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)

Green turtles made my week!!

Two good dives at Yellow Mountain with lovely boy Lewis. Lewis is certified Open Water Diver who felt comfortable and chilled underwater. The weather wasn’t as good as it should be in Tenerife we were actually freezing underwater but still it is worth to do such a good dives. My buddy was CK. We were together with Tin Man, Susanne and Alice.

The best day of that week  Despite the beginning where CK mixed Tin Man kit and packed wrong wetsuit for him.  Although that Graham decided to dive with CK’s t-shirt and his swimming shorts. He looked ridiculous but he didn’t want to miss his dives. He was freezing underwater but I admire him for swimming without his wetsuit.

Dived at El Puertito with green turtles for the first time. I was so excited and really enjoyed those 2 dives. You cannot hear turtles while they are swimming but when you finally see them it is a nice surprise  Turtles are beautiful, very calm and chill underwater. They aren’t afraid of people at all. What is more they swim to you for a short distance and allow you to touch them. I really enjoyed El Puertito as a place to dive you may see various fishes and invertebrates. I had a chance to see for the first time sea hare. I saw also few crab the flat one and arrow crab, common octopus, atlantic feather star as well.

Waterskills day!
Even I am the slowest one I really enjoyed those days. Firstly in the morning I did my 400metres and I improve my time. The new one is 11:29  The rest of the skills we did in marina. I towed a diver for 100metres at the surface for the first time and I had really nice time 2:42. I have 4 points for that. I was really proud.  800metres snorkelling is not my strong point.

After waterskills day each days are the laziest one ;). Today I was just reading my Divemaster manual all day long and did my emergency action plan. Good day also !

In the morning Alice informed me that I will be assisting her with DSD on the boat. I already knew that Jenny doesn’t fill comfortable underwater (her swimming pool session wasn’t the best one) so I was aware that I will be holding her tank for the whole dive. 15l cylinder, 8 kilos on me, how cool is that?! …anyway Jenny wasn’t able to dive so I just went with Matchew and Alice for fun dive. It was nice. I saw a lot of various octopus and fishes. I had a good time that day 

In the afternoon I was helping Tin Man with his Emergency First Respond course. My role was to be a victim - I was pretending drunk person with broken leg :D Tin Man was actually very surprised he did not expect me to be so good actor ;)

Two swimming pool sessions with Susanne, Melissa and Marloes ( Susanee’s friend) – she just started her OWD. We had a good time. Marloes is really good with her skills. She field comfortable in the pool. The funniest thing was the Marloes’s position – she was like a dog underwater. Just keeping her hands in front of her for the whole time. We called it Lady Gaga stile or puppy one :D
In the afternoon we did once again stamina test. Once again I improved but these time with my favourite one ;) 800meters snorkelling.
I will be awesome at the end of the internship with my skills :D

Just what is "Only Fools and Horses"?

On Friday the 28th of June around 6 pm we, the Danish couple Malene and Theiss, two innocent and excited new Dive and Sea Tenerife-interns arrived at Terrazas de la Paz, only to find our new colleagues and employers sitting in the nearest bar, called Big Al's, having a cold beer after what seemingly had been a good day at the office - what a welcome!

Moreover, we were given our mandatory nicknames: Marleen and Boyce, which apparently have their origin in some obscure British television programme.

The next day we had our induction day, conducted by Will. We went through the "Induction Day Presentation Slides"; he then showed us around the place and we were presented with some of the many daily duties. We were immediately taught that all the gear, systems, plans and routines might well enough be idiot proof, but certainly not necessarily intern proof (or, for that matter, as we saw on the EFR practical part, instructor proof, but that's a different story all together...)

The first week on the Dive and Sea Tenerife Internship has been an exciting learning curve for the both of us, with new stuff to learn and remember being "thrown (though, gently and compassionately) in our faces" all the time.

