Mountain climbing and the arrival of Jesus!

I'm sitting in the shop with my laptop, doing this blog. I just got back from the pool where I did my 400 meters swim. I'm pretty tired and sore all over due to all the swimming.

I'm trying to reflect back on the last week; what went well, what went bad, and what went absolutely horribly wrong.

Right now I am at, this point of my internship, where Im beginning to understand why certain things are done the way they are. I'm really starting to see the bigger picture here!

I'm still a relatively inexperienced diver, which means that Im still enjoying every little bit of every dive I have, and everything I see, feel and experience under water, is a big deal to me - even in spite of strong currents, poor visibility and a 3mm. wetsuit (which provide pretty poor insulation from the relatively cold waters at 18 meters).

As long as I am under water, breathing from a regulator, Im as happy as can be.

Last week we went to a dive site called "Las Eras" where Sam was leading the dive. We had to fight some pretty strong currents, especially on the way back. 
Lydia, with whom I was buddy with for that dive, was struggling to keep up with the rest of the group (most likely due to her pewny muscles - oh them girls! :-) 
So I was towing her pretty much all the way back. I didn't mind at all, because that is what a buddy is there for, and I know that she would have done the same for me, had she had the strength.

One other dive that made a deep impact in my mind, was our dive at "StarfishBay". A site usually known for, yeah you guessed it, Starfish. Nowadays, however, the site is a vast underwater desert, nothing but sand and rocks, well almost, and... those damned sea urchins, who have taken over pretty much all of the site. 
I think during that dive, I saw two starfish, and to many sea urchins to count!

I have had some truly amazing dives for the past week, I think what stands out the most, is probably our encounter with a small "Common Ray".

I was surprised to find that a ray acts kinda like a friendly dog. The ray I socialized with, kept circling around us and bumping into my stomach.

Well, I conclude that it was friendly and attention seeking -  (who knows, after all it could mean that it was probing me for any soft spots, in which to lay eggs.:-)

Anyway (how do you continue a blog after a silly comment like the previous?) 
Right, we had a day off sometime last week and instead of resting, which would probably be the smart thing to do, we decided to go climb Montaña Roja (152 meters worth of cliff by the coast at El Medano).

Around 11 o'clock there was a knock on my door, and when I answered, I was meet by no one but our very own Egyptian  Moomin.
He was wearing a big leather cowboy hat, complete with fangtooths in real Indiana Jones style. The bar was set!

Andreas, Moomin and I went to Lydia's apartment to pick her up, all excited to see what kinda cool climbers outfit she would wear.

If Moomin looked somewhat professional in his crazy "(brokeback) mountain climbing hat", Lydia was his direct opposite wearing her flip flops eating a lollipop ready to go climb a freaking mounting!

A short taxi trip  later, we arrived at the bottom of Montaña Roja, ready to climb that badboy. Fifteen minutes later (and 20 meters up the mountain) I found out that my mountain climbing skills didn't really match the amount of bragging that I had been doing previous to the trip. 
However, my self esteem rose a bit when I saw Lydia trying to make her way up the mountain in her flip flops!

We had an amazing fun trip to the Red Mountain - but, more or less, the best part of our trip, was the fact that we had no one falling off the mountain smashing their bodies to a bloody pulp (being FUBAR).

Oh I almost forgot, - we have a brand spanking new room mate in our apartment  "The prince of peace, the son of god himself" Jesus Christ has blessed us with his divine presence. 
He has appeared before us in the form of a big cardboard figure, guarding the west wing of our apartment  
Him being there with us, is, obviously, the result of a wild night out in the town of San Miguel.

Tomorrow I do my first advanced dive (the deep one) so I'm looking very much forward to that!

The adventure continues, stay tuned ya´ll.

- Kevin out

How not to Map a dive site and Kit Exchanges

I finished last weeks Blog talking about locking myself out of my apartment and staying on another intern’s sofa, this is mistake number one.
However, it only got worse from there and it was a wonderful way to start my week. So for some reason I decided that I’d be more comfortable leaving the balcony doors open whilst I slept on the sofa, looking back on it, this was mistake number two.
Mistake three was not covering myself head to toe whilst I slept.
The combination of these three mistakes meant I was mauled by mosquitoes and it looked like severe chicken pox the next day.

Moving on from the torture that was Sunday night I came to work Monday morning hoping for more success, I was not going to find any.
I was going to be leading Moomin, Perry and Angela on a mapping dive. They were mapping Alien Rock and dive one went well. With some measurements missing we were going to head back in and go the same route. This dive was one I’d rather forget.
In my head I thought the group was going in the same direction as dive one, apparently not. We ended up very shallow and I didn’t have a clue how. In my defence I think it would be excessive to say we were lost as I knew where the boat was, just not the dive site. I ended up calling the dive off and admitting defeat at twenty-seven minutes.

