The next day it was time for the dives with Lewis at Yellow Mountain (Aliën rock and the swimthrough). It was my first time doing the dive brief this year. I had practiced it quiet a bit with then other interns, so I was spot on! On the dive we were accompanied by a small Common Eagle Ray and again, Lewis was a little star, being really comfortable in the water on both dives and loving the dive sites and little creatures out there.
This week I also completed my nitrox speciality. I think nitrox can be a big advantage for recreational divers and is often used in certain diving areas, so when Pete and Melissa gave us the opportunity to get this speciality I was definatly keen on trying it. The course itself was really interesting (difficult aswell if English is not your first language and when your reading about the ‘partial pressure of O2’, ‘equivalent air depth,’ and some random dudes called ‘Lorrain Smith’ and ‘Paul Bert’ at 8:00 in the morning….). Somehow I expected the dives with nitrox to be really different, some pigeon-lover told me the fairy tale that; ‘you don’t feel tired after a nitrox dive and that it’s the best thing in the world….’. Well, that is quiet an overstatement. It just all felt….well….normal I guess….didn’t notice any difference except for the longer bottom time my computer indicated ofcourse!
Thursday was the best diving day of the week (can’t get any worse after the little pool-incident on Tuesday, which I’m sure the other interns will mention in their blogs!). For the first dive we went to Poco, an all- time intern favourite, because of our lovely rays there. I buddied up with Jenny and as soon as we touched the shelf, the rays started to swim in from our left hand side. One ray would pass us and we would see the next one appear straight after, just amazing! They were stalked by a Rémora (spanish name for a Shark Sucker). Three common rays passed us before we went on to spot big groups of bream, needle fish, a baracuda, octopus and yellow tail goat fish. Then on our way back to the anchor line, another small eagle ray decided to say hi! Definatly one of the best dives I have done this year!
The second dive of that day was starfish bay. Jenny and I spotted quiet some starfish, Nemo and Village enjoyed themselves trying to set up a sea-urchin graveyard and left the divesite with some good urchin souvernirs in their fingers.
The final dive of thurdsday was an intern-only dive to the moon-pools. It was supposed to be the first time I’d dive at the moon- pools, it’s supposed to be beautifull when the sun is out and the light is beaming in….but…unfortunatly we didn’t make it to the moon-pools…. We ran short on air and had to turn around while the moon-pools were in reach. We did however see a SEAHORSE! YAY! First time here in Tenerife that I spotted a seahorse, they are pretty rare and difficult to spot aswell. This one was bright green, about 8 cm. Big and holding on to a piece of string. He/She did not swim away and waited patiently to be photographed, but ofcourse, on moments like these, the camara does not work! Big bummer, but still a really nice spot!
On the weekend Marloes, one of my best friends started her open water course, with a full day of pool sessions and DVD’s. It’s funny how you know someone for such a long time, in and out, through good and through bad times, BUT once you put them in some scuba kit and toss them in the water, you get to know a completely different side of them. To be honest, Marloes was really comfortable under the water, she was fine with her skills, but somehow she decided to sit on the bottom of the pool with her hands in a doggy-like position (or Lady-gaga style, whatever style you prefer!) for both of the pool sessions, which got me laughing so much I had a couple of near- drowning experiences and a flooded mask for 80%. It’s definatly more fun when diving with friends!
Only 4 more days to go till I finish my internship. The past week I passed my skill- circuit with good scores and stupid little mistakes I would not make any other day of course! Now I only need to successfully complete my search and rescue dive and I’m a Divemaster! I’m also very close to finishing my MSD specialities and my DSD-leader so heaps of little celebrations ahead in the next few days ahead!
Cheers to Dory and Bruce who already became Divemasters this week!!
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