Our very first dives on Tenerife were carried out on Sunday  in sites called Moon Pools and Los Abrigos Steps respectively together with all the other interns and on the instructor front Alice, Pete and Will. Unfortunately, the visibility (or simply, "vis") was not impressive, and the conditions were pretty rough. But on the plus side: it was good getting in the water again and we got to familiarize ourselves with some of the creatures commonly sighted here in Tenerife. These include: the colorful ornate wrasse, the very territorial damsel, the sneaky lizardfish, the excellently camouflaged wide-eyed flounder, the peculiar trumpet and puffer fish together with the elusive parrot fish.

In the afternoon we were introduced by Will to the art of demonstrating the Scuba Review skills, which we enjoyed - there's a lot to work on, but we'll definately get the hang of it sooner rather than later!

Monday Marleen went out to do an awesome dive at the Yellow Mountain site together with Ann and Pete, which was a lot of fun. Among other cool stuff they saw an octopus hiding in a tight crack. Theiss observed DSDs having their first pool session, which is always rewarding seeing people take their first few breaths under water.

Malene went to Las Eras with Paul, Chloe, Ann, Melissa and Will on Tuesday to do her Navigation and Fish ID dives as part of the PADI Advanced course. Unfortunately, they only got to do one dive due to rough conditions. A grim-looking barracuda and lots of fire worms crossed their wet path on a very nice shore dive! On this day, Theiss actually had the day off, but decided to meet in around noon to do his EFR-exams. Later on, we were introduced to the kit set-up for Discover Scuba Diving by Hannah and Eric, which went okay. Nonetheless, it's another thing to practice and improve on.

The next day we did the Deep Dive scenario in Poco Naufragio together with Trigger and Casandra both for the sake of Malene's PADI Advanced Course and for the other three's Divemaster.
We saw a very curious (and threatening) fangtooth moray. Theiss had his monster torch with him and was randomly probing cracks and holes, when this big fellah of a fangtooth put his head out, probably to let us know that we had disturbed him in his morning routines... or something.
Afterwards we hit Yellow Mountain, and during the very nice dive we made our way through the swim-through, which is simply stunning! You basically swim through this narrow overhang, where not much light enters, but as soon as you "hit the other site", you see trumpet fishes, damsel fishes and breams (among a lot of other species) going peacefully along with the rhythm of the underwater community, dictated primarily by the gentle but steady current - a must-experience, if you ever go to Tenerife for diving!

Later that day we did our EFR practical part together with Ann, Trigger and Casandra; it was very intense and dramatic, and it definately peaked when Trigger killed himself during a primary assesment of Malene's electrical shock injuries leaving Ann to rescue both those two and Theiss's broken arm. Meanwhile, Casandra's character was drunk and narced and annoying, which didn't really help Ann in her stressful situation. Poor Ann.

On the contrast, it definately didn't peak when Will desperately tried to start the AED only to find out that he hadn't connected the machinery to the main Tenerifean electricity network (instructor proof? Think again...).

On Thursday together with Trigger, Ann and Cas, Theiss did the confined Rescue divers skills which bascially teach you how to handle an injured (responsive or unresponsive) diver. It's a really fun and beneficiary course, so we enjoyed ourselves a lot. At the end of the day, we set up kit for the next morning's night dive.

We got up at the absolutely inhuman time of 4.30 in the morning on friday to do a night dive, which you have to have experienced as a Divemaster: We were a little tired, but also very excited. Ann went together with the rest of the interns, Will and Pete to Poco Naufragio to do a great night dive in excellent vis. Among the very special experience to dive in total darkness with only a flashlight to rely on for some light, we saw some sleepy puffers and a baby moray. Unfortunately, equipment trouble kept Malene out of this dive.

When we got to back to the Marina, Malene, Eric and Hannah did the kit and chillaxed, meanwhile the rest of us went out in open water to do our mandatory rescue scenarios. In the first scenario, the instructors (Melissa and Will) hid two conspicuously coloured object for us to find. Trigger and Theiss took a wee bit too long to get kitted up in the boat, but found the object very quickly.

Will then swapped in for the object and acted as the unresponsive diver, whom we brought up in a controlled manner and at a safe ascent rate. The second scenario consisted of finding an unresponsive diver at the surface and then bring him back to the boat while providing rescue breaths and undoing his kit. It was a pretty tough challenge but also a very good experience! Because of the early meeting in, we got off early in the afternoon.

