Sad Goodbye's and Happy Hello's.......

Yep, I survived next week :D some people left us but someone just started his internship.
That was a week with one new person - Graham started his internship on Monday.
We called him a Tin Man ;) we started this week without Mel and Gerardo – oh, I miss that guy - very helpful and friendly person. Actually he was the first one who could understood my language :p during the week Melana and Theiss left us also.

To sum up it was good week for me I made some new dives at different areas  all of the dives were from the boat. I don’t have a problem with roll back entry anymore. Also my seasickness disappeared !!

On Monday we were at Yellow Mountain. My buddy was Dori. The dive leader was Pete. We had a chance to do some mapping and on the second dive we killed some black long-spined sea-urchin. That was fun and I used knife for the first time. This day I tried to dive with 7 kilos and was practising my air consumption.

In the afternoon Pete took us for the third dive. I was excited because all day went were smooth. My buddy was CK she is also like me a baby diver. She was after her night dive so she was a bit tired. She wasn’t able to do roll back entry in to the water. She panicked and Alistar (boat cover) decided that we are not diving. I missed my dive but I still did two dives

We spend most of the day in the marina. Me and CK were cleaning the anchor and a boat together with Sam and Alistar. Back in the shop I pass my Rescue Diver exam. It was quite hard one for me but I scored it with 98%  :D.

Two awesome dives at Poco Naufragio and El delfine. At Poco Naufragio my buddy was Alistar. The dive leader was Alice. I saw three stingrays. Two of them were huge and one of it was near me and in front of my face. What a great feeling and possibility to see them. Stingrays are really friendly but if you are on top of them they can sting you. During that dive I saw also two moray eels black and fangtooth one.
The second dive was at El delfin. It was a deep dive. We were at 26 metres for 28 minutes. I was there for the first time. We did not descent by using the anchor rope. New experience for me as well. I saw some fireworms. Actually Alistar drove a picture for me. Now I know how the fireworms look like ;)

I had a day off. I was sleeping till 10am :D made some shopping and cleaning the apartment. On Friday I was expecting the guest (Marta – my best friend from Poland). I went for a lovely dinner to Los Abrigos. I eaten the best and the biggest fish ever  I cannot remember the name because it was in Spanish unfortunately.
In  the evening we went for a dinner to some Mexican restaurant to say good bye to Melana and Theiss. It was good night but sad one. I will miss those people. Great couple. Melana was my little hero. She started as a baby diver and at the end of her internship she was one of the best. She was a queen of kit set up :D

Day of skills.
That day we were in the swimming pool all day long. We practised underwater skills. I cleared and remove my mask once again. What is more I had also swum without mask and with open eyes for 15 metres. That was awesome. I am awesome to be honest ;) and I am really proud of myself. After few times it is not as that scary at it was at the beginning. Practise makes you better!!
My hover is a disaster. That is one of the skills that need to be practise.
In the evening Marta came. It was really nice to see my friend and speak Polish :D

Two more dives at Yellow Mountain but this time with Melissa as a leader. We had a lovely young girl with us Jenny. She was practising her Open Water course. She has done well. She had some problems with pivot because of the strong currents but rest of the skills she done good.
During the second dive I consumed only 60 bars of air in 24 minutes. That is a good result. I noticed that when I am much more relaxed underwater I consumed less air. I found my recipe! Now I need to practise how to be chill underwater :D

The last week of our Dive and Sea Tenerife internship

On Monday, Malene went to the pool with Melissa to help out with Allan, a new Open Water student. 
In the afternoon, we had a new intern arriving, Graham, and Malene showed him around the place. Meanwhile, Theiss was on boat cover for Village, Oz, Dory and Bruce, who were doing their mapping dive with Pete. 
It all went fine, and upon complaining wittingly about not being in the water, Pete made sure that Theiss actually did get a "dive", though very sudden, brief and with no equipment whatsoever.. :)

On Tuesday, we were acting as substitute DMs / DSD Leaders for another dive center, Tenerife Dive. They had called upon us to help them out with a couple of DSD students, which we happily signed up for. When we arrived, we bascially just made sure to stay out of the way for the morning divers, and then when it all had settled we could swoop in and get the DSD students started on their paperwork and the video. After that was sorted we got into the pool, and we had the easiest time ever. The two DSDs were a couple of young and tough military girls that picked up the skill very quickly. We did a couple of swims and the skill set three times, just to get them familiarized with the equipment.

Then we had a long lunch break, and in the afternook we went to the backside of Yellow Mountain with the DSDs and Alice's group of Open Water students assisted by Chris, a Tenerife Dive intern.

