Finally a PADI Divemaster, although my internship is nearly over :-(

Monday was another busy day! Melissa took Sara and James to El Puertito to see the Turtles. Pete did two dives at Yellow Mountain with Steve, Louise and Harry, while I led my first snorkel trip, also at Yellow Mountain. I led Jan and Jackie around at the surface, to the sites where we normally dive.

We started at the tip of Swim Through, which sticks out of the water just a little bit. We saw numerous Blue-fin Damsel fish, Ornate Wrasse and a couple of Cotton Spinners. Next, we snorkelled to Alien Rock, where we saw even more Damsel fish and Wrasse, along with a couple of Starfish. Finally, we explored the shallow waters near the coast as well. It was nice to see the underwater world again from a different perspective.



Tuesday and Wednesday were two calm days in the shop. On Tuesday, the sad moment of saying goodbye to Harry, had arrived. After spending so much time together with Harry and his family, it was hard to see them leave. I've had a great time with them and miss them very much! I will definitely come to visit you in Northern Ireland.

On Thursday, the two new interns; Chris and George, started their internship. They will be here for 8 weeks. I got the morning off, while they had their induction day. Chris is a PADI Open Water Diver and George is a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. After lunch I joined the rest of the team again, and we were off to Yellow Mountain for Chris and George's first two dives with Dive and Sea Tenerife. The dives went well, and before we realized, the day was already over.

Friday morning, we started with the first two dives of Chris's PADI Advanced Open Water course. The first dive was PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy adventure dive. To practice his buoyancy skills, he started with a hover. Just like we did during my own PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy, adventure dive, we got the hoops into the water. First George and me both had a go, then followed by Chris. He quickly got the hang of it and managed to get through the hoops without touching them after just a few practices. We also got to see some Black Sea Hare's.

The next dive was the PADI Navigation adventure dive, where Chris learned how to use his compass and use natural navigation to navigate on a dive site. Using our compasses, we swam in a square pattern and a reciprocal line. During our last task, a 50 meter reciprocal line, we drifted off a bit while we were making our way back to the boat, because of the current. Thanks to Pete, we quickly managed to make our way back to the boat.

Saturday early morning the moment had finally arrived; I was about to do my 60th dive! This was the only thing left for me to achieve for my PADI Divemaster certification. This dive was going to be a night dive, my second night dive, to Poco Naufragio. Sofie joined us for this dive, which was part of her PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course. 

Sofie, Chris, George, Pete and I did the dive, and we all had a great time, exploring the waters with our torches in pitch black. Melissa, who got out of bed very early, even though she was feeling ill, stayed on the boat to give us the chance to do the dive. Thanks Melissa!

After doing this magnificent dive, I am now a certified PADI Divemaster!!

As if I wasn't thrilled enough already about my final certification, that same day my dive computer, the Mares Puck, came in. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a lot of dives with my brand new addition to my personal diving kit.

On Sunday I had a nice lay in, followed by a calm, relaxed day. I felt that I really needed that break, after going on trips and visiting several parks on the last couple of Sundays.

I now have less than a week left, I will enjoy my last few (warm) days of my internship here in beautiful Tenerife.