On the following day we started off in the pool for the skills, supervised by Will and Melissa - we're definately progressing but there's still some way to go. Afterwards we went to the marina to get our stamina assesed in the 800 snorkel and the 100 tow.. Again, there's definately room for improvement!
Later on, we got to practice being in the boat handler role and get people kitted up and in the water - to summarize we had an excellent day where the mood was high and the jokes were flying about!

On Sunday Malene had her long-expected day off, while Theiss went to Abades with Paul, Chloe, Trigger, Hannah and Melissa. We had a couple of awesome shallow dives (5-8 m), where Hannah was leading and Melissa pointing out a lot of cool stuff, which included a baby cuttlefish, a cuttlefish fast asleep, beautiful anemones, octopus and even an eagle ray!!
It was a magnificent experience and especially the way the sun rays hit the colorful reefs on the second dive was simply breathtaking.

When we got back to the dive center we chillaxed a wee bit while having a RDP-session and practiced knots - simply a wonderful day!

Until now it's been hard work, but also great fun, and we're definately looking forward to proceed and improve.

As they say in Tenerife (and other Spanish speaking locations): Hasta la vista!

Boyce and Marlene

PADI Rescue Course, EFR and DSD's.......... and days off :)

I can’t believe I’ve been here for two weeks already, it’s been going really quickly and I keep forgetting what day it is and getting mixed up on what day I did things!
I’ve not done as many dives this week as last week which is a shame, but I’ve done loads of other things that were exciting.

On Monday morning, I was in the pool helping with a PADI Discover Scuba diving session for the first time.
When the DSD students went out to do their open water dive, I stayed in the dive centre and started studying my PADI Rescue diver manual.
Later that afternoon, I watched the video for the Emergency First Response course with Gerado, Thiess, Malene and Ann.
I had a day off on Tuesday, I had a lie in which I enjoyed.  I treated myself to Mcdonalds as well because I hadn’t had one for ages and it has free wifi I could use. I hadn’t used the internet since I arrived so had loads of stuff to tell people and messages to reply to. I also took my laptop down to the Aberdeen steak house to borrow their wifi too, you can get a large beer there for a euro. I think that’s the cheapest beer I’ve ever seen anywhere. I don’t usually drink beer but it’s too good of a deal to not have it!
On Wednesday it was back to diving, we did a deep dive at Poco Naufragio. I enjoyed it , it reminded me of diving at home, which was kind of a nice thing because I was missing home anyway. The second dive we did at Yellow Mountain had much better visibility, and we could swim through a small cave like thing which I really liked. In the afternoon, we watched the video for the PADI Rescue diver course, it was useful because we could actually see for ourselves the things that the manual was describing.

We went to the Marina on Thursday to do the confined water lessons of the Rescue course, where we learnt how to respond to different diving emergencies like searching for a missing diver and bringing unresponsive divers aboard the boat. I was partnered with Ann, and we had to try and get each other into the boat from the water without using the ladder which was difficult, but everyone else thought it was funny to watch us. I can’t even get myself into the boat without using the ladder and I’m far too weak to drag someone else into the boat! We did the emergency first response course later in the afternoon which was fun. We learnt all sorts of useful things and then we had to react to an emergency scenario. When I got to be an injured person I was told to be a really drunk person. I got to run around sabotaging all of Ann’s efforts to be a good emergency responder (sorry Ann!)  It was really fun to do, but if I was really drunk in an emergency situation I would probably have just sat and cried because everyone was dying.

I woke up at 4.30 AM on Friday morning to do a night dive, which I was nervous about, I thought my torch might fail then I’d get lost in the dark. Thankfully this didn’t happen. The dive was an experience but I’m not sure if I liked it that much. After we did our night dive, we went out to do our open water section of the Rescue diver course, we had to find an unresponsive diver and bring them back aboard the boat. Me and Ann struggled again to drag each other onto the boat. My snorkel also disappeared today, I’m guessing it’s somewhere at the bottom of the sea at Yellow Mountain.  As we’d been up so early, we finished early so I decided to go to the pool and do some sunbathing to try and get some sort of colour in my skin because even though I’ve been here for two weeks, the only part of me that has a kind of tan are my hands.