Obviously, we've never been there before, but it was a very easy site to navigate: you had the rocky coast, which continued out on the ocean floor, until turning into a sand bottom. There was a lot of cool stuff to see, including a beautiful common octopus, and it is the ideal training site because it is the protected by the cliffs that on the west side create the small Yellow Mountain bay. The DSDs were absolutely a pleasure to work with (due of course to excellent training in the pool), so we enjoyed out selves.

When we got back to the dive center, we cleaned kit and got a ride back to Terrazas de la Paz. We really had a nice day, and it was definately good experience for two new DMs/DSD Leaders to get out and get some real hands-on experience, and also to see how another dive center is being run.

On Wednesday we had Theiss' cousin, Niklas, in the pool to do a scuba tune-up and his girlfriend, Line, to do her Discover Scuba Diving. Malene was conducting the DSD; Theiss handled his cousin's tune-up, which was obviously a lot of fun. Theiss and Niklas went through the skill set very quickly because the latter didn't have any problems whatsoever with any of them. In the shallower end of the pool, Line and Malene, assisted by Nemo and supervise by Melissa, also had fun and Line did a great job despite her nervousity prior to the experience.

Afterwards, the six of us together with Susanne, CK, Jamie, Frankie and Allan went off to El Puertito (aka. Puer-turtle-o). Once we got into the water, Allan did some of his skills for his O.W. course and afterwards we went off to find the turtles. Some of us did see one (they are so cool!!), with the other being to focused on different matters.

On the second dive Allan had to do a few more skills before we could head off to find some more turtle-action. And this time, we hit the jackpot. A big individual crossed our paths, and it was very interested in us. We probably spend about 12-15 minutes of the dive watching the playful turtle - so amazing and the day was saved!

And that was our last day and dive with Dive and Sea Tenerife.
In a short summary, we've met and connected with a lot of interesting people and we've experienced and learned so much, both in and around the actual center as well as submerged in the Tenerifean waves. Some days have been bad, some days have been amazing, and that is just how it is. It's been hard work, a big challenge, but we definately feel it has payed off tenfold in the end!

So now there's not much left to say other than we wish all the best in the future to the dive center with the friendly customers, Will and Alice, for providing the guidance needed during our internship, the lovely and (most of the time) hard working interns, without whom the experience would never have been the same and finally, Pete and Melissa for giving us the opportunity in the first place.

As they say in Danish speaking locations: God vind fremover til jer alle!

The 7th week of our internship in a brief recap.

With all of our skills and stamina tests finalized, it was now only some minor formalities that was left in our PADI Divemaster course. 

One of those was to observe an Open Water Diver course in open water, and we were so lucky that Steve joined us to do his. 

So we went to Arrecife with Will, Cassandra and Trigger to get that sorted out. Unfortunately, conditions were not ideal with bad visibility and swell causing the most troubles. 

One really nice thing about the dives was to see Steve's reaction when he spotted his first-ever  Atlantic damselfish. It absolutely blew his mind, and his enthusiasm was very refreshing as well as a reminder to oneself of how it was to get the first couple of dives in open water under the belt.

The following day Theiss went out to have arguably the best dive of his stay here in Tenerife.
He went to Las Eras for the first time together with Melissa, Marvin, Nemo, Bruce, Village, Susanne and Frankie, and they basically saw everything you can ask for and more in near perfect conditions with a visibility that was very close to being 30 m.

First and foremost, the group saw a common octopus hiding under a rock, and from there it just got better and better, with the sight of hermit crabs, a glasseye, a school of barracudas, a common eagle ray, a decent sized round stingray, a black moray eel and a couple of beautiful streaked gurnards.

Meanwhile, Malene was at Yellow Mountain to do her Navigation exercise and her Search and Recovery: again only small details that had to be sorted out before we could get signed off.

In the afternoon, we had Ulrich, Elin and Joost in the pool for their DSD programme, 

They did really well all of them, and were very eager to go in to open water.

And that happened the next day. The five of us went to Abades together with Melissa, Will, Trigger and Susanne. The visibility and swell near the shore was bad, but once we hit the reef, it turned out to be a couple of nice dives, where we saw a barracuda and a black moray.

On Thursday all of us (even Pete!) went in the pool in the morning to do a so called DSD workshop, where the instructors acted as simulated students to get us prepared to handle the most common mistakes we can encounter when conducting a DSD programme. It was a lot of fun and everybody had a laugh, which is always a good thing to enhance the team spirit. On a more serious note, we all learned something and we're definately better equipped now to conduct a successful programme.

On Friday we went to the marina, and the objective was to get some of the stamina tests out of the way for the new interns. Malene was observing Pearl's and Oz' Rescue Course (the confined part) together with Nemo.
Theiss was cleaning kit and because we didn't have any time schedule, as we normal have when washing kit, we could do it more thoroughly than usual. Also, the boat and the cars got washed.