New customers this week! Nick, Tony, Eileen, Linda and Mark joined us for a week of diving. The group’s first dive site was going to be LasEras, which was quickly becoming popular with me, as there is just so much to see. The first dive here you head left out of the bay and end up at around twenty meters, the first dive you tend to see lots of colourful fish such as Cuttlefish, Barracuda and Atlantic Damsels. This is the first time I’d been here with such an experienced dive group, which meant we managed to make it to a sunken nativity scene. Admittedly it was much better in my head, in reality it’s very small and damaged, but brilliant none the less to make it there.
The second dive here as I’ve mentioned before heads over to the pipeline where there is an abundance of Morays, Cleaner Shrimp and Rays hiding in all the crevices. 

My chance to redeem myself was upon me. The dive group’s second day was to Yellow Mountain and I was going to lead. Obviously, being practically perfect by this stage of my internship it all went off without a blip, on the first dive to Alien Rock I saw my first Canarian Lobster since I’ve been out here, as well as a small Common Ray.
The second dive I lead us all to Swim Through. Tony who had been recording a lot of the dives on his HD camera managed to get some brilliant shots of us all coming up through the swim through.

I was very close to completing the last few bits and pieces for my PADI Divemaster at this stage, and one of the two requirements left for me to fulfil was the kit exchange. I’d been worried about doing this for a fair amount of time, but when it came down to actually doing the skill, it was a piece of cake. The only real issue with the skill is when someone has medium fins on and I’m an extra large, and have to try and fit theirs on.

Back to diving, and it was a new dive site for me as well today, El Delfin, means something about Dolphins apparently. The dive itself was fairly impressive with Morays and large shoals of fish, but for me I was more excited about doing my deepest dive out here. All the way to 35 meter,s later on there is the opportunity to head to 40 but my air was low by this point so couldn't make it.
Dive two and we headed to good old PequeneValle, which always provides large shoals of Roncadore, Bream and others. However, this time, there was something even more exciting, a Butterfly Ray.
Or at least it would have been more exciting had it not have been so lazy. The Ray was quite happy to sit there and barely move even with all eight of us around it.

Last day diving for the week and it was to Poco Naufragio, the site we go to see all the Rays, the group had been earlier in the week and seen some massive Atlantic Rays so I was even more excited to get in and hopefully see some. Sure enough, as soon as we descended there was a couple little Rays, a Duckbill being one of them, and I’d never seen one so close but it is easy to see where they get their name from. Plus, it didn’t take long before the big boys decided to come, we ended up doing both dives here and the first one was definitely one of my best dives out here.

I was going to have beans on toast Sunday morning but discovered I had no bread and well that just leaves beans, so as an alternative I had cereal but quickly realised my milk had gone off, so I had sour milk and Special K, beautiful......... Just in case you are interested in my diet :-)

Sam (Popeye)

HUGE Sting Rays and Small Sexy Shrimp

I am becoming more and more confident underwater.
The best part of this internship is when you wake up knowing you will be on the boat in the Atlantic ocean enjoying some sunlight on the way to your dive.

We have had 5 amazing customers this week, most of them are certified BSAC & PADI instructors so they were experienced divers. At first I thought this would make it much harder because they would notice tiny mistakes that you are not even aware of but they were actually quite laid back and easy going.

We had really amazing dives at Poco Naufragio behind the marina where we were just overwhelmed by massive and very curious rays.

There was at least 6 very curious rays hovering on top and beside each and every one of us as if they were blankets, they were so soft, felt just like a jelly like sponge and everything just became slower and slower till the silence took over.
The experience was intense and possibly the best I have had in years. I felt so lucky to be there, it was very relaxing and rewarding.

The next dive we went to another dive site just before Yellow Mountain. Mark was my buddy and I made such good progress keeping close to him and Alice who was leading the dive at the same time.

I had an important discussion with Pete the other day of how and why important it is to be close to the one who is leading the dive but it was very challenging this time because Mark sometimes went to the opposite direction from Alice and I didn't want to call Mark and adjust our direction every time Alice does because I could see him enjoying what he was doing.
I always kept in the middle and as soon as Alice started to get a bit far I would tell mark to start swimming towards her.
I realised that I am starting to enjoy diving differently, not exactly how Mark was enjoying it but as long as I am making sure everything is safe and everyone is happy then I am happy :)

My next diving was with the group again.
As they really really enjoyed diving with the rays before so they decided to start their day by saying good morning to some of them and hopefully say hi to the big rays.
And guess what?! We were lucky again! These creatures are just wonderful and it just makes the day as perfect as it can be. If only all days start like that!

For their next dive, they wouldn't want to go anywhere else. I can quote "the dive was wonderful and anything else will just shadow this experience we just had" so they decided to jump on with the rays again in the same dive site.
There was a proper DVD camera underwater recording the experience and I am very looking forward to see it.

The week earlier I had problems with my brand new 7 mm wetsuit. It still wasn't that cold for me and I used to feel so warm and nearly over heated.
So Pete told me to use one of the shop's 3 mm ones. The first dive was OK but I was feeling cold by the end of the dive but the second dive I felt really cold so I had to switch back to my suit.
All of this caused me some trouble trying to figure out the exact weight I should put on my weight belt, I was fine tuning it until I reached my consensus 8 kilos with two extra kilos in my jacket's pockets. It was funny at one point because one time I was under weighted and I wouldn't sink so Sam pulled me down with him. As soon as we reached the bottom I tuned my buoyancy and the problem was solved.

