depth and hugeness of the marina wall itself very interesting, seeing the huge cement cubes forming such a massive structure.

Then last but not least, there’s ElPuertitio…only one word for this place. Turtles. Amazing how close you can get to them, and how unfazed they are by you. Curiously swimming straight past your face, checking you out, and staring you straight in the eyes.

Getting to know Pete, Melissa, Alice and all the other interns has been really good (and funny!) There’s always some sort of joke going on between everyone which makes it all the more fun.

When we haven’t been diving or talking bout ‘outrageous’ things we are either reading our books and studying (or pretending to) cleaning, swimming, sunbathing, drinking beer and eating vegemite sandwiches.

So its not a bad life here on Tenerife… well if you can avoid doing stupid things and receiving ‘beer fines’ (which is a Melissa and Pete enforced rule which basically means if you make a ridiculous rookie mistake like forgetting a part of someone’s equipment, forgetting the boat keys when you’re going out on the boat, or leaving a tank standing up. You have to put 1 euro in a jar, and then we get to spend it all together).

I have also already had 4 splendid days off, which I have been using to discover the island. I have worked the bus system out, and have cruised around to Las Galletas, Los Christianos, Las Americas, El Medino and up to Santa Cruz, which has been really fun and exciting to explore the beaches and streets and to try and get away from the touristy areas and get a real taste of Spain!

So essentially that’s been my first couple of weeks as a Dive and Sea Tenerife Divemaster intern, and I’m really looking forward to the upcoming weeks, to learn some new skills, see some more amazing places and make some new friends.

Love Hayley

PADI Divemaster and more diving

This was my 7th week as an intern at Dive and Sea Tenerife.

One more week to go and then I will be jetting off back home on to my next adventure!

This week has been busy busy, I have become a PADI Divemaster, finally.

I am so pleased that I have achieved what I came here to do!

Melissa and I went with Matt to Abades we had two great dives, on the first dive we had really poor visability and so were tempted to call off the second dive, but then we were really happy that we did brave the second dive as we saw so many things on the second dive.

I am really proud to annouce that I spoteed a Fangtooth Moray eel and according to Melissa this is the first time that she has ever seen or heard of one being at Abades.

We also saw an Octopus and an amazing cuttle fish who looked like he wanted to fight with us his tentacles were wild!  Matt absolutley loves cuttlefish so he was in his element, at the moment he is hard pressed to decide which site is his favourite and as soon as we came out of the dive matt was raring to get back in.
I am sure Melissa won't object to another visit back out to Abades.

While we were out having a great time diving, the interns were being inducted by Pete and Alice, so when we came back it was really great to be able to meet all the new people, Jake, Will, Geoff, Jamie, and Thomas.  Its great for me to have some more young people to hang out with, and even better when i found out that some of the new interns are even staying on the same complex as I am!

After work we went for a nice welcome to Dive and Sea Tenerife drink, always fun to get to see people relaxing.

Thomas, Matt, Jamie Alice, Cam and I went to Starfish bay and to the Moon Pools. On the first dive Alice led us around the bay showing all of the fireworms and other invertabres. Then we got up onto the boat and set off for the moon pools. This dive was particularly amazing because we found three brilliant cuttle fish, another high on Matts diving exploits!

So amazingly this week I also started my Discover Scuba Diver leader internship,  this is great news for me as I am really looking forward to encouraging some of my friends to start diving back home, and who better to help them out!!

I taught my first DSD pool session this week . Until I had to organise the whole morning of the Discover Scuba Diving Experience I hadn't realised how stressed I would be about getting everything just right.

The night before I spent the evening with Jamie and Jake who were going to be my assistants the next day in the pool, with Pete keeping a watchful eye out for us of course!

But in the end everything went really well and my Discover Scuba diver had a fantastic time. It went very well and we went out to Yellow Mountain to take the DSD’s on their first open water dive.  A big thanks to Jamie and Jake for all thir help and assistance.

Thursday we took the group into the pool to see their skills. It was reassuring to see that their skills were like mine seven weeks ago..... Rusty!  Then we went down to the marina with all of the interns for their SMB Specialty dives. They all were trying to get the hang of it but on their second dive was a lot better.

Lucky me I got a couple of days off to relax and see some of Tenerife, but then  back to work again with Jake on Sunday to Alien Rock, so that they could start their mapping dives.  I was leading the dives, and was pleased to be able top navigate my way around Alien Rock.

Great dives, Fab Customers and cleaning a RIB !

This is now my fifth week here with Dive and Sea Tenerife. 

Time has gone bye so fast that it feels like I have just arrived.   Just three more weeks to go, and still so much to do!!.

This week we have had Belazs here who has started doing a 10 dive pack.  Belazs is an Advanced Open water diver so he is a joy to dive with. 

The first dives of the week were at the new deep site and at Pequeno Valle. 

At the new site we found a rock structure that looked like an underwater mountain we are thinking of a name for this new site and I really like the idea of Deep Blue Mountain, Melissa and Pete are a little unsure of this name so we are still thinking on that one.   

On the first dive we found a couple very nice black moray eels. On the second site we found two stingrays, one that was sleeping and the other which swam away from us very very fast.  Fantastic dive sites and we all had a great time.

This week I have also given my first brief and led my first dives. Very scary and have to say need a lot more work on the briefing! And like all fist time leaders I went a little fast!  

Must learn to slow down and show the customers all the exciting things there are to see. Belazs and I were diving at Yellow Mountain. The first dive I lead was to Alien Rock, on this site we saw a Pearly Razorfish that followed us for a while. 

For the second dive I took Belazs to the swim-through and around Crocodile Rock. We found one black moray eel and a very cool lobster. After we got back to the dock Belazs thanked me for two amazing dives, which made me feel like I lead the dives very well.   

This week has also seen the return of Alice a previous intern, who has now joined the working team of Pete and Melissa at Dive and Sea. 

Alice plans to sit her Assistant Instructor course in July when she will have been diving for a whole 6 months!  With already over 100 dives Alice is really happy to be back. 

Its great for me to have another person around the centre, especially as Alice has already completed her internship here with Pete and Melissa so she can give me handy hints!

We set out that morning for two dives with Belazs. The first site was called Poco Naufragio which is located just outside the marina.  I was boat cover today so Pete, Alice and Belazs went out for the first dive and when they surfaced they told me Alice had hand feed a stingray so that's was cool. 

For the second dive we headed out to a site I had never been to called Black Cove. Alice led the dive and I buddied up with Belazs. We found many octopus including some little babies that were so small. 

Overall it was a great week and it was alot of fun meeting Alice.

At the end of the week we had a run of DSD’s which was great fun, Alice Pete and I went with the three students who did brilliantly at their pool skills, off to Abades for their open water dive, the three of them had a fantastic dive, and were able to see lots at Abades including Melissa and Belzas.  

Then on Saturday I helped Alice at Abades for DSD’s with Chris and Theresa who did 2 dives they had a great time, and are raring to go out on Monday to see the Turtles with Melissa.

Also this week we faced the monumental task of getting the boat out of the water de slimed and anti fouled, it took us a lot of time! 

I cannot believe how much my body ached after the first day!  

Looking forward to the boat being back in the water next week!