Saturday was a sad day, because it was the very last day for Cassandra and Trigger.
We went to Poco Naufragio to do Richard's and Steve's deep speciality. On the first dive we, together with Cassandra, observed Richard doing his exercises on 27 metres of water conducted by Will, which went without a hitch. On the way down we were met by a couple of curious common stingrays. The little wreck was teeming with life, and once we got back onto the shelf we saw a black moray eel, so it was an excellent dive all in all. But, then, on the second dive it really picked up.

I led Nemo and his dad, Gary, on a jolly, a once we got down we saw three massive rays (two round stingrays; one roughtailed) circling the site casually. One of them even had a live sharksucker attached to itself, and since they a pretty rare, our theory is that it must have been the same individual we've seen a couple times there now.
That was simply breathtaking, and the magnificent animals kept appearing on the dive as we went on.

Come Saturday night we all went out in Las Américas, which was obviously a lot of fun and a great way to greet Cassandra and Trigger a proper farewell.

On Monday, Malene went to the pool with Melissa to help out with Allan, a new Open Water student.
In the afternoon, we had a new intern arriving, Graham, and Malene showed him around the place. 

YOUR almost at the top of that ladder... Dont slip.

The 7th week of my internship has finally come to a close, and I am ecstatic.

A couple of signatures and evaluations to be signed off, and I can officially call myself a PADI Divemaster. 

It was not easy at all to reach this point. It was an uphill trek, with so many obstacles in the way, but I
persevered. Not without my fair share of blood sweat, and metaphorical tears... MEN dont cry.. Can I call myself a man yet? Man-child it is I guess.

Looking back at the debriefs, ear chewings, I can say they were completely necessary. We go through life making mistakes and people tend to just brush it off , and maybe let you know in the nicest way possible, but I am beginning to understand the methodology of it all.

When you make a mistake, and someone like Pete, or Melissa make it abundantly clear that you should be beyond making errors of that caliber, it stings like a hot iron. This iron leaves that mental scar, and you are about 98 percent less likely to make that mistake again, unless you are "thick" as it is known amongst some circles :)

The blunt harshness of it all, in the end , produces long lasting competent workers, who will hopefully carry this work ethic into their future careers.

I really am grateful to Pete, Melissa, Alice, and Will for their bluntness. At first I was a little taken aback by
it, but then I began to adapt , and realize this is life, its not a game, time to grow up and just pay attention.

Of course there is time for fun and games,  theres a time and place for everything, and at the end of the day work is work, and must be treated with the utmost attention to detail, meticulous, and thorough, no stone unturned.

One dive stuck with me on week 7 and it was the dive I led at Poco Naufragio. This has nothing to do with the fact that I led the dive, yes that was cool, but I saw a Remora (live shark sucker). It is honestly a
truly beautiful fish. The coolest part about seeing a solitary remora is that it was just swimming around trying to find a host to attach itself too.

It kept swimming around us the divers probably in hopes of just attaching itself to one of us. Apparently it was quite fond of one intern in particular's ( will aka Nemo).
The truly magnificent part of the sighting was when we were about 2 minutes from resurfacing, impeccable timing a massive round sting ray shows up, and like it was planned the remora attached itself to the ray, and they swam off together. To witness the actual symbiotic relationship forming is truly and experience I never thought I would behold. The relationship in the commensalism category ( the host gains nothing or very little) is something that benefits the remora, and does nothing much for the ray.

Its just something I am curious to know the origins of. The Remora, gains a free ride, and shelter, but at what point did this fish develop this innate trait? The sucker the fish develops is specifically to attach itself, so tracking the lineage and origins of this disc is something I am going to have to check out.

Well I am almost a DM! time to get the sweet T-shirt hopefully , all is swell in my universe.

I am a PADI DIVEMASTER

I can’t believe this has been my last week of my internship, and now I’m a PADI Divemaster! 
I started this week observing my Steve’s Open Water course at Gijarro Arecife with Gerado, Thiess and Malene.
On Tuesday we went to Las Eras, I’d never been there before and the first dive was amazing. I think it was one of the best dives I’ve done out here, the visibility was really good and we saw loads of things, including a massive shoal of barracuda and a streaked gunard.