Then came our mapping dives. Angela and I came out with magnificent maps of yellow mountain, Pete was giving us all the advice we needed and after a conversation that took at least half an hour between the two dives we were all motivated and ready to draw maps that were good enough to start leading dives using them. I am still waiting for Pete's comments and remarks concerning the map but I am sure if there are any, it will take us another dive just to perfect it and fine tune all the little details that are missing.

The EFR course Pete conducted was great, I felt like the studying I did was paying off. I wanted to answer all the questions he was asking and I liked how simple it was all put together from A to Z.

The scenarios was also good and gave us an impression of how it was different when you really want to put your knowledge into action. Then we took our tests and I scored 90% on the rest of them. So now I finished all the paperwork needed for my rescue diver certification.

I ended this week's dives with two of the dives Dennis, Andreas and Anne are doing for their advanced open water course. 
I missed out the deep dive because I forgot one of the shop's keys in my pocket which was very embarrassing. I had to wait for Melissa to come pick up the keys but there wasn't much time to waste so they had to leave for the deep dive and I waited for them in the marina till they came back to re-load the boat with full tanks and pick me up for the rest of the dives.
But it was not the end of the world, I learned the lesson and I don't think I will ever forget any keys in my pocket again.

The diving is great!
It's just what's making every mistake that you do under pressure bearable. I am still not 100% pleased from my performance above the water but then again its just my second week,
I am still learning a lot and I feel like I'm getting there one step at a time.

Mahmoud

My first time leading a dive..... and Ice Cream!

I can honestly say that this week was a very exciting week, I learned and achieved a lot. And of course, I had a lot of fun.

At Monday, Melissa took Dennis and me to Abades for 2 shore dives with 3 customers. A lady and a father and son. It was not the best weather and actually it was quite cold, but I enjoyed the dives so much.
I was buddies with the lady and she stayed nice and close to me, so I was very happy with that because the visibility wasn’t that good and I definitely don’t want to lose my buddy.

My first time to assist a Discover Scuba Diving open water session, so that was really exciting. I was holding her tank and her hand while I was assisting her by letting air out her BCD or putting air in. Alice and Pete were really happy about me which made me really proud of myself. In my opinion it is a very big responsibility to help someone on a first dive, because everything is new for that person and you have to act in good faith and show them that you are confident because if they trust you, that makes it a lot easier. Another good thing, this was my first day without getting any beer fine. And I helped Mahmoud with his Rescue book.

Wednesday I had a day in the shop with Melissa, Mahmoud, Dennis and Andreas. Spending our day reading our books and watching the EFR DVD.

The next day I had 2 dives with Alice, Mahmoud and customers who were diving with us for a week. We went to Poco Naufragio and it was an amazing dive, I saw the biggest Stingray ever. It was about 2 meters wide, maybe even bigger, and it was all over me and the other divers. To be honest, I was a little scared because I saw how big his mouth was, so I was a little bit scared that it might suck my head or something. Normally when a ray gets to enthusiastic and comes to close, you use both your hand to pull him over you. But I was wearing gloves so I couldn’t do that, so when the Ray finally got off me I took off my gloves. It’s a very special feeling to feel a Stingray, I just can’t explain this feeling, it’s just special. Unfortunately I had to finish the dive because Mahmoud was low on air, but I still had a very, very nice dive. And in the afternoon Sam and I finished the skills in the swimming pool.

Friday was a very nice day. I had a day off with Dennis, Andreas and Mahmoud and they had decided to climb Red Rock (In Spanish it is Montaña Roja). From far away this rock looks very big but when we came closer it didn’t look that big anymore. Well, when I finally reached the top I knew it was a very big rock. So we had a very energetic day and we had a lot of fun. We climbed Red Rock and walked to El Medano where we shared some pizza and ate an ice cream.

Saturday arrived and I had 2 dives at Abades Beach and it was my first time to lead a dive.
The first dive was with Melissa so I knew that she wouldn’t let me get lost, but I was still a little nervous because I wanted to do very good.
The second dive I found out that I did great because Melissa trusted me and let me lead the second dive on my own. I was very excited about it and I really feel that I accomplished something.
I felt so proud of myself and that evening I called my mom to tell her about my first time leading a dive, and of course, she was very proud of me.

I was diving with Dennis, Andreas and Angela and we saw a lot of fish like Pearly Razor fish, Wide-eyed Flounder, Ornate Wrasse, Parrot fish, Trumpet fish etc. We also saw a Cuttlefish, an Octopus, a Black Moray Eel, Cleaner Shrimps, a Scorpion fish and Arrow crabs.

A great end to a lovely week.

Lydia

So different to Egypt and loving every minute!

My first week here at Dive and Sea was actually my second week in Tenerife, this beautiful and very peaceful island was exactly what I was looking for. I had worked really hard for my computer science and engineering degree and wanted to experience something different, something that will bring me closer to nature but at the same time be working and not just relaxing on a holiday. It all made perfect sense reliving my diving passion and go pro on a diving internship and further challenge myself in a new cool adventure.