We started off in the pool in Saturday morning doing the PADI Divemaster skills practice. There’s quite a bit of work I need to do on my skills, especially the hover because my feet keep floating away from me. After this, we went to the Marina to practice some of the stamina tests which were a 800m snorkel, a 100m tow and to tread water for 15 minutes.
When I was snorkelling about in the Marina, I found it difficult to swim whilst wearing a wetsuit and I was terrified a boat would run me over and I’d get chopped up by the propeller. The 100m tow and the treading water went better, especially the treading water because I’m quite a buoyant person, I just sort of floated there. We also got to practice getting customers ready on the boat for when we get put on boat cover.

I had another day off on Sunday, even though I wanted a lie in I woke up at 7.15 by accident and couldn’t get back to sleep so got up anyway. I didn’t really do that much apart from go swimming and sunbathing, then go down to the Aberdeen for the wifi.
At the end of my second week I’ve learnt quite a lot of new things and experienced new things, like the night dive. I’m also starting to lose track of which day it is as we’re kept so busy!

Melissa (Cassandra)

PADI Specialities leading to my PADI Master Scuba Diver

I was off this week on Monday and took the opportunity to complete my Navigation and Boat diver manuals. I was also lucky to be off on Friday and went to Las Galletas with Melissa for the afternoon. We watched the surfers and had lunch overlooking the marina.

This week Gary, Stiven and I did our practical for the Emergency First Response, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. The practical assessment in the shop even had members of the public who were passing stop and enter the shop to see what was going on. Sadly we did not manage to get Resu Annie to breathe again despite our best efforts.

We have been busy with lots of customers this week that have mainly been from the UK. We have also had a customer from Russia. One of the UK customers was Fiona who is an advanced diver but who had not dived for 13 years. Fiona really enjoyed re discovering the magic of the underwater world. She particularly enjoyed the dive at El Peurtito where the turtles were fantastic.

This week we have also dived at Poco Naufragio and Yellow Mountain. We have seen Rays, Parrot fish, Ornate Wrasse and Trumpet fish.

We have also done a Pool skills session with Alice. I had a bit of a nightmare with the flooded mask skill on the second go and ended up with a nose full of pool water. It is an area that I still need to work on. Most of the other skills are coming along but need some work to get the top marks.

On Sunday we dived at El Puertito with Dan, Aidan and Fergus in the afternoon.  It was very hot and the water was so calm and still. The visibility was brillant and the Turtles came to see us and kept coming back. One of the young ones was particularly curious. This is an amazing site which I love going to.

The weather here has been fantastic and the sea temperature is still 21 degrees.

“What are you waiting for come and see some of these amazing dive sites for yourself you will not be disappointed”.

Patrick

Gnasher the Diving Wonder Dog, aka Andreas

Hey yall

Now it's time for another exciting blog from the very one and only Andreas, Perry, Poochie, Gnasher and 'erry, or any other Nickname the Team keep giving me!
Due to Melissa, Pete and common Dutch language I've had the pleasure of getting four new names in only a week and a half. Personally Gnasher sounds the coolest, but it's probably due to the fact that I don't know who the real Gnasher is. 
Except for the obvious confusion I meet whenever somebody calls one of my names, I really start to get the hang of it at this place of hard work, learning, wonders, adventures, downsides and upsides. 
The work is getting easier because of the growing knowledge and confidence in what I'm doing is right. 
Like assembling a customers kit, or even worse, Pete or Alice's kits.