We went diving at El Puertito. Susanne drove the jumpy there and we got a little bit lost on the way, which I thought was pretty funny. When we finally got there, we got in the water in search of the turtles. On the first dive we saw a turtle pretty much as soon as we descended and we sat and watched it for a while. On the second dive, we didn’t see turtles at first, but we saw an octopus and two cuttlefish, then we saw a turtle. We had a DSD workshop on Friday morning, when the instructors pretended to be awkward DSD participants which was really funny.
We went to the Marina afterwards, some interns did their stamina tests and CK and Oz started their Rescue Course and I was a stooge. I got to pretend to be a missing diver twice, and I didn’t get found for quite a while, it’s pretty lonely sitting at the bottom of the marina with only an ornate wrasse for company!

On Saturday, I did my final two dives which were both really good, especially the second dive.

The conditions on the surface were pretty bad, but it was completely worth it.  We saw three huge rays, one of them had a live sharksucker attached to it. I think it might have been the same sharksucker that we saw a couple of weeks ago, because it was in the same place and apparently they’re rare. We also saw two smaller rays, a moray eel, barracuda and shoals of cow bream and roncador.

I don’t think I could have had a better final dive!
In the afternoon, I timed a 400m swim for CK , and she’s improved her time which is good. Then, on Saturday night we went out to Las Americas because me, Gerado and Will are leaving.
I’ve enjoyed my internship here at Dive and Sea, but I’m really looking forward to going home and seeing my family, friends and my cat.

Thanks for having me Dive and Sea!

How to spot fish and how not to tie knots!

I helped out with a bubblemaker experience for Emma on Tuesday. Will was leading it and we played lots of different games underwater with Emma who was really good.

In the afternoon we went to the hotel pool where my Spanish was put to the test when offering try dives in Spanish who knows what I was actually saying! After work I borrowed Gerardo’s bike and went for a cycle which was really nice and something I had been wanting to do and later on Melissa and I took the dogs to the sea.
I started Monday with two dives at Yellow Mountain with Malene as my buddy. We saw loads of fish and I think I’m getting better at identifying them as well. We went back to Yellow Mountain on Tuesday but we weren’t fish spotting this time, we were making a map of Alien Rock. At first, I had to count my kick cycles between different points but I got confused and lost count so my data wasn’t that useful!
On the second mapping dive we did, I was recording the depths which was easier. We also ran into another group of divers who seemed to be completely lost.
In the afternoon we practiced tying knots whilst blindfolded. I’m so bad at knots, one day I can tie it and the next I can’t. I had to go home and practice tying them.

I was buddyed with Malene , who was finishing her Advanced Open Water training. We started off practicing making different patterns using our compasses and counting fin cycles, then on the second dive we found Ducky by making a good expanding square search pattern. We got to play with a lift bag again and also had to tie the knots underwater. It was more difficult because the ropes kept floating about, which they didn’t do on land! We went to the pool in the afternoon and I think my skills are improving but they still need work.
We got a bit of a lie in on Thursday morning, we had to be in at 9 to see the doctor for our medical exam. I get nervous with medical procedures anyway, and then was scared he was going to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to dive so my pulse was really high. It was a good opportunity to practice my Spanish though. I also passed the test which I was obviously really happy about. After the medical we watched the video for the Divemaster course and did a timed swim which is one of the Divemaster stamina tests.
After lunch, we had another pool session and practiced presenting kit set up for people would be doing the Discover Scuba Diving course. It’s quite challenging describing the kit without using shortened versions of the names.

I got a day off on Friday so I did some sunbathing and swimming in the morning and went to the Aberdeen and had a drink with Hannah and then downloaded the PDF manual for the Project AWARE certification .
On Saturday we went for two shore dives at Abades and we took James, a customer who was doing his Discover scuba diving experience. He was really enthusiastic and interested by everything and I think it’s really nice to see people having a really good time on their first dive.
Melissa set up a fish ID competition for Hannah, Malene and me, where we had to write down as many different things we saw. We saw more than 25 different species of marine life, including really big shoals of small ornate wrasse and some tiny baby fish, which were too small to identify and on the way back from the second dive we swam into a massive shoal of them, which was cool.
When we were back at the centre, we got a lesson from Pete in promoting the free try dives that the centre offers at a local hotel pool, so I’m looking forward to trying some of the techniques we learnt next time I go to the hotel.

On Sunday morning we did three dives. The first one was at El Delfin, which was really good. I saw my first ray, and it was massive, and I also saw a fangtooth moray eel for the first time as well, then I stabbed a black urchin for the first time with my new knife so I was happy.
For the second two dives we went to somewhere called the Pipeline, and I saw another two rays, including a really big one that was hiding under the pipeline. We did more skills in the pool in the afternoon and then went for drinks after work to celebrate Hannah becoming a divemaster, so congratulations Hannah! 

Cassandra

Turtle!