My first week in Tenerife was very peaceful, I checked out the beaches on the island, very different from Egyptian coasts but still liked the rocky terrains where I used to climb and have a magnificent view of the Atlantic ocean while reading some Egyptian books that I brought with me. It was so perfect, I went shopping, cooked and slept early to wake up early and start the day from the beginning.

Then I decided it's about time to pass by the dive center and say hi to Pete and Melissa. When I first went into the shop, Melissa greeted me with her lovely smile then Lydia showed up. I interrupted her DVD session but as soon as we finished our chat it was about time that Lydia goes to the marina to help out Sam who was out diving with Pete. I offered if I can help and was very happy that I joined Lydia and Sam in the Marina. Already, I couldn't wait any longer to start my internship and start a new episode on the island.

Melissa was arranging this great day on the 30th of November for Halloween. At first we were supposed to go diving all dressed up in costumes and celebrate Halloween underwater. Unfortunately, the coast guards signaled a red alert saying the conditions weren't so good so they decided to postpone it for the weekend, I am still very much looking forward to that. But that was just half of the planning, the other half I met Dennis, Andreas and Angela. We were all sitting dressed up in costumes in big al (the restaurant next to the shop). The two Danish guys were wearing great costumes especially Andreas who looked exactly like jack sparrow. Then our night just started in a bar where we had a couple of drinks then we moved to the terrace bar next door where everyone else there was also wearing costumes, dancing and laughing and finally we went back to the first bar where we sang a couple of karaoke songs. We all had lots of fun!

Before the actual start of my internship at Dive and Sea Tenerife I decided to do something I really wanted to do so I took an 18k mountain biking trip up the mountains just behind el Medano with a friend who happens to be very experienced in the paths and all the tips and techniques you can use at specific situations. Was really great but really exhausting. I had some rest till it was time for my first day.

Well, on our first day Alice made us this very thorough presentation of our main duties, responsibilities and what to expect. Then, she gave us a tour in the "dungeon" where most of the equipment lives and finally an orientation of assembling and disassembling the kits, all went very smoothly and I can say that this was our first step towards our professional and hardworking journey of being PADI Divemasters from Dive and Sea Tenerife.

It was very unfortunate that I didn't properly prepare myself for my first diving day. It is really important to have adequate rest and be eating very well to have enough energy to go through the day. After my first dive (it was a shore dive) I felt really exhausted and couldn't even do my second dive and had to go home for the rest of the day to eat and sleep. The next day though I was surprised to see Lydia and we spent a nice day out in El Medano, it was a really nice sunny day by the beach.

The following day I spent the day at the shop and it wasn't until my fourth day until I went diving with Angela, Andreas and Sam. It was a mapping dive in Yellow Mountain that I really enjoyed maybe too much to end up with a good map of the dive site. The second dive I was really focused to draw a beautiful map but unfortunately we got lost in the middle so I decided to keep enjoying it and have a good laugh with the situation.

In general, the diving here in Tenerife is very different from Egypt. The wildlife is thriving. Everything that I have seen is at least twice as big!
Everyday is different, one day with strong current and many costumers which of course you need to take care of whether they are experienced divers or not, it is a very rewarding feeling when you are there and be able to aid someone. Another day with no costumers but very windy with high waves but no currents at all, other sunny days with perfect conditions.
So every situation teaches you something new and with every new thing you learn you become more experienced and more knowledgeably.

Angela and I also passed our rescue diver exam after doing all the knowledge reviews we were surprised to find Pete bringing our exam sheets and asking us to take the tests. It was very funny because we were studying together but decided to come again to certain topics and revise them when it's time to take the tests. It was great to pass the tests and then get back to those topics later.

On my first week I learned alot from Pete, Melissa, Alice the older two interns Sam and Lydia. I learned that being a good professional comes only from your own strong will, with the proper mindset and dedication it will be alright to do mistakes and learn from them as you go and as soon as you know what you need to be doing, how perfect in every way to do it and when to actually do it, the rewarding feeling will overwhelm you and you will always thank yourself for coming to Tenerife.

Mahmoud

El Puertito.... Best Dive ever?...........Probably :-)

Once again I began a week with my favourite dive site, El Puertito. This was another chance for me to prove myself as I was given the chance to lead the dives.

Melissa usually leads these dives and if I’m honest we usually see more when she leads, but this is in no way a criticism of me as just about anyone here will tell you I’m pretty professional and not to forget perfect, or maybe they would disagree?

The first dive really couldn't of gone much better we descended and within five minutes were playing with turtles. Another brilliant experience and I truly believe it is impossible to become bored of this dive site. I mean even if you don’t see the turtles, just as we didn't on the second dive, there is always plenty to see.
As usual for the second dive I aimed for the sea anemone, alone this is beautiful, but as I've previously mentioned it is also the home to sexy shrimp. There is also trumpet fish, cuttlefish, cleaner shrimp and parrot fish on this dive, which just makes for some of the best diving around.

