Theiss was buddied up with Sebastian, a Russian once-was Divemaster, and he was very comfortable during the dive and just simply happy to be back in the ocean. On the day, the dive site provided us with a lot of cool stuff to show our Russian guest, including a black moray eel, a massive red scorpion fish very well disguised, a couple of octopi, fire worms and a beautiful black cylinder anemone.
The original plan was to then head to Yellow Mountain, a classic in the Dive and Sea Tenerife dive site inventory, but this got changed by Pete and Will: They would try our luck on The Pipeline to see if we could "spice up" the previous dive with some rays. Last time we went to The Pipeline was simply amazing, with a stingray hiding under practically every 6th concrete blocks or so. Unfortunately, this was not the case this day, and even though we did see a sleeping ray extremely well hidden in the sand, the five of us, who had experienced the previous dive here, were a little disappointed. Sebastian, on the other hand, seemed like he had enjoyed it which obviously is the main thing after all.
After the all things considered great morning dives, the four of us "old" interns went to the marina to do our 800 m snorkel stamina test together with Melissa. We had a good time and we all improved on our times.
This day was also the induction day for three of the new faces of the Dive and Sea Tenerife Team: Nemo, Bruce and Dory, so we also got to welcome them.
The following day Malene went with the girls to Abades to shoot some footage for Hannah's movie. They got to do some diving and video record some dance moves underwater so they had a blast.
Theiss went on a man-trip with Pete on boat cover, Trigger, Will, Bruce, Nemo and Sebastian to Yellow Mountain, where they both swam the Alien Rock-route and the Swim-through ditto. As always, Yellow Mountain was brilliant and among the classics of the Tenerifean aquatic life, like roncadores, trumpet fish, damsels, wrasses, lizard fish and scorpion fish, they saw a common octopus, a massive starry weever and a big beast of a blue starfish.
In the afternoon we went to the Albatross Hotel pool to promote diving by offering free try dives. Last time we went, there was a lot of positive interest, and we actually had to disappoint some of the guests, because we simply didn't have the time to have a go with everyone. Therefore, on this day both Theiss and Will was in the water, which was a very good call, because again it was very busy. Malene, Cassandra and Dory was on the surface "selling" the try dive and doing paperwork. It all went well, and the interest this time seemed far more serious than the previous session, so hopefully we will very soon meet some of the participants again.
On Wednesday we had a very busy day, with a Bubblemaker and a Scuba Tune-up in the early morning and then 11 divers on the boat afterwards. The full roster was Craig, Georgia and her mother Michelle, who were doing their Peak Performance and Boat dive with Melissa for their Adventure Diver course, Cassandra, Trigger, Dory, Nemo, Bruce and obviously ourselves. Theiss got to lead both dives, which he really enjoyed, even though he made some few rookie mistakes (like going a wee bit too fast). At the end of the day, that (leading dives) is what we're here to learn, so hopefully there will be more of that in the near future. On the first dive, Theiss led Malene, Trigger, Cassandra and Craig around the Alien Rock, where we were lucky enough to see two octopi, a hermit crab, a couple of red reef lobsters and even a hairy crab, that was very well disguised! The latter was holding on to a rock, and we're still in the process of finding the reason behind this peculiar behavior.
On the second dive, all 11 divers were diving in one, big group. We dove the Swim-through route and we saw a decent sized octopus hiding in the swim-through overhang, which was really cool. Moreover, we saw a red backed cleaner shrimp right next to a fangtooth moray eel, so everyone enjoyed themselves and had a good time despite the size of the group.
This was also the Induction Day for two new interns, Sam and Catharine (aka. Pearl), so we also got to say "Bienvenido" to those guys after work with a cold beer at Big Al's.
Thursday was a quiet day for Theiss, who had a skill session in the pool in the morning together with Will, Cassandra, Nemo and Bruce. In the afternoon Theiss went with Bruce to the pool to observe Ruolof doing his DSD and Dorien doing her Discover Snorkeling conducted by Alice. Malene went to Abades with Melissa, Trigger, Pearl, Sam and Marvin, a guest from Germany, and despite the strenous swell conditions they had two wonderful dives, where they even saw a couple stingrays!
The next day was again a busy day with a good mix of both DSDs and certified divers. After a successful pool session, where Malene was observing a Scuba Tune-up and Theiss was with the DSDs, we went out on the dives. On the first one, Malene went with a DSD called Alexander, and he was very comfortable in the water. We went by boat to a site called Gijarro Arrecife, which is basically just outside the small marina beach, and they had a good dive. Theiss was with the other DSD, who unfortunately had some ear problems. We tried to descend but every time we got deeper than 3 meter or so, his ears were causing him problems, so we decided just to cruise around the boat in ca. 2 m. of water to give him some experience of the diving.
On the next dive, we went to the Pipeline, and customers really seemed to have a good time. Theiss went with Alice, Cassandra and the two certified divers, Nigel and Katharine, towards the deeper end of the Pipeline while Malene went with Will and Alexander towards the shallower end. We didn't see any rays unfortunately, but we saw an alicia mirabilis and a hairy crab, of course among the "usual suspects" of the local marine life.
In the evening we had a couple of drinks with Trigger, Cassandra and Nemo, which was really delightful.
Saturday was our day off, and we walked all the way to Yellow Mountain and back together with Cassandra and Trigger, with Theiss and Trigger doing a couple of "snorkeling stops" on the way.
Sunday was yet another good day. We both went to El Puertito (aka. "El Puer-turtle-o") together with Melissa, Will, Nemo, Nigel, Katharine, Ruolof, Dorien and three DSDs: Nicholas with his two children, Lauren and Alex. Malene went out to snorkel with Dorien, which went very well. Theiss, Cassandra and Nemo did the DSDs's skills with Will, and it went okay taking into account the pretty heavy swell.
On the second dive, Will, Rulof, Nigel, Katharine, Nemo, Cassandra and Theiss went for a "fun dive" and we saw a couple of turtles, which was really awesome! Moreover, we saw a sea slug, a cuttlefish and a lot of hermit crabs.
In the afternoon, Trigger and Theiss repaired Eric's rack, and we're sure that he would be proud of our efforts.
That was the fourth week of our internship, which obviously means that we're half way through now. We've come to a point where we're really having a good time doing the dives and mentoring for the new ones while still picking up new things to learn and remember every day. Onwards and upwards, or as we say in the Dive and Sea Tenerife: Élla éllaaaa!
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