Note to self...... Dont be late..... again!

The Teide volcano was looking at us, wearing this beautiful immaculate white hat...

The water was so clear and turquoise waiting to offer this nature treasure.

The last time I went diving it was 2 years ago in calpe 5 (méditeranéa) for my OWDcourse.

For me, it was just amazing to dive again. Such a good feeling off freedom when you take your first breath underwater...

So the first day started early and I met Adalberto, who is Spanish and is going to be completing the internship at the same time as me.  Now he has a new name Gary and my new name is Brian, we are snails from cartoon shows because we are so slow…….

We started off with some reminder exercises in the swimming pool called a scuba tune up. it was easy to remember for me.   Then we started our Induction day with Alice telling us all about the Divemaster internship and what we would be doing.

The next day very early !!! we put all the diving equipment in the super Jumpy and we went to the marina for real diving !!! 
It  was the deep adventure dive. We went to Poco Naufragio, 28m deep. During the dive we saw a friendly ray, she came very close to us several times, swimming around. I imagined that she was waiting for some food! Maybe I was a ray in other life .... always looking for some food, love food!

After that we went for two other dives, the first was my boat diver adventure one. 

The second day start at 7 o'clock. Kim our beautiful Instructor for the Divemaster; show to Gary and I how to properly assemble the diving kits,  and everything we must know to be able to do it by ourself the day after.

She is very calm and patient and she explain everything very well. All the details were very important we cant forget anything so always double or triple check!!!

After that you have to carry the right number of tanks from the shop to the car. The super jumpy is park very close but with the weight off the tanks it looks further ! Lots of information at 7 o clock!!!

Everything is all right we were a bit longer than we should be but we are learning... last checking and rechecking in case! and off we go for diving again, we went to a new place known as yellow mountain for a Peak Performance Buoyancy course.  
It was a bit windy and the boat was rolling enough to make me sea sick... I do not miss this feeling at all! 

After we went to  another place named Swim through. i let you imagine why... a big cave with a big hole in it to swim through all in it; so beautiful ...

We came back to the marina and we start to learn how to clean all of the kit after the dive.

We have to hurry up all the time it is very intensive. Carrying kit and tanks  again and again, washing, storing, daily jobs , weekly job...... In the afternoons we usually study swim or playing Mcgyver fixing all we can fix.

I  like to do that very much. the working day finish by a short debrief.  You sleep very well after a day like that but the night is very short...

I finally arrived on time at 6.45 and I started to prepare the kit by myself with Alice’s supervision. It was perfect diving conditions.  the sea was glassy very clear, no wind and sunny. 
We make 2 dives one off them was a deep one at Poco Naufragio with the rays and Moray eels so we could see them very clearly they were so close to us.

Another early morning and we started in the swimming pool for a Discover Scuba Diving session and then off we went shore diving in  Abades, I was helping  Jake our friendly customer for his first dive in  the ocean.  It was pretty good and I enjoyed it a lot diving with my new "one day" buddy! 

He looked like he was very happy in the nemo world! 
So welcome Jake to the diving addiction club!

Why are you waiting to join us friendly blog lecturer? !!!

Emelyne (Brian)

New Divemaster candidate, New Name and New Adventures...

And the adventure starts

Adalberto (Gary)

I’m originally from Tenerife and after a long while just enjoying snorkelling at last after several years looking forward to learning to dive. I started my Open Water Diver but it took nearly two months to finish with another company, I finally finished it on Saturday woohoo I am an Open  Water diver at last!! 

So finally I was able to begin my PADI Divemaster internship on Monday morning with Dive and Sea Tenerife.  The island was on an Orange weather Alert which meant I could have the whole day off as I am also a part time teacher in the north of the island.

When I got to the shop I met Pete, Melissa and Alice (Kim) and also another new intern from France Emelyne that later on was renamed Brian (the snail out of Magic roundabout) and I also got a new name Gary (this is the snail out of sponge bob!!,) apparently this is a tradition for all new interns.   I have to say its better than some of the others that I have heard!

On our first day we received information about the internship and how to do daily duties. As well as running through a pool skill session with Alice first thing in the morning, apparently I have many more of these to look forward to…..