More dive leading! I never should have mentioned to Alice it’s something I felt I’d struggle with.
This time we went to Yellow Mountain with George, Allen, Sue and Stuart and Alison. The first dive site was Alien Rock which is one of three dive sites at Yellow Mountain. This one went well with the usual fish about, such as damsels and bream.
However, it wasn't nearly as good as the second dive. After briefing I would lead the group to Crocodile Rock I decided to unintentionally go to Swim Through, but in all honesty the dive was so much better because of this, and thus I still maintain that it was a success. After heading through the big hole in the rock (I think this might be why it’s called swim through) we ended up swimming close to crocodile rock where we saw a baby common ray, which was a first for me, and another great experience.

Shore diving to Las Eras with Julia and Frank and for once I didn't have to lead the dive so I was already happy. This dive site is quickly becoming a favourite for me, mainly because of the massive diversity of fish you can see here, if you head left out of the bay you can see an abundance of shoals of bream, barracuda and even my personal favourite sexy shrimp.

However, if you head right to the pipeline you can see the big things like morays, rays and octopus. This is exactly what we saw on our dives, the first dive was brilliant, but for me, it can’t compare to the second dive. To start with the brown moray hiding in the pipeline was stretching a fair way out of its hole to try and snap at Melissa. Then there was the two rays sleeping in gaps and not to forget the octopus in the rocks that were incredibly grumpy if you moved any of their rocks.

Last diving day of the week and I was instructed to lead a dive without any supervision, so it was my first time flying solo, just like Maverick only better looking. The first dive was to Alien Rock and it went off without a hitch and we managed to get all the way round and even see a large colony of sexy shrimp on an anemone.
The next dive was to swim through and after obviously going to crocodile rock on the way back I managed to get lost around five to ten meters from the boat. So we just swam around in a big circle, after about five minutes I was relieved to find the anchor line and finish the dive in perfect timing.

If I’m being honest and I usually am, it’s becoming fairly tough for me here. After seeing me work for five weeks everyone just expects me to be my usual perfect self, which is a big burden to carry, but I do have off days, obviously not as many as everyone else, but it does occasionally happen.

To round the week off I had a day off, and after heading to the pub to watch the formula 1, I quickly realised the pocket where my keys usually are, was feeling awfully empty. Thus I was locked out of my apartment, as the keys were actually on the table inside.

So to finish the week nicely I slept on the sofa of Kevin and Perry (new interns) and forgot to close the balcony door and am now covered in mosquito bites.

Sam (Popeye)

Dolphins , Flooded Masks and awesome diving

Yes, now I'm finally here. Now i've suffered from cold and boredom for such a long time and finally pulled myself together to go do something crazy.
What could give me more a change and more experience than to go doing a PADI Divemaster internship here at Dive And Sea Tenerife though i only tried diving twice before.

And did i got a change! Ten hour workday most days, and freaking hard work sometimes. Still a workday that involves multiple dives most days and 27 degrees in the shade could be worse.

Well I arrived on the 31'st of October together with my friend Dennis, completely exhausted from a 28 hour travel from Denmark to Golf Del Sur, involving sightseeing in London and a boys-night-out in the airport, only to get greeted by an always ecstatic Melissa informing us that there's Halloween party for all interns at Dive And Sea and that we are most welcome.

As the gentlemen both Dennis and I are, there's no declining on the first day. So off we go on a hazardous mission to get Halloween costumes for the upcoming party.
Great way of meeting the other interns though. There really a great group of people, with each and everyone's special flaws, talents, workforce and humor, but everyone's got their own place here.

After our night out, we started straight on to our first day with getting all the equipment in order and pool exercises with Pete and Alice, didn't take me long to get back into the feeling and find what I had missed the whole time since my last Discover Scuba Dive, which I actually performed with the same people in the same pool nearly two years ago.

Then it was finally time for the real dive experience on my second day here. Yellow Mountain. Me, Dennis, Pete and two other people taking a PADI Open Water course.The last thing Pete says before we leave the boat is, "Since this is your first time in the ocean, you probably shouldn't look down, since it looks very far for inexperienced diver".
When I get in the water the first thing I do is of course to look down. And what a sight. I just couldn't wait to get to swim down there.
It all went well, and though I was a bit weary about my completely flooded mask skill, nothing can get in the way of doing my courses. So of with the freaking mask (Turned out to be easier than in the pool) and doing and the skills to somewhat perfection.

Every other day has just gotten better and better, since I'm really getting into the rhythm in the morning (except the fact that it is really early in the morning) and the dives keep getting better and better.

It was kinda the best day of my life the day when all the kits got assembled in no time, compared to our normal level of confusion.

On the way to Yellow Mountain we stop and watch dolphins swimming around us in the sunrise. Later had a really fun dive with Sam, Angela and Mahmud,
Then we were really quick cleaning the kits so i got an hour lying in the sun at the marina, waiting for people getting back from their shore dive. All in all a really really good day.

I passed my PADI Open Water exam okay and got some kind words from Pete about my under water appearance, so that's at least the first stop.

Obviously I'm far from doing everything right around the shop, but I can't get any 'beer fines' at my first week so I'm good!

Well from tomorrow i'll of course do everything right 'cause my ability to get beer fines starts then, but i'm only trying to finish my adventure books and in the shop, so it's limited how many rules I can break and kits I can scramble.