I really feel I'm learning a lot and having some great experiences both on dives and off work. The last dive I had previous to this blog was a dive at Poco Naufragio which was incredible. We sat on the bottom playing with a Common Ray while  surrounded by fish of all sizes and shapes. 
From Ornate Wrasse and Zebra Bream, to Barracudas and Parrot fish. After a while playing with the ray, we got further away and Alice fed Black Morays and FangTooths while we were watching  Simply Incredible. 
Next dive that day were at Starfish Bay. A site normally known for the massive amount of, yeah you guessed it, Starfish. 
Well we saw a lot of starfish, but due to the amount of Black Sea urchins there ain't that many any more.
Well not to bother because me and Dennis brought our knives and have a 'Confirmed Sea Urchin Kill Scoreboard' on our fridge and he's in pole position, so we had a little bit of fun "cleaning" and watching all the different fish that comes with. 
Though it took a bit of convincing myself into doing this, since I have no previous history of genocide or anything like that, and spend a year before coming here working for Greenpeace, But still the Black Sea Urchins are a plague here and have no natural enemies. The rest of the dive we were looking at all the beautiful and funny small creatures.

This week I've also had my first shore dives with Melissa. I really like these dives because they are so different from the boat dives I've done the other days. I especially liked one dive we had at a site i don't remember the name of, I think Las Eras ,but there was a big pipeline going from shore to... Yeah well... Cambodia. 

Anyway, between every concrete block along the pipeline it was packed with fish, crabs and different kinds of critters. I saw some of the biggest Arrow Crabs I've ever seen, the biggest Trumpet fish ever ever seen and the biggest cuttlefish ever!

Apart from all the diving we got a day off on Saturday  despite being exhausted, hungover and just plain tired, both me and my roomy Dennis committed ourself (on our own initiative) to climb Red Rock, Punta Roja, with Mahmoud and Lydia. 
Mahmoud being prepared in a way that not even Indiana Jones or Mr. Dundee could have done better, Lydia turned up in flip flops and with a lunchbox consisting of ice cream.
In the end we made it to the top, and despite the fact that we were tired me and Mahmoud decided to the some real climbing on the cliffs facing the water. A real manly experience.

On a completely different topic, we all just passed our EFR (Emergency FirstResponse) course today. It was all in great fun with all of us interns trying to save each other from nearly every possible incident and injury we could get into, and Pete consistently educating us switching between the real first aid course and all of his stories from 'back in 'Nam' or whatever war he was in.

Well that must be all from me for this time.

Hasta luego - Andreas (Perry, Poochie, Gnasher 'Erry)

PADI Rescue Course. EFR and of course more diving

What a week, what a week , oh you should have been there.

My week started with 2 dives at Las Eras, where I have never been before. The visibility during the dives wasn’t the best and there was a little current, especially on the first dive. 
But I enjoyed both dives. I think the second dive on the pipeline was really fascinating.

Next day I had 2 dives, the first at Poco Naufragio and the 2nd at Starfish Bay. I really enjoyed the dives, Alice was leading the dive and we had a very nice customer with us, Ann, who really enjoyed herself during the dives as well.
At Poco Naufragio we saw a Common Ray and I especially liked the two Black Moray Eels and the Fangtooth Moray who where together, and Alice was feeding them which looked pretty scary to me.

Wednesday was definitely a fun day and we learned a lot as well. 
We started at 10:00 o'clock which made everyone very happy because we didn't have to prepare kits and tanks in the morning because we were not going diving, we had our EFR(Emergency First Response) course. 
Pete was instructing Dennis, Andreas, Mahmoud, Angela and me, and even Sam was there even though he already is a Divemaster since this week. 
We had a lot of fun, especially during the scenario’s Pete gave us to do, I think the best one was when we all came back from our 5 minute break and Sam was laying on the flour and Canadian Dave was laying on a bench and nobody was responding to that because we all thought they were just laying there for no reason!
So we were sent back outside while they told us this was a real scenario. 

We went back in and lucky for us we saved Sam, but Canadian Dave is still recovering from the fact that Andreas was giving him mouth to mouth breathing. 
After our fun EFR morning we had lunch and went to the swimming pool to do some swimming. I finally broke my 11 minutes, only with 3 seconds, but I broke my 11 minutes. 
It’s a shame that Alice or Pete wasn't timing because now it doesn't count for real. 
And in the evening I practiced kit assemble and disassemble with Dennis.

