The pipe line that has recently been discovered there is home to lots of interesting things and is always a great dive. We explored a new route to it, then spent around half an hour swimming along it, coming across Stingrays, Octopus, Scorpion Fish and a massive Fang Tooth Moray Eel, that was about the size of a very big Eel!
The exit from this dive was hilarious! We tried a new point on the beach which we soon realised was a bit steep, which meant that Melissa and I spent more time falling over than we did getting out!
Note to self; Think about personal safety before helping others out of the water.
On the second dive it was just Zippy and I as Melissa had decided to stay out of the water and warm up a bit. We went to the other side of the site and found more Rays and also a big Canarian Lobster. I found an Octopus and tried to point it out to Zippy, but he didn’t have his eyes turned on properly and it took him about half an hour to see what I was pointing at.
In the afternoon, we were joined by Anna and Pete. Anna is my friends mum from England and Pete is her husband. They had decided to come over and say hello, while seeing what all this diving fuss was about. I was leading their PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience the next morning so I stuck the DVD on for them and gave them a quick brief on what to expect.
By the time this was done, Phil, Jackie, Lauren and Kepa had turned up and we spent the rest of the afternoon going through some more bits and pieces for our PADI Assistant Instructor course.
Saturday morning Anna and Pete arrived for their introduction into diving. Zippy and I were in the pool with them, I led the session and Zippy was in assistance, still under thw watch of Pete!
I knew that they had wanted to try diving for ages and it was good for me to be the one to introduce them to it. The pool session was followed by a trip to Yellow Mountain with Pete leading, where they enjoyed themselves a lot. A well deserved fry up capped off the morning nicely!
Following tradition, the afternoon was filled with more of the PADI Assistant Instructor course. It was our turn to give a presentation and mine was a knowledge development about ‘procedures for a missing diver’. I managed 4.5 out of 5, which I can’t moan about for a first attempt!
We were also given assignments for teaching a confined water skill, which we would be presenting the next morning, so some evening revision consumed the rest of the day.
Sunday morning we were down in the pool first thing to test our confined water presentations. I had to teach Phil and Jackie (who were pretending to be students) how to breathe from a free-flowing regulator, with Zippy as my Divemaster for the purpose of the exercise. It was good fun getting a little insight into what it will be like when I am a PADI Instructor at some point in the future.
Phil and Jackie were assigned problems to present for me when I was teaching them, which was a good way to learn and also quite funny at times. I unfortunately managed to break Phil’s planning slate that he has had since 1750, much to the amusement of myself and Pete who saw me do it. The afternoon brought with it some more slides and information about teaching diving!
Monday morning Anna and Pete had decided to do a couple more dives while they were here, so Melissa, Zippy and I took them out at El Puertito. We were off in search of Turtles and were not disappointed. 2 dives there gave us chance to swim with the amazing animals, which is always a fantastic experience.
In the afternoon I went to see Dave at Pro-Sub with Melissa. Walking into that shop is like going to Toys’R’Us when you are a child! Resisting the urge to buy everything in sight is without a doubt one of the most difficult challenges known to man! I did well and only left with an ‘Enriched Air Diver’ manual, for the speciality I would be doing later in the week.
Later on we met up with Anna and Pete at Big Al’s for a couple of pints to celebrate some successful diving. We ended up having some dinner and mine arrived at the table in the form of the ‘Big Al’s Mixed Grill’, as you may have heard mentioned in previous blogs. They would be off back to England the next day, ready to plan their next diving adventure!
Tuesday morning Phil and Jackie came back down and we got in the pool to present some more skills, each playing the roles of instructors and students. We each taught 1 skill in the pool, then headed down to the marina to present our 2 open water skills. In the marina the highlight of the day was when Phil was teaching us a controlled descent.
Pete was giving us problems to present to Phil, in the form of inflating our BCD’s instead of deflating them for the descent. This went on for a few minutes and by the end of it we were all just floating in the water and laughing! I presented my 2 assigned skills and was quite pleased with how they went.
In the afternoon we completed the rest of the presentations that we needed for the Assistant Instructor certification, Then Phil and Jackie left Zippy and I to sit the final exam..... This would determine whether we had passed the course first time round or not.......
WE BOTH PASSED!! Zippy and I were now officially PADI ASSISTANT INSTRUCTORS!
Note to self; One step closer to having the best job in the world.
Wednesday morning, a relatively normal morning to start with. Little did I know that it would turn out to be the best day I have ever had, ever!
We started off by heading out to Pequeno Valle for a ‘Project Aware, Dive For Debris’ day. The goal was to clean up any litter or things that shouldn’t be polluting the dive sites that we enjoy visiting so much.
Melissa, Zippy and I started the clean up and it went really well.
Then we were joined in the water by a pod of wild Dolphins.
Such an unbelievable experience!
To be under the water and watching these animals in their natural habitat was fantastic!
Even when we got back on the boat and headed to our next dive site, they followed us most of the way, swimming alongside the boat and jumping around in front of us, which was so much fun.
We eventually made it to Starfish Bay, where we spent about half an hour culling Sea Urchins.
In the afternoon, over a cheeky breakfast, we mostly basked in the amazingness of the morning. We spent the rest of the day tidying a few bits round the shop, with a little bit of reading thrown in for good measure.
Note to self; WOW!!!!
Thursday we spent tidying and cleaning and doing a few bits around the shop. Getting tanks filled and little shopping trips meant everything was organised nicely. Another trip to Pro-Sub happened, which inevitably meant I would have to refrain from buying things. Even my best efforts today were unsuccessful as I walked away with a nice new Oceanic weight belt!
On the trip we also stopped by the T-shirt mans shop, to collect our nice new Assistant Instructor attire… Team that with the PADI backpack that I received a few weeks ago and I’m starting to look professional!
I bought Pete a present today that I strongly believe every future intern here will hate me for.
As we all know by now, Pete is a huge fan of a nice cup of tea. Rather than having him ask for his regular cuppa, I decided that a little bell sitting on the corner of his desk that he could ‘ding’ when he is ready for one, would be a better option.
Melissa is not overly fond of the idea, but I am adamant that it is funny.
Note to self; DING!!!
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