Slow, slow, slow. The new interns are here, Lydia and myself (Sam, or Sonic depending on how Melissa is feeling). The old interns, the self-proclaimed all-stars are gone, and apparently have very little to worry about when it comes to being out classed, at least not yet anyway.
Lydia and I still have 7 weeks to prove how awesome we might be eventually, as it stands we are just hiding it very well.
As I said earlier we aren’t the quickest duo when it comes to kiting up or washing kit, we’re less Batman and Robin and more two Ronnies. We seem to amble from one job to the next, this really isn’t making us sound to good so I’m going to move on to something much more interesting the diving!
One of my first dives here, was on the RIB and of course I had forgotten seasickness tablets. In my attempt to find the pharmacy I had ended up at a golf course, anyway onto the important bit, we headed to Yellow Mountain and hopped into the water, the visibility was stunning and the fish even more so. There is just so much to see here, from the big ones like Rays and Fangtoothed Morays that everyone seems to enjoy, but even the smaller stuff like Cuttlefish and Arrow Crabs.
However, for me, none of these compares to the excitement of chopping up the Black Sea Urchins and seeing all the fish swarm around and start eating them. There appears to be a steep learning curve with this however, I found this out when I tried to pull it out the crevice with my bare hands, this was followed by about 15 minutes of shear pain in my fingers. At which point I realised Pete was using his knife to get them out. Me being me I’d forgotten to strap my proper knife to my leg. Luckily I had my back up knife that is attached to my BCD, so I whacked out my butter knife and quickly realised it was too small. I then received 15 minutes of pain in the other hand, but it did die, so I think I’ll take that as a win for me.
Prior to coming here, I’d done about six dives in the last three years, so when it came to practising skills in the pool I was dreading it, and it went about as well as could have been expected. I didn't have any major issues but none of it was close to the standard that was demonstrated later on. I suppose it gives me something to aim for and I do have eight weeks to try and get them looking all professional, or at least as close to professional as I get.
Also this week was my first observation of a DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) and was with a couple from France, Farid and Shiane. They were also the first customers I've dived with since starting, and both of them were lovely, I decided against trying out my school boy French, mainly because it ends at Je’m'appelle Sam and that really isn’t impressive by anyone’s standard. The actual session in the pool was an experience, and I probably wasn't as hands on as I need to be, at least I know for next time. It became apparent quickly that you need to help them kneel which is a skill in itself especially when they start to fall back and take you with them, but that was probably just the strong current in the pool, nothing to do with my inexperience.
Next up was Abades and this was my first set of shore dives, it is fairly shallow there so I don’t drink the air like usual. The diving here is just amazing, especially considering how close it is to the swarms of tourists on the beach. The big difference for me here, was that you can feel the swell of the waves take you in and out, which makes for exiting times when you try to look behind rocks. That being said there is a lot to see like all the different types of Bream, the Atlantic and Blue Finned Damsel fish, Cuttlefish and even the occasional Moray. For me the best part was seeing the Jellyfish, I’m not sure exactly why but I've never seen them when diving before, so I suppose it was new and different.
Back on the RIB, more long gazes with the shore line, and more nausea. Today was the day we dived with Ian and Olga. Ian works at the incredible toy shop that I've only had the pleasure of going to once so far, but they literally have anything and everything when it comes to diving equipment, unfortunately for me I don’t have the money for everything or anything. Anyway, back to diving, Ian and Olga both seemed like very competent divers. Ian especially entertained us all with his antics, such as biting Melissa’s fins or swimming around upside down, lots to see on this dive, with a Common Ray swimming about and lots of pretty Bream, Damsel fish as well as Parrot fish.
To finish the week we finally met the acclaimed ‘best intern ever.’ Melissa had endlessly said about how amazing Emma was. Whether there was any truth in the matter is still unknown. Emma and Rob, who was quickly renamed Ben, were both lovely people and very friendly.
We headed back to Abades for their first dives and it all went off without a hitch. Both dives had plenty of fish to see, with Wide Eye’d Flounders, Atlantic lizard fish, and even a Stargazer seen near the end of the dive.
It was a great way to finish off my first week of being here, and hopefully there is more to come.
Sam
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