How not to Map a dive site and Kit Exchanges

I finished last weeks Blog talking about locking myself out of my apartment and staying on another intern’s sofa, this is mistake number one.
However, it only got worse from there and it was a wonderful way to start my week. So for some reason I decided that I’d be more comfortable leaving the balcony doors open whilst I slept on the sofa, looking back on it, this was mistake number two.
Mistake three was not covering myself head to toe whilst I slept.
The combination of these three mistakes meant I was mauled by mosquitoes and it looked like severe chicken pox the next day.

Moving on from the torture that was Sunday night I came to work Monday morning hoping for more success, I was not going to find any.
I was going to be leading Moomin, Perry and Angela on a mapping dive. They were mapping Alien Rock and dive one went well. With some measurements missing we were going to head back in and go the same route. This dive was one I’d rather forget.
In my head I thought the group was going in the same direction as dive one, apparently not. We ended up very shallow and I didn’t have a clue how. In my defence I think it would be excessive to say we were lost as I knew where the boat was, just not the dive site. I ended up calling the dive off and admitting defeat at twenty-seven minutes.

New customers this week! Nick, Tony, Eileen, Linda and Mark joined us for a week of diving. The group’s first dive site was going to be LasEras, which was quickly becoming popular with me, as there is just so much to see. The first dive here you head left out of the bay and end up at around twenty meters, the first dive you tend to see lots of colourful fish such as Cuttlefish, Barracuda and Atlantic Damsels. This is the first time I’d been here with such an experienced dive group, which meant we managed to make it to a sunken nativity scene. Admittedly it was much better in my head, in reality it’s very small and damaged, but brilliant none the less to make it there.
The second dive here as I’ve mentioned before heads over to the pipeline where there is an abundance of Morays, Cleaner Shrimp and Rays hiding in all the crevices. 

My chance to redeem myself was upon me. The dive group’s second day was to Yellow Mountain and I was going to lead. Obviously, being practically perfect by this stage of my internship it all went off without a blip, on the first dive to Alien Rock I saw my first Canarian Lobster since I’ve been out here, as well as a small Common Ray.
The second dive I lead us all to Swim Through. Tony who had been recording a lot of the dives on his HD camera managed to get some brilliant shots of us all coming up through the swim through.

I was very close to completing the last few bits and pieces for my PADI Divemaster at this stage, and one of the two requirements left for me to fulfil was the kit exchange. I’d been worried about doing this for a fair amount of time, but when it came down to actually doing the skill, it was a piece of cake. The only real issue with the skill is when someone has medium fins on and I’m an extra large, and have to try and fit theirs on.

Back to diving, and it was a new dive site for me as well today, El Delfin, means something about Dolphins apparently. The dive itself was fairly impressive with Morays and large shoals of fish, but for me I was more excited about doing my deepest dive out here. All the way to 35 meter,s later on there is the opportunity to head to 40 but my air was low by this point so couldn't make it.
Dive two and we headed to good old PequeneValle, which always provides large shoals of Roncadore, Bream and others. However, this time, there was something even more exciting, a Butterfly Ray.
Or at least it would have been more exciting had it not have been so lazy. The Ray was quite happy to sit there and barely move even with all eight of us around it.

Last day diving for the week and it was to Poco Naufragio, the site we go to see all the Rays, the group had been earlier in the week and seen some massive Atlantic Rays so I was even more excited to get in and hopefully see some. Sure enough, as soon as we descended there was a couple little Rays, a Duckbill being one of them, and I’d never seen one so close but it is easy to see where they get their name from. Plus, it didn’t take long before the big boys decided to come, we ended up doing both dives here and the first one was definitely one of my best dives out here.

I was going to have beans on toast Sunday morning but discovered I had no bread and well that just leaves beans, so as an alternative I had cereal but quickly realised my milk had gone off, so I had sour milk and Special K, beautiful......... Just in case you are interested in my diet :-)

Sam (Popeye)