We all had a couple of times to practice our PADI Divemaster skills in the pool
during this week.
We always have a laugh when Andreas practices the recovery of the mask, he feels so uncomfortable opening his eyes underwater but I keep telling him to practice smiling underwater first before trying to practice the skill!
On the other hand, Angela had an accident the other day. It was the day she was on boat cover during Dennis and Andreas' adventure night dive. I passed by after their return and we all went to the beach. It was a very sunny and warm day, we all got excited and Andreas, Angela and I decided to walk on some rocky bay moving into the water. Andreas and I wanted to jump into a further rock a little less than 2 meters away with crashing waves in the middle. We tried figuring out the pattern of the waves but couldn't so Angela advised that it was dangerous and better to just go back which we did. But unfortunately she was swept away by one of the waves at first it was funny then the situation got serious but she was lucky to have some scratches with only one wound.
We always have a laugh when Andreas practices the recovery of the mask, he feels so uncomfortable opening his eyes underwater but I keep telling him to practice smiling underwater first before trying to practice the skill!
On the other hand, Angela had an accident the other day. It was the day she was on boat cover during Dennis and Andreas' adventure night dive. I passed by after their return and we all went to the beach. It was a very sunny and warm day, we all got excited and Andreas, Angela and I decided to walk on some rocky bay moving into the water. Andreas and I wanted to jump into a further rock a little less than 2 meters away with crashing waves in the middle. We tried figuring out the pattern of the waves but couldn't so Angela advised that it was dangerous and better to just go back which we did. But unfortunately she was swept away by one of the waves at first it was funny then the situation got serious but she was lucky to have some scratches with only one wound.
We all started the week by successfully finishing our Emergency First Responder courses from the previous week so it was time to get started
with our PADI Rescue course dives. One thing for sure, the Rescue course certainly
comes in the right timing. After finishing your adventure dives in the PADI Advanced Open Water course, you get very well familiar with concepts in diving like
buoyancy control and you get the chance to really be able to fine tune it very
well during the dives.
Good buoyancy control indeed makes diving so much easier and fun but it's a skill among several others used to take care of yourself underwater. But diving is not an individual sport.
Mastering self rescue skills definitely comes in handy.
But ever wondered what if one of the group is in trouble?
How to deal with him if he is tired? Or panicking?
Or responsive? Non responsive? On the surface or underwater? How far he is from shore/boat?
These are all questions that make a huge difference between being prepared and knowing exactly what to do based on your knowledge and training or being helpless in the situation.
So we took off for our first confined rescue dive sessions. I was surprised how difficult it is even when you are very academically prepared to apply what you have learned in real life situations.
The idea is to really try to make the scenarios as real as possible and try to forget that it is actually a scenario in order to get the most out of it and see how you would think and react if being subject to the situation.
Sam was my buddy and I feel I was lucky because he had the exact same mindset, we practiced several techniques to deal with different situations until I felt comfortable and pleased by my performance.
Sam was nearly a PADI Divemaster by then and he was very happy with my performance as well, so that was a really good thing. It was a really fun day we all felt more confident with our newly acquired skills.
It was time for our open water rescue dives and over all evaluation. I had to tow Sam a relatively long distance but I was horribly slow because I find it very difficult to swim on the surface with fins, so this is something I will focus on improving the coming week.
Other than that, we practiced the same skills again, learned from new mistakes, learned how to do knots and that was it.
We went back to the shop, I did some reading in the Divemaster book and during debrief we were told we are all qualified PADI Rescue divers. It was really a very good feeling, it felt new.
I had 4 days diving this week. The first was with Ann, Alice, Melissa, Sam and Lydia we saw a very
beautiful starfish, Sam showed me some cleaner shrimps and sexy shrimps and
there was a small ray. Suddenly a current started to show up then after a curve
it became so strong we were. Ot going anywhere, so we changed direction and made
it a drift dive then Alice raised her SMB to signal Pete to come pick us up on
the boat. I also went to Abades with Dennis, Andreas and Lydia was
leading the dives. Lydia did really well choosing different paths for all the
dives to make it more interesting.
We all went out on a farewell dinner night out for Sam. It was great having him around as he was very helpful and practically perfect. One thing for sure, he is going to be missed around here!
Good buoyancy control indeed makes diving so much easier and fun but it's a skill among several others used to take care of yourself underwater. But diving is not an individual sport.
Mastering self rescue skills definitely comes in handy.
But ever wondered what if one of the group is in trouble?
How to deal with him if he is tired? Or panicking?
Or responsive? Non responsive? On the surface or underwater? How far he is from shore/boat?
These are all questions that make a huge difference between being prepared and knowing exactly what to do based on your knowledge and training or being helpless in the situation.
So we took off for our first confined rescue dive sessions. I was surprised how difficult it is even when you are very academically prepared to apply what you have learned in real life situations.
The idea is to really try to make the scenarios as real as possible and try to forget that it is actually a scenario in order to get the most out of it and see how you would think and react if being subject to the situation.
Sam was my buddy and I feel I was lucky because he had the exact same mindset, we practiced several techniques to deal with different situations until I felt comfortable and pleased by my performance.
Sam was nearly a PADI Divemaster by then and he was very happy with my performance as well, so that was a really good thing. It was a really fun day we all felt more confident with our newly acquired skills.
It was time for our open water rescue dives and over all evaluation. I had to tow Sam a relatively long distance but I was horribly slow because I find it very difficult to swim on the surface with fins, so this is something I will focus on improving the coming week.
Other than that, we practiced the same skills again, learned from new mistakes, learned how to do knots and that was it.
We went back to the shop, I did some reading in the Divemaster book and during debrief we were told we are all qualified PADI Rescue divers. It was really a very good feeling, it felt new.
We all went out on a farewell dinner night out for Sam. It was great having him around as he was very helpful and practically perfect. One thing for sure, he is going to be missed around here!
No comments:
Post a Comment