Nearly there... PADI Master Scuba Diver, Pool Skills and sun burn!

Thanx for still reading our blogs! 

We have achieved a lot this week! 

Monday morning, it was time for the first two dives of my last specialty course; PADI Search and Recovery Diver. 

At 8 am in the morning Pete, Harry and I went to Yellow Mountain. Harry stayed on the boat while Pete started off with hiding, "Duckie" (Dive and Sea's rubber duck) somewhere in the vicinity of the boat. 

Then it was time for me get get in the water and find Duckie. Armed with my compass, I went into the water, to begin a search pattern called "expanding square". Unfortunately, I didn't exactly do a perfect square, and couldn't find Duckie on my first try. Returning to our starting point, I started over again. With a little help, I managed to find Duckie. 

The second dive I was assigned to search for, and recover my diving knife in a larger area, a sandy patch. I decided to proceed with a U-pattern. On this dive, once again I proved that navigation is not my strongest point (but we already knew that). 

Eventually, I found my knife, although for a big part, that was more due to Pete than to my sense of direction and eyesight. ;-)
The next day we were joined by Teide divers; Phil and Jackie, and Lauren, who is their their brand new intern. 

In the pool Harry and I started with completing our final skills, which we did well, receiving some good scores. Next, it was Phil's turn to demonstrate and refresh his skills as a PADI Instructor, which he did very well. Good job Phil! 

After that, both Lauren and Jackie did very good on their skills as well! Last but not least, it was time for Jackie's kit exchange, which clearly wasn't her favourite exercise.

After the pool session we all went to the Marina, for another 800 metre snorkel, followed by two dives to Yellow Mountain. 

Phil, Jackie and Harry were off for Lauren's PADI Open Water Diver course, which went very well. Pete and I did my last two specialty dives for my PADI Search and Recovery Diver course, and Melissa stayed on the boat. 

During this dives, it was my task to find a scuba tank and bring it back to the boat using a liftbag. Once underwater, I came to the realization that I had been so stupid to forget all my diving accessories, such as my compass!. With a bit of assistance, and equipment from Pete and using the liftbag, which I filled with air (unfortunately a little too much, the first time) and brought to the surface. 

I immediately got another try and bring the tank up in a more controlled manner, with less air in the bag. The second attempt went as it should, and I had control over the tank when took it back to the boat. 

Harry joined us for the second dive. It was up to Harry and me to find the tank together and to Harry to bring it back to the boat. Without any trouble, we all got back on board, to conclude the morning with an English breakfast and lunch. 

After finishing my last specialty, I am now a PADI Master Scuba Diver!

On Wednesday morning, Harry and I repeated our pool skills once more, and the rest of the day is quietly passed, with some work in the shop. That morning Melissa departed for a trip to England, to visit her family and friends.
On Thursday we were off for two dives along with Darren, an Open Water Diver, to Poco Naufragio and Starfish Bay. Both dives went fine, although the visibility was not very good. During the first dive we had a brief spotting of a beautiful Stingray, which unfortunately had most of it's tail missing.

Meanwhile, while we were diving, Moniek, my best friend, arrived at the airport of Tenerife South. We've known each other all our lives, and Moniek has come to Tenerife for a holiday. We arrived at the shop almost simultaneously, where Moniek was welcomed by Pete, Harry, me and the wonderful weather of Tenerife. 

We got the afternoon off to settle down and do some shopping. Despite the relaxed afternoon I still found time to finish the first part of my Divemaster exam, which I would get the results off on the next day.

Friday we were joined by the loyal Teide divers Phil, Jackie and their intern Lauren for some more pool skills, a kit exchange and a number of exams. 

Lauren completed her PADI Open Water Diver exam whilst Jackie and I were focusing on our Divemaster exams. My score for the first part of the exam I did yesterday was a neat 96.6%, and for the second part I got a nice 93.3%. Lauren and Jackie also achieved a great score in their exams.Saturday, the day had come for Moniek's PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience. The first session was in the pool, and I got the chance to assist Pete in conducting Moniek's course. Meanwhile, Harry was doing the Scuba Tune-up of Maurice, an Open Water Diver that had not been diving for four years. Moniek turned out to learn very quickly, and it was fun and educational to see someone else's Discover Scuba Diving. 

My own Discover Scuba Diving experience was just 5 weeks ago, I've come a long way.

Almost immediately after the pool session the five of us were off to the Marina, for Moniek's first two dives to Yellow Mountain. During the first dive I stayed on the boat, Harry went into the water with Maurice and Pete and Moniek did Moniek's first open water dive. She did very well on her first dive, but from the moment she got back on the boat, she started to feel seasick. 

For the second dive, Harry and Maurice stayed on the boat, and I joined Pete and Moniek for the second dive. Because she felt so sick, unfortunately the second dive didn't go as well, and halfway through the dive, we decided to head back to the boat. There is little pleasure to dive when you feel very unwell. 

Once back at the Dive Centre, Moniek soon felt a lot better, and we're looking forward to our next dives, taking some motion sickness pills with us. 

We finished the day with a pleasant evening party in honor of Harry, who is now a PADI Divemaster! Congratulations Harry!

On Sunday, Moniek and I decided to spend our day in Siam Park. Well prepared we took the bus, bringing towels, swimsuits, sunscreen and money with us. 

After a wonderful, exciting day we discovered that although we had brought the sun cream with us, we forgot to put it on, resulting in sunburn. That evening their was the Great Parade in Los Gigantes, and despite our painful red skin, we decided to go there and see the Carnival. 

That turned out not such a good idea ... Without knowing it, we travelled almost all the way to the other side of the island, and by the time we arrived in Los Gigantes, the parade just ended. After getting something to eat and drink, we headed back home at around 8 o'clock in the evening. We walked back to the bus, with our skin feeling worse and worse. When we arrived at the bus stop, it turned out that we just missed the last bus, but there was another bus stop not too far away. At the next stop we unfortunately also just missed that bus, so we waited half an hour for the next bus. Eventually, we got on the bus to Las Americas. When we arrived it turned out we had to wait again, this time for almost an hour, for our next bus. Meanwhile, we both felt pretty bad. Around 11 pm we finally got our next bus to our last stop, where we got in a taxi to take us home. We arrived home around 12 o'clock, got lots of after-sun on our painful skin and went to sleep.

We hope that our lobster-red skin will heal quickly, and are looking forward to our last day together in Tenerife, enjoying the beautiful weather. Moniek flies back to Holland Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, I am already on 49 logged dives, 11 more to go and I'll be a PADI Divemaster!Love, Alice