Definitely the highlight of the week, I saw a Green Turtle at El Peutito, a shore dive around 25 minutes away. Having spent most of my brief time at Dive and Sea hearing myths of diving somewhere that has its own family of turtles, I was able to see what all the fuss was about!

Arriving during a quintessential Spanish festival (think Ave Maria loudly on repeat, boats covered in neon bunting and traffic police rubbing their hands in glee) we found parking was a nightmare but with some logistical magic by our Dive Leader, Melissa (Queen of El Peutito!), we managed to go for a couple of dives. We were joined by an PADI Open Water Course student, with instructor Will, having his first open water dive, obviously a big moment (!), three other customers and experienced intern Gerardo. They were nice dives, with other highlights being an Anemone populated by a family of Shrimp and (I think) a glimpse of an Octopus hiding in some rocks. Of course the Turtle, swimming around us and being extremely curious about these strange bubbly things, was phenomenal.

Other big news this week is the substantial progress towards my PADI Rescue Diver qualification. It is almost finished and is a really positive moment for me, being something that I have wanted to do for several years. Our rescue scenarios, in particular, were challenging and illustrate how being a diver is not just when you are underwater but a state of mind. You have to stay physically fit and able, keep up with the latest in dive safety and practise when possible. Although the navigation element, e.g. searching for a diver underwater (where I always seem to be saving another of our interns, Theiss!), is great fun, it is a reminder that whilst these are important skills they do have important real world applications.

Other diving this week that stood out was where buddying with a customer, Johannes, I had two consecutive dives at Poco Nuafragio and the Pipeline, where I saw (this being no understatement in the slightest) the two largest Stingrays I have ever seen.  Flying around the bottom in a surprisingly graceful manner these giants were around two metres across, looking like prehistoric throwbacks belongings with other aquatic rarities like Coelacanths.

I also had the pleasure of being led by another of the interns, the aforementioned Theiss, around one of our best dive sites, Yellow Mountain. Despite his relative inexperience, Theiss was a real role model in how he led the dive. He and Malena were fantastic in rooting out the critters in both of the dives we undertook. Finding a big Octopus in a hole with an eye peering out, a wall of purple and yellow Nudibranch, and coming over some rough ground to a hermit crab at eye level were all highlights. With all this life to play with, Theiss’ leadership and Malena’s observation skills, these were really nice dives.

Leaving a really interesting event till last, I had my first night dive in Tenerife at Los Abades. This really brings out a different side of the site and importantly was part of Bill’s, a customer, PADI Night Diver Speciality. I also had the pleasure of being on the first night dive for two of our interns, Will and Malena, and met two interns from another dive centre. Seeing Eels wandering around the sand flats, a cuttlefish displaying its phosphorescent markings and playing with phosphorescent plankton, was a really good experience.

Bruce (Alastair)

Nightdive, Turtles, Turtles and….Turtles

After a heavy weekend in which we said goodbye to Trigger and Cassandra, our next diving adventure started with a night-dive at Abades at 5 in the morning. We were with 6 people, Big and little Will, Steve (Advanced student and big Wills friend), little Wills dad aka Gary, CK and I. Half of us never done a night dive, which made everything even more exciting. I buddied up with Steve, who reinsured me he was absolutely NOT scared AT ALL (ofcourse). However, once we descended it became pretty clear to me that Steve really just wanted to be with his friend big Will…. So there I was, bobbing around behind Will who had CK hanging onto his left arm and Steve on his right leg! Let’s say the buddy contact was over- appropriate at that time. I have to say that we didn’t see as much on that night dive as we had on previous ones, but still it’s the thrill of diving in the dark that really motivates me!

After the night dive it was time to watch the sun rise until we headed back into the water to assist Steve on his Navigation and Fish ID dive. I’m pretty sure Steve was just testing us when he asked us to write down and identify all the fish, instead of completing the exercise himself! Highlight was the little common eagle ray we saw when heading back to our point of descend. A good spot by Gary and little Will (and thankfully our Fish ID student recognised the ray as actually being a ray)

So on that day, even before it was midday, we done 3 dives. In the afternoon Pete had the unusual surprise of yet another dive at Yellow Mountain. How exciting we all were (NOT) but then again, we are here for the diving and the experience so we just went along, gave it out best and I it was the best dive at Yellow Mountain so far! The vis. Was absolutely awesome, like swimming in an aquarium (well, not Pete’s aquarium, that’s a whole different inside-story). Frankie and Jamie went along for Jamies first dive in the ocean, he did great, the divesite was awesome so a good end of a very very long but ‘enlightening’ day (those are the words of an actual English speaker aka Bruce ;-))

The rest of the week existed out of visiting the turtles a couple of times. To be honest, I’m at that point in my internship were it is hard to get excited about turtles. I reckon it’s a great experience for customers and you have to have done that dive at El Puertito. Don’t get me wrong, please come and see the turtles, but at the moment I’m actually thinking that I’ve been there so often that the turtles are starting to recognise the lady with the yellow mask, orange snorkel and Cressi- lady wetsuit.  You can easily say that the turtles and I have a complicated relationship….(Unlike me and the octopus! There was an explosion of octopus at El Puertito on Tuesday, a lot of them being out on the rocks, instead of hiding).