That's my rhyme

Andreas

My First Halloween Party Ever!

What a lovely week, 3 days off and my first Halloween party ever.

I’m going to try my best to write an interesting blog for all those millions of people who are probably reading my blog every week, or maybe at least my mom.

The best thing of the week was to meet the new interns. We have Mahmoud from Egypt, two Danish guys Dennis and Andreas and we have a lovely girl Angela from Germany.
Mahmoud and Angela are starting as PADI Advanced Open Water divers so I can’t wait to practice the Rescue diver and EFR skills with them.
Dennis and Andreas are starting their PADI Open Water diver course, so that’s going to be very exciting for them since Dennis hasn’t been diving before and Andreas told me he did dive 2 dives a while ago. I hope I can teach them something as well without making them earn beer fines.

So I had 3 days off thanks to the new interns. I had a lot of fun during these days off. Thursday I just spend most of my day reading and relaxing. Saturday I took Mahmoud to El Medano where I finally had the churros which I wanted for week, and in the evening we went with all the interns to the Chinese wok where we had a very nice diner and we went to a few bars.
On Sunday I had a day off with Dennis, Andreas and Angela. So we all took our books and went to a nice place where we could read our books.

Melissa took me and Frank to Abades point and Abades beach. It was a very cold, grey and rainy day. The visibility wasn’t very great and when you get out of the water you don’t really want to take of your wetsuit because it’s so, so cold. But since I didn’t dive for quite a while I enjoyed every part of it. We saw an Octopus and we saw a lot of Scorpion fish.

My first Halloween party and I was very excited about that. So after a day of ‘’work’’ we all went home to dress up and we had a delicious and fun dinner at Big Al’s.
Everyone looked amazing in there Halloween costumes. Pete was dressed as Zorro, Melissa was a very sexy miss devil, Alice looked amazing in her army outfit, Sam was of course dressed as Popeye, Dennis was Harry Potter, Andreas was a dangerous Pirate, Angela being even more dangerous being a witch, Mahmoud was Mahmoud with a red wig, an axe and a very, very big mustache and I was dressed as super girl.
We all had lots of fun and I’m sure we have some great pictures. After diner we went to a few bars where we had some drinks and sang karaoke  after a very fun evening we all took a taxi back, since nobody was able to drive us back.

On Friday I had boat cover while Dennis and Andreas where doing their first open water dive with Pete which was very exciting for them and Alice was diving with some costumers from Morocco.

It was cold and it was raining and the wind didn’t make it any better to be on the boat, but as people say; ’after rain comes sunshine’. When we came back in the marina, Melissa and the other interns were already back from the shore dive they had that day and they were already washing their kits.

What a messy time was that, trying to wash kits with 4 new interns. It’s great having new interns but Sam and I really have to get used to it because we have been doing it together for the last 4 weeks.

Oh, and another good thing this week, Sam and I did our 100 meter tow  (even though it was in the rain) and we did our 400 meter swim and our 15 minute float, so that’s done.

And I did my EFR Exam which I unfortunately failed at the first time, but the second time I passed with a great score

Lydia

PADI Rescue Exams and Octopus

I will forever remember the first of November 2012 as the day I just started this great adventure in becoming a PADI Divemaster. 

I went to the dive shop of Melissa and Pete the day before the 1st to finally introduce myself in person and also met the two other interns Sam and Lydia that have already been on their internship for one month. Everybody was really nice so I was even more excited about becoming one of them on the other day.

We met in the dive shop the following day at 9 am sharp, all prepared for a great day. I have already met the other interns, who are starting with me, on the Halloween party the night before. So we are four new interns in total, which is Mahmoud from Egypt, Andreas and Dennis from Denmark and me Angela from Germany.

We have been introduced by Alice the future Instructor of Dive and Sea next to Pete one of the owners of the shop. to the duties of being an intern and she also showed us around. We have already learned so much about dive gear, taking care for the equipment and preparations and considerations we have to think about before actually going on a dive.
We also have to learn for our exams and certifications. So we have got deadlines to hand in our exercises of the certification manuals just to make sure that we won't forget about our homework.

Then the real fun part started. Mahmoud and I, both certified PADI Advanced Divers, went in the pool with Alice so that she can check on which level of experience we actually are. For that my last dive was three years ago, I think I wasn't doing to bad. We cleared our masks under water, put the regulator away and had to find it again by moving our right arm in a semi circle from our right leg to our backside and than further behind. We also observed Alice introducing Dennis and Andreas to their first scuba diving experience also in the pool, so we get an idea how to teach someone in becoming a diver.

The second day started with bundling gear up for our first dives in Tenerife. It was still so confusing because everything is new and you just don't now where things are placed at, but I am sure we will improve soon.

Then Melissa the other owner of Dive and Sea took Mahmoud, Sam, me and two other customers with her on a very nice first and second dive in Las Eras, a place about half an hour away from Golf del Sur. It was a shore dive and already a new experience for me because I have never been entering the water for a dive from the shore. I brought some fins with me from Germany and had to find out that they are not useful for scuba diving at all because I didn't fit in with 5mm boots, so I had to go on my second dive without the boots barefoot in the fins.
I was not cold in the water, just the stones on the shore were „tickling“ my feed a little bit. Poor me, so remember... always check for the right equipment before you go on a dive!!!
Still I was so happy about the two dives. We saw trumpet fish ( my favorites by now ), zebra breams, blue fin dam-selfish, a brown moray, a ray and lots of more beautiful sea dwellers.

