I will begin where I left off with Friday...........
Once again more diving however this time we had enjoyment of diving with Phil, Lauren, Mark, Neil and April from Teide Divers as well as David from earlier in the week. We began the day with sorting and packing the kit into the car followed by a cup of tea before leaving for the marina. After assembling and loading the kit on to the boat, there was no sign of Teide divers, leaving Bungle and I in our wetsuits in the blazing sunshine :-) Warm to say the least.
When Teide divers turned up, we went on two dives including a Deep dive for Bungle’s Advanced Open Water course at Poco Naufragio. I buddied with David. Shortly after descending we came across a Common Ray, the first I have seen here in Tenerife. Very exciting.
The second dive of the day and this time we took a short boat journey to Pequeno Valle and completed another dive for Bungle’s AOW this time the Boat adventure dive. No Rays on this dive however we did manage to see an Angle Shark, Octopus and Snake Cucumber so all in all a fantastic dive. After returning to the marina Bungle and I had the surprise of a 100m diver tow to complete in which I did reasonably well and got a time of 3.12.
We finished the mornings diving and decided that a full English breakfast was in order so off to the Aberdeen restaurant with Teide divers for a vital energy boost. A very good day indeed.
Saturday began with Bungle and I having to complete the confined water section of our PADI Rescue diver courses. In the marina we completed a range of tasks from cramp removal to finding the missing duck, simulating a missing diver. Whilst completing the second of our dives we found a terrifying Portuguese man’o’war (nasty jellyfish), or as it later turned out to be a Portuguese bag’o’war (Plastic bag), to Pete’s amusement.
After completing the confined Rescue dives myself, Bungle and Alice had the opportunity to practise our timed 800meter snorkel required for our PADI Divemaster course, I managed to obtain a time of 17.40. Not bad but could be improved.
Too add to the exhausting morning after completing our timed snorkels, Pete, Alice, Bungle and myself set about cleaning the boat followed by cleaning the shop upon returning from the marina.
The day finished with a quick 400 meter practise in the pool and a positive de-brief. Another good day in paradise.
Sunday already, another well earned day off to sleep, eat, read and swim.
Monday began with a nice late start of 8am, and then it was off to Abades with Melissa and Bungle. On arrival, we also once again met up with Teide divers which entailed more sweltering in a wetsuit whilst they assembled there kit's. Whilst at Abades we completed two shore dives which we had to map, so we could lead dives there in the future. However Melissa opted out of the second dive due to being unable to equalise, leaving Bungle and I at the mercy of Teide divers. Both dives where fantastic and we even managed to catch a glimpse of a Common Ray snoozing on the bottom.
Following a very successful morning, a not so successful afternoon followed. Once I and Bungle had returned from Abades it was off to the marina to complete our PADI Rescue course open water scenarios 1 and 2 with Pete, Alice, Bungle and myself. All was going well until the star of the show ‘ducky’, could not be located under / near the boat. The purpose of ‘Ducky’ is to simulate searching and rescuing a missing diver, however we did not find or rescue ‘Ducky’ due to being paced out of the planned search area. We eventually found our rubbery friend which Alice managed to place around 30 meters from the boat opposed to the planned 10 meters. This used all of the time we had planned for the scenarios to take, so we headed back to the marina to disassemble the kit and head back to the shop. Monday finished with an ‘interesting’ de-brief’ and a beer, paid for by Alice, to discuss the day’s events.
Another Tuesday in Golf Del Sur and surprise, surprise more diving. However this time we had the company Hannah, who was getting a taste of diving through a PADI Discover Scuba Diving Course which involves a pool session as well as two open water dives. Alice, Bungle, Hannah and I headed down the pool where Alice instructed the DSD course under the watchful eye of Pete. After the pool / skills session was over we stopped for a cup of tea, and then headed to the marina for Hannah’s open water dives. Hannah did brilliantly considering it was her first time under the ocean in scuba equipment and really enjoyed the experience.
Upon returning to the marina from Hannah’s DSD open water dives, it was straight back on the boat for a second attempt at mine and Bungle’s PADI Rescue open water scenarios. Second time lucky, we completed the scenarios without too much trouble, finding ‘Ducky’ quickly. We learnt a great deal about how difficult a rescue could be. Tuesday finished with another 400 meter practice in the pool and an encouraging de-brief.
Another week over and on to today.
Again a nice lay in until 8.00 allowed a bit of recovery from yesterday’s events. With three dives planned for the day myself, Bungle, Alice and Pete headed to the marina. However on arrival, Pete informed Bungle and I of the lovely surprise of 800 meter snorkel practise to complete, which I managed in a time of 17.49. Then it was finally time to hop on the boat and head out to Yellow Mountain to complete some mapping dives, necessary for mine and Bungle’s PADI Divemater course. All three dives went well and managed to record a lot of information. I also performed my first dive briefing which went surprisingly well, only missing a few details.
On return to the marina yet another ‘great’ surprise awaited Bungle and I. This time the 100 meter diver tow was in order, in which I didn’t manage to beat my previous time. Frustrating to say the least. Today finished with Bungle and I cleaning the boat and an informative de-brief.
Now, having completed all of the Rescue course requirements I hope to achieve PADI Divemaster status soon as I can, and start obtaining some ‘on the job experience’.
George / Zippy
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