Next wednesday Pete will try to get into a wetsuit again and head down to the pool with some of us to score us on our skills. The last days we have been in the pool a couple of times to practice by ourselves and with Alice. I’m doing ok on most of the skills, except for the hover, but still a few more days and pool sessions to go before we have a face off with the big boss under water!

To finish this blog a little conversation that takes place so many times with new divers, but it is a funny part of our job right here, and demonstrates an important DM skill  patients (and knowledge of the aquatic life)!!:

Student: Did you see ALL THOSE EELS under water? I’ve never ever seen so many eels in
  my life!! They were all over the place, I think they were just sleeping or
  something, it was amazing….
DM intern:   No, actually I didn’t see a single eel today….
Student: Well they were all over the place, brown, with white dots…. Just great!….I’m all
  excited now!!
DM intern: Sorry to tell you, but I think you saw a cotton spinner, they are eel-shaped but they
                are actually no eels
Student: Ow… ok, how about the one I pointed out when we descended???
DM intern:   No that was a cotton spinner…..
Student: Ow… ok, how about the one that was in between those rocks???
DM intern:   Pretty sure that was a cotton spinner…..
Student: Ow…ok, and the one I saw in the end…..
DM intern:   Nope, just a cotton spinner…..
Student: And…..
DM intern:   COTTON SPINNER!!

Now Im called Nemo?.....................

Hello, my name is Will Howorth and this week was my first week of my internship here at Dive and Sea Tenerife, although currently I’m known as Nemo (not to my best of likes but will soon get use to it). After meeting the other new interns and old I was excited to start my intern and get into the water!

My first day consisted of learning the robes with a gripping powerpoint given by instructor Will which have general information about the dive centre and the course. Then went down to the dungeon where the kit is kept to learn bundling and the correct kit for each person. After which we help with the cleaning and drying of the kit.

Tuesday morning was a 7 o’clock start which was hard at first but have got use to it other the week. That day I helped with the packing of the kit for that days diving then down to yellow mountain for the first two dives of my intern!. I was budded with Will and apart from a painful squeeze in my ears the two dives went well with some interesting aquatic life to spot.

On Wednesday I helped with tanks and then back to yellow mountain for another two dives. I observed two customers Michelle and Georgia during their peak buoyancy part of their advanced diver course. My ears where much better this day so the dives went amazing and I really enjoyed my dives. The rest of the day I spent doing some rescue diver course and helping out with daily jobs around the shop like drying and backing away the gear and helping maintain the shop, then we went down to the pool with Melissa and practice some of are dive skills. Its lot different then when leaning them as open water skills as you have to learn the correct way to teach them. Mine were alittle ruff around the sides but im sure after some practice I will learn the correct way to do them.

Thursday was a non dive day for me. In the morning we set up the gear and helped with the loading of the tanks then went down to the pool with will again to practice some skills, I went down with Bruce, Cassandra and Boyce. Cassandra and Boyce have been interns for awhile so it was good to see them do their skills knowing that at one point they were in my shoes to. After we waiting for the boat divers to come back and again help out with all the kit.

Friday was my first day of! Which was really nice as I could wake up later than 7 o’clock and I has a chance to get through the rest of my rescue diver course and spend some time with my mum and sister in los christanous who had come other to visit for awhile, why they choose the first week I was there I have no idea but everyone to their selves.

Saturday was the first day we had spent with out the interns who were here previous to us which was harder than I thought It was as they wernt their for us to ask the questions and for them to help us out with jobs. That day went well. The two dives were amazing the first of all called Paco Naufraco which was a deep dive. My sister was a customer that day aswell so it was nice diving with her. That dive was amazing we some almost everything you could ask for with a huge common eagle ray which welcomed us on as desent. After the dives we cleaned all the kit and dried it which again was more changeling without the help from the other interns but we made it through the day with success!

Sunday we went to El’Puertito a beautiful bay were the turtles live which was an exciting prosect to look forward to. The first dive I assisted on a discover scuba diver course which went okay, the customers wernt weighted enough which ment they found it hard to hold buoyancy and stay on the bottom but the second dive they hadn’t booked so I was budded with an open water diver who was really good and we sore two turtles! Their so peaceful and majestic which just adds to the thrill of diving with them.