The night of the third day ended early. At 7 am we were already at the shop starting to get the kits together because we wanted to go on a boat dive to the dive site that is called Yellow Mountain. So that is just what we have done. On the boat was Dennis and Andreas, Pete, Sam, Frank a German customer and me. I have became acquainted to the duty of a boat guard, so I haven't been on the dive with the others, but the job of a Divemaster is not just about the diving. You are supposed to know all the jobs that come with a dive business. So I stayed at the surface, helping the other guys in their kit, taking it of them after the dive, helping them getting settled in the boat again and from time to time I hold my head with mask and snorkel in the water, just to get a little jealous peek on what they were doing under water.

On the fourth day Dennis, Andreas, Sam, Lydia and I had our first day off together and enjoyed getting out for some coffee and breakfast. But we weren't just lazy at all. We actually grouped up to do some reading and some exercises for our exams as well, although it was hard at least for me to fight against the constant doziness. I was exhausted from the long days in advance.

We started refreshed in the fifth day of our internship and went on a navigation or orientation dive at the yellow mountain dive site without any customers. Sam was briefing us ( he will be a Divemaster soon ) in how to hold on to our orientation under water where sometimes everything seem to look exactly alike.
Andreas and I were buddies, which means that we have to watch out for each other and stay close to each other ( you will never loose sight of your buddy, he might save your life if you have problems ).

We split the duties between each other, so I paid attention to the bezels of our dive with my compass and he paid attention to the depth we were diving in. All this information’s, with the direction and some details of the surrounding environment ended up as a.... kind of weird drawing on our slates that we use under water.
Depending on the drawings you could really see that we have done this skill never before. Let's just say, there is a lot room for improvement!!!

The second dive that day was Sam's „special“ :). We got kind of lost under water as he is still training and improving his skills in leading a group under water, he did a really good job in reassuring us, keeping us calm and relaxed and finally we could see the outlines of the boat again. Well done Sam!!!

On the sixth day Melissa, Sam and I went with a Linda, Nick, Tony, Eileen and Mark all experienced  divers from the UK to Las Eras to do two shore dives. Unfortunately for me, we were short on tanks and had to change the plans ( you have to be able to improvise as a professional diver, because it might happen from time to time that gear is missing or dysfunctional or breaking or somebody just doesn't feel well anymore ) and I had to pass on the dive.
Actually I wasn't so sad about it, because I was behind on my reading and homework. So I went through my PADI Rescue manual instead and you can see that it was for good, because today I successfully passed my writing exam and I am on path to become a future PADI Rescue diver.
Well done me :))))

Apart from that, I went on my seventh day on another dive with the same crew than the day before except Melissa, she stayed at the shop and Pete came with us instead. This time we went to Yellow Mountain and Sam was leading both of the dives. First to “Alien Rock” and the other one led us to the “Swim through”, which was a nice rock loop that you could literally swim through.
I found two Octopus on the second dive, which was beautiful. They are incredible intelligent and could probably even learn how to turn off the air of an dive tank to get away from annoying divers.
Never ever should somebody show them that trick!

Angela

Scary Monsters and that's just at the bar!

I arrived in Tenerife  and behind me was 22 years of living in the ever rain soaked kingdom of Denmark.
In front of me, two months in the, somewhat, tropical paradise of Golf del Sur, Tenerife.

I have no previous experience in diving what so ever, so my decision to do a two months internship, and end up (hopefully) being a PADI Divemaster, surprised not only my friends and family, but myself as well.

Upon my arrival, I was informed that there was a Halloween party later on in the evening, so my first assignment was to prepare a Halloween outfit for that event.

I choose to go with a sado-masochistic-fullbearded Harry Potter (obviously) complete with glasses, cape and a big latex wizards hat.
So, my first real meeting with the whole "dive gang" consisted of a Halloween diner with characters like: Soldier girl, a pirate, el Zorro, crazy she devil and her trident, supergirl, Popeye  a witch and something that looked like the offspring of Ronald Mcdonald and Sascha Baron Cohen´s cult figure "Borat"

The 1st of November, I and 3 new interns started: Mahmoud, this tall crazy Egyptian dude (who is definitely gonna break the dive center record in 400 m. swim) Angela, our very own German, who is an somewhat experienced diver already.
And last, but not least, my friend, travel companion and roomate, Andreas, who has been dubbed Perry (my new nickname, obviously, is Kevin).

Besides this lot, there were already 2 interns, who had been here for 1 month so far; Sam and Lydia.
The two of them already seem as experienced in the goings on in both the shop and during dives, as I hope to be one day.
Everyone is friendly and more than willing to lend a hand to a, at times both confused and discreet  guy from Denmark - even when he accidently mix up both his own, and others kits

Sam lost his apartment key the other day, and had to crash on our couch one night, while his landlord figured out what to do. (At least he says he lost his key, but I suspect him for loosing his key on purpose, so he could come by and help us finish our newly bought beers).