Thursday I had my day off so I cleaned my entire apartment and I did some shopping because I invited the interns that were working that day for lunch at my place. So when Dennis, Andreas and Mahmoud walked in they didn’t even recognize my apartment any more because it was so clean. 
Then I made them some lunch which they really enjoyed, lucky for me. Angela was sick that day so unfortunately she missed our fun lunch. But I saved  fruit salad that I made for our vegetarian Angela and she ate it in the evening after we practiced kit assemble and disassemble with Dennis and Andreas.

Friday was really, really exciting because I had my first night dive ever. I was a little scared and I was so nervous, but everything went all right. Actually it was really beautiful and I just tried to enjoy myself as much as possible and just look at the fish and follow the group. I really liked the Parrot fish, I saw one with really bright colors and it was so beautiful. I liked the plankton as well, when you move your hand in the water you can see them light up which is really pretty.

Saturday really was a messy day. We made so many silly mistakes on everything! So I hope everyone that was working that day, including me, just learned from the mistakes we made so it won’t happen again. 
Apart from that I really liked my dive at Pequeño Valle even though it was a pretty short dive because there was a little current which became stronger while we moved on. 
And now the best part of the day was that we practised Rescue skills in the marina, and that was so much fun. It just becomes so much more real when you practice them, especially with the panicked diver. 
While practising the panicked diver I found out that it’s more difficult than I thought. I started practising with Alice and she started easy on me just being a little panicked diver, but then it got real and I found out that a panicked diver can be pretty, pretty dangerous.

After doing the rescue skills we washed the kits and nobody know how it happened but I lost one of my fins, and the bad part was that it was the fin with my mask and snorkel in it. So that situation made me a little sad, as soon as we found out that my fin was missing Dennis jumped in the water but he didn't find my fin back.

Sunday was a relaxed day. I took Dennis, Andreas and Mahmoud to the swimming pool to practice our skills and I could really see that the boys are improving on their skills and I could practice at the same time helping them. 
Unfortunately Angela couldn't join us because she had a little injury on her leg/foot. We washed the cars as well and that was a lot of fun. And we did our 400 meter swim and this time I really wished that that the time counted because my time was 10:22 which is my fastest time ever.
But I'm really happy with my time and I'm just hoping that I can do it again, or maybe even better.
Oh and the best part of today, Mahmoud went diving in the marina under supervision from Melissa to find my fin and he found my fin, my mask and my snorkel back!

So I’m really happy and Mahmoud is the hero of the day.

Up to w

HUGE Sting Rays and Small Sexy Shrimp

I am becoming more and more confident underwater.
The best part of this internship is when you wake up knowing you will be on the boat in the Atlantic ocean enjoying some sunlight on the way to your dive.

We have had 5 amazing customers this week, most of them are certified BSAC & PADI instructors so they were experienced divers. At first I thought this would make it much harder because they would notice tiny mistakes that you are not even aware of but they were actually quite laid back and easy going.

We had really amazing dives at Poco Naufragio behind the marina where we were just overwhelmed by massive and very curious rays.

There was at least 6 very curious rays hovering on top and beside each and every one of us as if they were blankets, they were so soft, felt just like a jelly like sponge and everything just became slower and slower till the silence took over.
The experience was intense and possibly the best I have had in years. I felt so lucky to be there, it was very relaxing and rewarding.

The next dive we went to another dive site just before Yellow Mountain. Mark was my buddy and I made such good progress keeping close to him and Alice who was leading the dive at the same time.

I had an important discussion with Pete the other day of how and why important it is to be close to the one who is leading the dive but it was very challenging this time because Mark sometimes went to the opposite direction from Alice and I didn't want to call Mark and adjust our direction every time Alice does because I could see him enjoying what he was doing.
I always kept in the middle and as soon as Alice started to get a bit far I would tell mark to start swimming towards her.
I realised that I am starting to enjoy diving differently, not exactly how Mark was enjoying it but as long as I am making sure everything is safe and everyone is happy then I am happy :)

My next diving was with the group again.
As they really really enjoyed diving with the rays before so they decided to start their day by saying good morning to some of them and hopefully say hi to the big rays.
And guess what?! We were lucky again! These creatures are just wonderful and it just makes the day as perfect as it can be. If only all days start like that!