All in all I had a amazing first week and looking forward to the two months ahead of me as well as all the amazing dive sites that im going to visit and the amount of experience that I will gain from the staff at Dive and Sea Tenerife.

Mapping, Skills and lots of fishes..........

Our second week in the Dive and Sea Tenerife Divemaster Internship

On Monday it was Theiss' turn to have a full day off and Malene went in the pool together with Will to conduct a DSD-course. Afterwards the three of them went to the Yellow Mountain together with the DSD's dad, Alice, Casandra, Eric and Pete for some good diving. They dove the Crocodile Rock, which was a great experience for Malene, for whom it was the first time there. After the dives they had a RDP-session (basically how to plan dives within no decompression limits) and practiced knots needed to do the following Search and Recovery scenario.

The next day was a sunny and a hot day, but then again, we don't have many bad days here! We went on the boat to Yellow Mountain with Cassandra, Trigger, Alice and David. Alice and Dave were in for a couple of fun dives; the rest of us had an exciting objective: To map Alien Rock.

Eric was on boat cover and he got Alice and David in the water without any problems. Pete then gave us a basic introduction to underwater mapping techniques. The procedure is to assign one diver to taking spot depths, another to do compass bearings, and have the last two to count kick cycles (distance). That went really well and we went in on another dive along the exact same route to swap roles and to double check the results from the first dive. As we went along we drew a simplified map which had to include recognizable features. These were our starting point, which is a small "valley", where the anchor is situated, and going out from there you have sand on your right hand and rocky features on your left. After a couple of minutes you'll eventually hit Alien Rock which is a massive boulder rising up in front of you. It's a spectacular view and on this day we had about 25 m of visibility, which we didn't mind at all. Diving along the northern edge of the rock, you'll then do a right hand turn approx. 90 degrees. At this point you're basically faced with a kind of naturally formed gateway and the sight is simply breathtaking (which then again might not be the most fitting expression for a scuba experience): Alien Rock seems to almost grow into another massive rock, though the most of the overhang that once combined the to features now lie on the sea floor and has transformed into the home and habitat of many different fish species (like damsels, wrasses and trumpet fishes), morays, beautiful anemones, small reef lobsters and octopi.

On Wednesday the 4 of us went to Yellow Mountain again, this time to do the Search and Recovery scenario. Our main objective was to find a hidden object using a certain search pattern, and then lifting it to the boat using a liftbag, which was a challenging and fun experience! In the afternoon we went in the pool to polish our Scuba Review Skills.

On Thursday we all had to go though a medical, which is required to act as a PADI Divemaster. We "slept in" because we weren't due to meet before 9 o'clock. And we think that was welcomed by all of us. Afterwards we hit the pool to practice and asses our 400 meter swim. The rest of the day we chillaxed in the shop with some small tasks and did the daily jobs.

On Friday we had a day off. We basically stayed in and tried to sort out some Divemaster stuff etc.

The following day, Malene went to Abades for the first time with Hannah, Cassandra, Will, Melissa and James (a DSD). They had some wonderful dives, and a little competition was established between the girls: Who could spot the most species during the two dives. Abades is abundant with both small and bigger aquatic life forms, so it was a perfect site to do this and good practice as well to recognize the most common species.

Theiss went with the other guys (Trigger, Pete (boat), Eric, Alice and Davied) to El Delfin. We don't go there very often because in order to dive the site safely, the conditions has to be near perfect. And they were on this day. It's a massive rock sitting very lonesome in the deep blue, but at the same it's pulsating with life. We went down to approx. 20 m, and then swam towards the rock. When we hit the site, we saw a small eagle ray seaching for food in the sea grass. It didn't take notice of us at all, so we just watched it for a little moment while he was doing his ray-things, you know whatever a ray gotta do. Buoyed emotionally we went a long and probed the many cracks and holes. Doing this we saw a couple of very shy red reef lobsters and a Glasseye infected by large Isopods. Curious Trigger fishes were following us and one of them even tried to manhandle Alice's torch. Bad Trigger fish!

After an awesome dive at El Delfin, we went to Star Fish Bay, a small boat ride away. That was simply a depressing sight. The long spined black sea urchins have more or less conquered all the cracks and potential hiding places on this site leaving it a very desolate place. Eric and Theiss got a little bit carried away stabbing and killing as many individuals of this invasive species as possible, so Alice had to rattle fiercely to get us to follow the group. But Star Fish Bay is definitely a good candidate for a future Project AWARE dive.

Back at the shop we had a session of sale techniques with Pete, and that definitely created some hilarious situations.