Lydia took Andreas and I out for Indian takeaway one evening as well, and we had loads of fun trying out some crazy Indian headwear in the restaurant, all the while posing as a statue of Shiva.

My first experience, what so ever, when it comes to diving with full scuba kit, was in the pool around my second day I guess.
Once you get you head under water for the first time and disobey every single one of your instincts, that tells you not to breathe and you actually breathe into the regulator anyway - then your hooked.

Diving has, increasingly everyday, become like a drug to me. Once you are down there, its the best feeling ever, and once your at the surface, the abstinence kicks in, and you want more and more. (I wonder if somebody swapped my cylinder for one containing enriched air, and thus giving me oxygen narcosis?)

Now (8 days after my arrival) I have already completed my " PADI Open Water course", and have 6 dives under my belt (not including training dives in the pool).
If you have never tried scuba diving before, you cannot possibly imagine the feeling you get when you; hang weightless a few metres of the bottom at 12 metres depth - It really is the coolest feeling of freedom!
Or the feeling of being at one with the ocean, you can only get from swimming inside a huge school of fish.

Oh thats right, I got my first confirmed sea urchin kill the other day! Sea urchins are these long spiked freaks of nature, who found their way to the seas of Tenerife due to human interference.
Because they have such long spikes, they have no natural enemies, so its a huge concern that they might spread and crush alot of the original lifeforms found here.

Time really flies by here, and I`m enjoying the company of everyone around me - the dive center truly is a cultural melting pot, employing people from all over the world, all united by a condition less affection for diving and the well being of the ocean itself in general.

Only around one week down, and at least seven more to come, and already my head is about to explode due to all these new impressions.

I cant wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

- Kevin out.

PADI Advanced course and more Dolphins

So, that was already my third week and I accomplished a lot this week.

Since this week I am a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, I got my Navigation Specialty, my Fish Identification Specialty and I only need one more deep dive to get my Deep Diver Specialty.
I got my 60th dive this week, I saw dolphins and I was finally able to dive with the stingray.

Tuesday was actually my first time ever to have 3 dives in a day.
The first dive was Pequeño Valle and I saw a beautiful Common Eagle Ray. The second dive was at El Delphin, this dive site got this name because there is a Dolphin statue on the bottom of the sea. .  And the third dive was at Starfish Bay, and you all can guess how this dive site got its name.
And finally after searching and searching I found the Garden Eels, Sam told me about this eels and I didn’t see them on the dive where he saw them a few times. So it was really nice to finally see them, they’re really funny. They stick out of the sand and when you swim closer you can actually see their eyes and everything but when they notice you, they quickly hide in the sand.

The next day I had 2 very nice dives at Yellow Mountain and Crocodile Rock, at the first dive I was using natural references to sort of lead the dive with Pete. And we had a beautiful ending of those 2 dives. We saw the dolphins and it was awesome to see them, all the customers were very happy, and so were Pete, Alice, Sam and I.
That was a very special moment of the day. But unfortunately this day has a less good side as well, this day my mommy and stepdad went back to Holland and I was really sad to see my mommy leave, but I’m a big girl.

Thursday was a very, very, very nice day. We only had 1 customer Matt so we only had to prepare 4 kits and there were just 8 tanks and washing only 4 kits. We had 2 great dives at Abades, it was Sam’s first time to lead a dive so that was exiting, but it was sad that he got a bit lost. Lucky for him Melissa was there to point him the right direction and I’m sure next time will be better.

The dives themselves were great, we saw a Fangtooth Moray Eel and a Hermite Crab with a very big shell. We also saw a Frog fish, first I thought it was a crab but it was a fish. Unfortunately the Frog fish wasn’t really interested in being photographed. Melissa, Matt and Sam saw a lot more great things but I was focused on a very cute Pearly Razor fish. The dives really were very nice, I liked seeing the Cardinal fish because I don’t see them a lot and I always enjoy seeing Wide-eyed Flounders.

The next day wasn’t so easy, Sam and I had to draw a map of Crocodile Rock. My map really failed, if someone would ever use it they would get lost. They would probably end up in Cran Granaria. Sam's  map looked way better than mine, even though I wouldn’t use that one either!

But we did have a very funny pool session. Pete took Sam and me to the pool so that Hannah could practice her Discover Scuba Diver skills towards students. So we pretended to be students and we had never dived before. So Hannah was trying to teach us skills and Pete, who was behind her, signaled Sam or me to do the skill wrong. So we kept doing it wrong until Pete signaled ’OK’. Apparently there are really students like we pretended to be.
It was a lot of fun and it was very helpful as well.
Sam and I definitely saw a lot of water today because we also had to do an 800 meter swim.

Saturday we were diving at Poco Naufragio and this time I could go deeper than 18 meters, so I could look at the Stingray. It came really, really close and I could touch it very carefully. I specially took my gloves off so that I could feel the Stingray too.

And Sunday I had a day off again. I finished my Rescue book, made my Emergency Action Plan and I gave my map another try but that didn’t really work out.

Lyida