For their next dive, they wouldn't want to go anywhere else. I can quote "the dive was wonderful and anything else will just shadow this experience we just had" so they decided to jump on with the rays again in the same dive site.
There was a proper DVD camera underwater recording the experience and I am very looking forward to see it.

The week earlier I had problems with my brand new 7 mm wetsuit. It still wasn't that cold for me and I used to feel so warm and nearly over heated.
So Pete told me to use one of the shop's 3 mm ones. The first dive was OK but I was feeling cold by the end of the dive but the second dive I felt really cold so I had to switch back to my suit.
All of this caused me some trouble trying to figure out the exact weight I should put on my weight belt, I was fine tuning it until I reached my consensus 8 kilos with two extra kilos in my jacket's pockets. It was funny at one point because one time I was under weighted and I wouldn't sink so Sam pulled me down with him. As soon as we reached the bottom I tuned my buoyancy and the problem was solved.

Then came our mapping dives. Angela and I came out with magnificent maps of yellow mountain, Pete was giving us all the advice we needed and after a conversation that took at least half an hour between the two dives we were all motivated and ready to draw maps that were good enough to start leading dives using them. I am still waiting for Pete's comments and remarks concerning the map but I am sure if there are any, it will take us another dive just to perfect it and fine tune all the little details that are missing.

The EFR course Pete conducted was great, I felt like the studying I did was paying off. I wanted to answer all the questions he was asking and I liked how simple it was all put together from A to Z.

The scenarios was also good and gave us an impression of how it was different when you really want to put your knowledge into action. Then we took our tests and I scored 90% on the rest of them. So now I finished all the paperwork needed for my rescue diver certification.

I ended this week's dives with two of the dives Dennis, Andreas and Anne are doing for their advanced open water course. 
I missed out the deep dive because I forgot one of the shop's keys in my pocket which was very embarrassing. I had to wait for Melissa to come pick up the keys but there wasn't much time to waste so they had to leave for the deep dive and I waited for them in the marina till they came back to re-load the boat with full tanks and pick me up for the rest of the dives.
But it was not the end of the world, I learned the lesson and I don't think I will ever forget any keys in my pocket again.

The diving is great!
It's just what's making every mistake that you do under pressure bearable. I am still not 100% pleased from my performance above the water but then again its just my second week,
I am still learning a lot and I feel like I'm getting there one step at a time.

Mahmoud

My First Halloween Party Ever!

What a lovely week, 3 days off and my first Halloween party ever.

I’m going to try my best to write an interesting blog for all those millions of people who are probably reading my blog every week, or maybe at least my mom.

The best thing of the week was to meet the new interns. We have Mahmoud from Egypt, two Danish guys Dennis and Andreas and we have a lovely girl Angela from Germany.
Mahmoud and Angela are starting as PADI Advanced Open Water divers so I can’t wait to practice the Rescue diver and EFR skills with them.
Dennis and Andreas are starting their PADI Open Water diver course, so that’s going to be very exciting for them since Dennis hasn’t been diving before and Andreas told me he did dive 2 dives a while ago. I hope I can teach them something as well without making them earn beer fines.

So I had 3 days off thanks to the new interns. I had a lot of fun during these days off. Thursday I just spend most of my day reading and relaxing. Saturday I took Mahmoud to El Medano where I finally had the churros which I wanted for week, and in the evening we went with all the interns to the Chinese wok where we had a very nice diner and we went to a few bars.
On Sunday I had a day off with Dennis, Andreas and Angela. So we all took our books and went to a nice place where we could read our books.

Melissa took me and Frank to Abades point and Abades beach. It was a very cold, grey and rainy day. The visibility wasn’t very great and when you get out of the water you don’t really want to take of your wetsuit because it’s so, so cold. But since I didn’t dive for quite a while I enjoyed every part of it. We saw an Octopus and we saw a lot of Scorpion fish.