On Sunday the whole team went for three jolly boat dives, which we all enjoyed. First site was El Delfin, following more or less the same route as the other day. We saw morays and a decent sized round stingray chillaxing on the sea bed. Next stop was the Pipeline. It's only the bases from the pipeline that are left, but it's lot of fun to probe the small spaces beneath them. We saw some pretty big roughtailed stingrays hiding in the sand underneath some of these bases. Moreover we saw a baby black moray, flat crabs and big schools of breams. We had two excellent dives here before returning home. Hannah and Eric are now officially Divemasters, so congrats to them!

In the afternoon (guess what?) the four of us (Trigger, Cassandra and us), the aspiring and hopeful Divemaster interns, went to the pool to do the demonstration skills.

It's been a good week with a great atmosphere around the place. Meanwhile, we are starting to get the hang of the different routines of the place, so hopefully in a week or so we can act as decent mentors to the new interns arriving.

Chat next Time

Theiss & Malene

Manta Ray spotted in Tenerife :)

Monday we got out of the shop and went to Yellow Mountain on a Discover Scuba Dive and on the first dive we descended down and there was a Manta ray swimming above us, it was the biggest ray I’ve ever seen and it was one of a very few times while diving when I was completely amazed at what I was seeing.

It was a rare thing to see and really made me feel privileged, especially considering I’ve seen Dolphins as well since I’ve been here. The second dive was my 51st dive which means that my original diving log book was completely filled so I had to get another one.
My first entry into my new log book was on Independence Day, or July 4th, which is a big deal in the USA. Instead I got to work and basically completely forgot all about it until I got back after diving.

Luckily though the dives were awesome because it was the first time I’ve seen the Turtles at El Puertito. It was a PADI Discover Scuba Diving dive as well with Ann and some people she knew. Later that day I got to observe the Rescue diver course for Mel, Gerardo, Theiss, and Ann. It was really fun, me and Hannah just watched and and had a good laugh.
Later after all that we got kit ready for the night dive the next day.

So on the 5th the night dive led off the day and it was an awesome dive, I really enjoy the night dives and this one was much better than the first one I went on. Gerardo was my partner and we saw a small octopus and an eel completely out of its hole, it was just hugging the wall near the bottom of the ocean. There were also a ton of shrimp clinging onto the walls near the marina so when you put your flashlight on them you could see tons of little eyes staring back.

The next few days are kind of a blur, but we worked on kitting up and getting in the water one day and Hannah and I did our final 800m swim, 100m tow, and 15 minute tread.
Nothing was too difficult and we did relatively well.
For Hannah and I that means that all we need to do is get to 60 dives at this point and we are both really close to be PADI Divemasters, so it should happen quite soon.

This week has been really fun with the new fish I saw and the turtles, plus we are almost to 60 dives!

Eric

Finally im a PADI Rescue Diver.....and playing with dummies!

This week started off with Will showing up and our PADI Rescue diver course starting.

Basically we went through all the things we learned in our Emergency response manuals and had a good laugh at all the ridiculous stuff we had to practice on the dummy.
The EFR course took us through all the "skills" needed to help someone in trouble.

Tuesday we spent a ton of time in the marina going through the rescue diver confined session.
We spent at least 2 hours in the water going through all the tows and rescue scenarios and all the skills and before that we had done another 800m snorkel which both Hannah and I did poorly on.
After that it was regular day in day out kind of stuff, we had basically mastered all of that at that point so it was all good.

On to our mapping dives which we need to complete to pass our Divemaster course, which we done at Yellow Mountain. Our maps were just simply awesome!!
We also finished our Rescue diver course with two open water rescue dives. It was awesome even though Hannah could not get Alice out of the water to save her life…and by that I mean she eventually managed after quite a bit of work.

Las Eras was our next dives, I was buddies with Kali and Hannah was with Kali’s husband Yaro. Las Eras is one of my favorite dive sites but it was the first of a couple of days of really terrible visibility and surge underwater that we experienced.
But on the whole even though we had some issues, it was a good learning experience for me and Hannah.

Then the next day we went to Abades and due to the weather (just wind and surf) we decided to skip going on the right side of the bay and decided to only go on the left side.
Luckily I still was able to go and even though visibility was poor I enjoyed the dive.

The next day we went on dives at Yellow Mountain and originally Hannah and I thought we were leading dives to Alien Rock and Swim Through but with the poor visibility Alice took over and lead the dives.
Then on the second dive as I was swimming along near Yaro he pointed out a pair of underwear floating along the bottom nearby, that was quite funny!!

The next couple of days we had a few pool sessions and DSD’s in from the hotel pool so that was good.

Eric ~ Bananaman