Unfortunately the orange alert finished, so on Tuesday morning I had to go and teach, but headed off down south to Dive and See Tenerife to go shopping to get wetsuits for Brian and I as well as some other things we need for the internship.  Its like a divers heaven in there I could have spent a fortune. 

Apparently this is another tradition taking interns over to ProSub so that they can try on their suits…… Melissa and her friend Ann found this really funny, as Brian and I were really over heating trying on different wetsuits!!  Luckily after the second suit I had found the suit for me. Phew!

Then the real adventure began as we went out on the boat for our dives. Brian and I were starting our PADI Advanced Open Water Course and on this day we completed our Deep and Boat dives.. Already I am well on my way to completing the Advanced course.. thankfully its not going to take two months here. 

Still so much to learn we are learning on our dives as well as learning how everything is done here at Dive and Sea Tenerife.  Part of the learning seems to be making lot of mistakes but I am sure its going to click soon!

I had three great dives, my first dive was at Poco Naufragio with Pete, Emelyne, and Ann, this was my Deep Adventure dive, and on the dive we even saw a Common Ray, this dive site is so special, I couldn’t wait to go again and luckily I was able to go later in the week, with Dan on his Advanced Open Water Course.  Our second and third dives of the day were at Yellow Mountain, Alien Rock, there are several sites here so I am told and I am definitely looking forward to exploring the other sites, but on this occasion we did two deep dives to Alien Rock, there was so much to think about and see that I am sure I would get lost if I was asked to navigate this site!!!

Another very early start and out we went for 2 boat dives with customers Ann and Dan and made a couple of nice dives.  It was great to be able to work on my buoyancy this was my third advanced dive… two more to go and I will be an Advanced Diver.  The second dive to the swim through, another site within the bay was wonderful I really enjoyed this dive

On Friday shore dive to El Puertito, because of the storm we had at the beginning of the week the conditions were not ideal there were strong waves so getting into the sea and out was quite difficult specially for Dan, but when we were inside, except for the low visibility it was a nice dive in which I first meet the lovely turtle that hugged us.

Finally a nice bright sunny day and the sea has calmed so I was very excited about more dives.  Two boat dives this was Dan’s Deep and Boat dive of his advanced course, it was good for Brian and I to be able to observe the course.

On the first dive to Poco Naufragio,  we met a ray who was going around us like a dog and then three morays, two black and one fangtooth. Amazing.  Our Second dive after dropping Melissa back at the Marina was to Yellow Mountain, this is such an amazing site and very popular with all our divers.  On this dive we were able to see TrumpetFish, Wrasse, Bream and Octopus fantastic.

On Sunday we prepared for a shore dive to Abades, where we did 2 dives with Melissa, Alice, Emelyne, Jake (Doing Discover Scuba diving), Dan (Doing his Advanced course) and Jan(Instructor), I did really enjoy both dives as in the first one was buddy with Dan and helping him and seeing how a Discover Scuba diving usually manage and on the second dive my buddy was Jan and it was really interesting to see the big difference that experience give on this underwater world.

The week was really long, think have never being so physical and mental tired in my whole life and had seeing that after the internship I will be much fitter and also will learn quite a lot of things. And really looking forward to next week more learning and hopefully lots more dives

And I think this is it for now,

Take care and good luck,

   Adal (Gary)

PADI Divemaster.... at last :)

Finally! The very thing I have been waiting for, was achieved this week. I can now call myself a PADI Divemaster!

I logged my 60th dive and that shiny red Divemaster t-shirt, and all that comes with it, is now mine!

We get up early, go to the shop, make a few mistakes with the kits, go diving, make some more mistakes, clean the kits, make some more mistakes, return to the shop -where we then make some more mistakes. Just the way we like it! :)

Alices dive number 300 was at Poco Naufragio

We just swam around, with the Morays and saw a huge Ray.
That was the very same day I did my 60th dive. I was leading the dive, along with Andreas, Lydia and Mahmoud. I had the huge honor of being in charge of the camera and did a few pictures.

Next day we went to Las Eras with a Russian costumer. The guy was a free diver with little experience in actual scuba diving, but all in all, he did well.
What I remember most from these dives at Las Eras, was trying to keep up with him (he was my buddy) which was a hard job, since he was wearing these amazingly long fins used in free diving.

