The first week of my additional 5 weeks didn't have a very good start, because unfortunately my neck is hurting again. I've had an accident and suffered a whiplash about 9 years ago, and every now and then it just starts to hurt again and then I feel like I can't do anything. Annoying...!
On Monday Melissa, Chris, George and Phil went to Abades, which is a shore dive location. Unfortunately I had to skip this beautiful dive because of my neck. On a shore dive you walk from the car to the water with your scuba kit on your back, followed by a surface swim, before you can descent. This would probably not be a good idea for my neck. Hopefully I will soon be better and be able to do the shore dives again!
That afternoon we were off to Yellow Mountain for the second part of Chris and George's PADI Rescue Diver course. Because this is a boat dive, it is not a problem for my neck because I won't have the weight of the kit on my back at all. This part of the course consists of two Open Water Scenarios. The first was a so-called "missing diver" scenario, just like on my own PADI Rescue Diver course only a few weeks ago. It was up to me to hide Ducky, Dive and Sea's loyal rubber duck, anywhere within 10 meters of the boat. I found a spot for Ducky and went back to the boat.
Then Chris and George got in the water to try to find Ducky as soon as possible. After about 15 minutes of searching, unfortunately, Ducky still wasn't found, and we decided it would be better to stop searching because it was just taking to long. When I swam out to get Ducky, I found myself a bit disorientated because the wind had turned the boat around. I was using the boat, that normally points in the same direction every time, for navigation. I also found out that I had hidden Ducky further away than 10 meters from the boat. This was of course the reason that Chris and George weren't able to find Ducky in the first place. As a result we had lost a lot of time and because it was already so late (as we normally dive in the morning) we couldn't finish the course that day. Mildly said, I pretty much ruined the whole day and we are now behind on schedule!
Tuesday, a new day, new chances. I felt like I really did have to make up for the previous day and try to get back some of the time we lost. I got that chance with the PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience of Hannah. Early in the morning we went to the pool, with Pete keeping an eye on us, and Chris and George joined us to assist if needed.
Everything went fine, Hannah did well and soon it was time for her two first dives in the sea. Pete led the dives while I stayed close to Hannah and controlled her BCD for her. During the dive we saw Yellow Goatfish, Trumpetfish and an Octopus. We brought Hannah back to the Marina, where she was picked up by Melissa.
After that, we went straight back to the sea for another attempt to complete Chris and George's PADI Rescue Diver course. Again we started with the Open Water Scenario: "missing diver" (Ducky), and this time I made sure I did not go beyond a couple of meters from the boat. This time, Chris and George found Ducky very quickly without any problems and we could finally continue the course and do Open Water Scenario 2. The scenario was "Unresponsive diver at the surface," which we did twice to give both Chris and George the opportunity do practice their "Responding to an emergency" skills. First it was Chris's turn to 'save' George. Chris took the situation very serious and jumped into the water to rescue George. When he reached the victim, he gave a real rescue breath into the pocket mask on George's face. George managed to stay ion his role and remain fairly unresponsive. After that, George's turn to save Chris. Fortunately everything went well and the PADI Rescue Diver course is now completed!
Back on the boat, I discovered that sometime during the PADI Rescue Diver course, I lost my diving knife.
Pete decided that there was still time to do an extra dive to find my knife. Chris, George and I soon found my knife back and continued the dive with a small tour to Crocodile Rock.
Wednesday morning we went to the Marina to start the 800 meter snorkel that is part of Chris and George's PADI Divemaster internship. I didn't have to get in the water because I already completed all my stamina tests. Immediately after the 800m snorkel, the 100m Tired Diver Tow followed, which is a very heavy stamina test. Chris and George both managed to get a good time.
Then we got on the boat and headed for Yellow Mountain. During the boat trip, Chris and George practised their dive brief for the very first time, and did very well. The three dives that followed were three additional mapping dives, to collect the final details needed for the maps. The first and second dive were to Alien Rock and the third to Crocodile Rock. I led the dives and found my way without any problems. During the dive we saw a Brown Moray Eel, Red-Backed Cleaner Shrimp, Fire Worms, Pearly Razorfish, Cardinal Fish, goby, Starry Weever and much more.
Thursday Hannah was back with us to do one more dive. Pete led the dive to one of our newest dive sites; Gijarro Arrecife. Chris and Hannah buddied up and I was at the back. It was great to explore this new dive site. We saw an Octopus, a large number of Moray Eels and a beautiful Black Dotted Sea Slug! After the dive, we brought Hannah back to the Marina, and on our way back, we came across someone that needed a hand to free his boat. One of the ropes got entangled around the propeller of the motor. Chris got into the water, and eventually managed to free the propeller by cutting the rope.
After a quick change of tanks and a goodbye to Hannah, we went straight back to the sea again for another dive. I led the dive to Pequeño Valle. Pete stayed on the boat while I took Chris and George along underwater. We had a wonderful, relaxed dive that I really enjoyed. We saw an Octopus, Moray Eel Brown, Black Moray Eel, Grunt Bastard, Red Starfish and I spotted a tiny Round Stingray, which Chris and George didn't see. Fortunately, I managed to get a picture this time to proof what I had seen.
Friday was the big clean-up day because on Sunday, a large group of 12 divers will arrive for a week of diving with us and Teide divers. We cleaned the shop and the cars and worked on our blogs. When I was hoovering the car, unfortunately some water got into the hoover and it obviously broke... The worst part is that while Harry and Moniek were hoovering the car just a couple weeks ago, they broke the other hoover, so now we ended up with no hoover at all. I want to go and get a new hoover as soon as I can, preferably a pink one of course!
Saturday morning Melissa, Chris and George left together with Teide divers, to dive to a new dive site, that was a shore dive. Because my neck still hurts a lot, I had to skip this dive as well. Therefore I had the morning off, and in the afternoon we did some grocery shopping and bought a new hoover. We also went to the pharmacy, because it seems I have got an ear infection. They told me that the only thing I could do is taking antibiotics, but I'd have to go to the doctor for that. Luckely, they had a doctor almost immediately available (at least that'swhat they told me) and I would only need a quick check and signature. After an our of waiting, I finally got to see the doctor who signed the paper after some very useless and unnecessary tests... Hopefully my ear will feel better soon because as long as I'm on antibiotics, I am not allowed to do diving!
Sunday was the big day, the group of the Sterling University, consisting of 12 divers, had arrived in Tenerife the previous night. We started our Sunday with completing all the paperwork. That took quite a while with such a large group, but as soon as we got it done they headed to the Marina for the first two dives with us. The group was split in two, half of them did their first few dives with us and the other half begin their diving adventure with Teide divers.
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