My first Halloween party and I was very excited about that. So after a day of ‘’work’’ we all went home to dress up and we had a delicious and fun dinner at Big Al’s.
Everyone looked amazing in there Halloween costumes. Pete was dressed as Zorro, Melissa was a very sexy miss devil, Alice looked amazing in her army outfit, Sam was of course dressed as Popeye, Dennis was Harry Potter, Andreas was a dangerous Pirate, Angela being even more dangerous being a witch, Mahmoud was Mahmoud with a red wig, an axe and a very, very big mustache and I was dressed as super girl.
We all had lots of fun and I’m sure we have some great pictures. After diner we went to a few bars where we had some drinks and sang karaoke  after a very fun evening we all took a taxi back, since nobody was able to drive us back.

On Friday I had boat cover while Dennis and Andreas where doing their first open water dive with Pete which was very exciting for them and Alice was diving with some costumers from Morocco.

It was cold and it was raining and the wind didn’t make it any better to be on the boat, but as people say; ’after rain comes sunshine’. When we came back in the marina, Melissa and the other interns were already back from the shore dive they had that day and they were already washing their kits.

What a messy time was that, trying to wash kits with 4 new interns. It’s great having new interns but Sam and I really have to get used to it because we have been doing it together for the last 4 weeks.

Oh, and another good thing this week, Sam and I did our 100 meter tow  (even though it was in the rain) and we did our 400 meter swim and our 15 minute float, so that’s done.

And I did my EFR Exam which I unfortunately failed at the first time, but the second time I passed with a great score

Lydia

Best Dive Ever?.............................. Probably :-)

This week started on a low for me this week, I had boat cover.

When I wasn't sitting in the middle of the boat sea sick, I’d be having stern hand gestures with inconsiderate French divers who were anchoring too close to our boat.

Luckily for me this week got considerably better as the week went on.

The first dives of this week was with Turtles, it really tickled my fancy so I had delayed my day off so that I could go. Definitely worth it. The first of the two dives was with the friendly Turtle, it was obviously used to being fed by other dive schools and thus spent a lot of time coming incredibly close, so much so that the Turtle would touch you, or its fins would hit my regulator hose.

The second dive was just as good if I’m honest, the next Turtle wasn't quite as interested in us but more so in the cotton spinner it was attempting to eat. In fact the Turtle was so oblivious to us being there that Melissa was able to clean the bits of line and plant off it. Two of the best dives I've had since being here.

Even when we weren’t looking for Turtles, there’s plenty of other things to see, the very bright blue Sea Anemone  or the incredibly large Trumpet fish. Saying that I’m very easy to please and even the Blue Finned Damsels that are a dime a dozen are still nice to see and just as colourful and impressive as when I first saw them.

My day off! Finally! Really wasn’t half as exciting as I planned it to be. I ended up spending it sleeping and working on my Divemaster book. That is literally it, I have nothing else to say about it, sad I know.

Next up, Poco Naufragio. Unfortunately for me and Lydia we were restricted to 18 meters as she hadn't quite finished her PADI Advanced course yet, but we still got an incredible view, others on the dive were Alice and a returning customer called Matt, whom is very bubbly and has a weird obsession with Sexy Shrimp. They went down a bit deeper than us and got to play with a Common Eagle Ray, it was swimming around them and it looked so comfortable around divers, which is just something I’m not so use to.

I don’t know why I’m complaining about not being able to get close to the Ray, the shelf that is at 18 meters, has a massive array of fish and lots to see. There’s bream, parrot fish, star fish and morays, all of which is easily enough to keep me entertained for the duration of a dive.

The final few dives of the week was with two customers named Anna and Thomas. Tom was doing his scuba review whilst Anna was starting her journey to PADI Open Water diver. The first dives of the day were in the pool and I got to assist Pete instruct the first confined dive with Anna. When I say assist I really mean prop up Anna in case she falls over, but it is great fun to see someone instruct the courses.

Once the pool dives were over we headed out to Yellow Mountain for a couple of dives, both went very well, and Anna has since completed all her open water dives with just the exam to pass before she is fully qualified.

That’s it for this week, I've now been here over two weeks and it has flown by, looking a head to another six more weeks of hard graft and hopefully good dives.

Sam ~ aka Popeye