Next day we went to a place called Tabaiba, which is home of a wreck.

We came there so Lydia could do her wreck diver speciality. For the first time ever I experience vertigo. The tugboat was laying a bit slanted on the bottom, and I automatically line myself up so I had the same angle as the ship when I looked at it - which apparently didn’t suited my stomach.
Luckily I got myself straightened out before the vertigo overwhelmed me completely.

We completed the dives at Tabaiba with a cup of coffee at a local bar, just talking and laughing for the better of an hour, before returning to the marina to wash the kits.

Next day we had a Dutch customer's and we did two dives at the dive sites called "El Delfin and "Pequeña Valle".
Going to these two sites, was a first time experience for me - so I obviously enjoyed my self.

At the dive we did at Pequeña Valle, we came across some rusty old cages at the bottom, left behind by some fisherman long time ago In one of the cages we came across, a Trumpet fish and a few Atlantic Damselfish had got themselves trapped.
I don’t know why seeing those poor beings trapped in there left such a huge impression on me. The cruelty of some individuals cannot be describe by words (well, yes they can, but I'm not sure that my blog will pass through the censor if I try) Naturally we freed the fish, and continued our dive.

Lydia started doing her DSD leader, and I had the honour of assisting her and the two customers in the pool supervised by Alice.  All in all, we did a pretty decent job with the two customers, but I must admit that keeping an eye on both of them and catching them every time they were about to fall over, wasn’t as easy as I thought.

In the evening all of us went out together to a place called showtime.
A bar-restaurant with a musical theme. They put up a great show for us, performing the highlights from some of the most famous musicals in time.

The thing I liked best with that place though, was that the waiters kept refilling your glass as soon as you had drunk around one third of your beer (In my mind I only drank half a beer that night, but since I ended up with Pete on my back, running up and down the parking lot and screaming like a madman, I must have had the equivalent to at least two beers).

More from me next time

Wreck Diving and Sting Rays in Tenerife

Back with my blog again.

Today I have a day off. I think it is better this way because I've got somewhat of a hangover from last night. Yesterday we all went out for dinner and a musical. We had a really good time with everybody from the shop and a couple of Pete and Melissa’s friends. so today I am just relaxing trying to get my head straight for tomorrow’s dives.

This has been a truly amazing week. This week I finally became a fully certified PADI Divemaster, Wohoo! It feels great to wear my Divemaster t-shirt down in the shop.

The dives this week has been fantastic. We've been to completely new places for me and I finally went diving at Tabaiba after being there twice without diving.

The first dive I had this week was with Alice, Lydia, Mahmoud and Dennis, just outside the marina. We've only been there once before during last week, so we really enjoyed seeing some new stuff.

The next dive was the famous Tabaiba.
I've been really excited to go diving here, because it is a really nice place, so I could only imagine that it must be nice under water as well. Besides that, there is of course the wreck.

Having never seen a wreck before I was looking forward to see it. We went there so that Lydia could do her wreck speciality and the dive went so well. I loved the site so much.
It is the deepest dive I have had, I think about 31 meters, and the wreck was so cool.
Besides it is always going to be a great day when you can stand on a beach where you are going diving and just of the coast you see Dolphins jumping out of the water. truly a nice view.

Next day we had a new dive site for me as well.
We were going to El Delphin, which is actually in the middle of nowhere between the marina and Yellow Mountain.
At first we went down at a really deep place. I think there might have been about 40 meters of water, but we just had a fairly long swim in midwater, trying to spot some Angel sharks.

I saw a huge Ray lying on the bottom. It must have been 3 meters across the wings. When we got to the dive site it was really good.
Out there all the regular fish are bigger and we get to see some new species that I haven't seen before. For example a saw two very big Canarian Lobsters and loads of other cool stuff.

This week I also went to Las Eras. 
I like the rock formations and of course the pipeline where there is always a huge diversity in life and it is kinda funny to just drift along the pipeline looking into every crack wondering what you're going to see.
We found some Morays, which is always nice to see, but unfortunately no Rays or Octopus.

That's it for this week. Now I'm going to return to my duties of sunbathing and drinking coke.

Talk to ya after christmas.