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

PADI Rescue Divers and injured friends!

We all had a couple of times to practice our PADI Divemaster skills in the pool during this week.
We always have a laugh when Andreas practices the recovery of the mask, he feels so uncomfortable opening his eyes underwater but I keep telling him to practice smiling underwater first before trying to practice the skill!

On the other hand, Angela had an accident the other day. It was the day she was on boat cover during Dennis and Andreas' adventure night dive. I passed by after their return and we all went to the beach. It was a very sunny and warm day, we all got excited and Andreas, Angela and I decided to walk on some rocky bay moving into the water. Andreas and I wanted to jump into a further rock a little less than 2 meters away with crashing waves in the middle. We tried figuring out the pattern of the waves but couldn't so Angela advised that it was dangerous and better to just go back which we did. But unfortunately she was swept away by one of the waves at first it was funny then the situation got serious but she was lucky to have some scratches with only one wound.

 #

We all started the week by successfully finishing our Emergency First Responder courses from the previous week so it was time to get started with our PADI Rescue course dives. One thing for sure, the Rescue course certainly comes in the right timing. After finishing your adventure dives in the PADI Advanced Open Water course, you get very well familiar with concepts in diving like buoyancy control and you get the chance to really be able to fine tune it very well during the dives.
Good buoyancy control indeed makes diving so much easier and fun but it's a skill among several others used to take care of yourself underwater. But diving is not an individual sport.
Mastering self rescue skills definitely comes in handy.
But ever wondered what if one of the group is in trouble?
How to deal with him if he is tired? Or panicking?
Or responsive? Non responsive? On the surface or underwater? How far he is from shore/boat?
These are all questions that make a huge difference between being prepared and knowing exactly what to do based on your knowledge and training or being helpless in the situation.

So we took off for our first confined rescue dive sessions. I was surprised how difficult it is even when you are very academically prepared to apply what you have learned in real life situations.
The idea is to really try to make the scenarios as real as possible and try to forget that it is actually a scenario in order to get the most out of it and see how you would think and react if being subject to the situation.
Sam was my buddy and I feel I was lucky because he had the exact same mindset, we practiced several techniques to deal with different situations until I felt comfortable and pleased by my performance.
Sam was nearly a PADI Divemaster by then and he was very happy with my performance as well, so that was a really good thing. It was a really fun day we all felt more confident with our newly acquired skills.

It was time for our open water rescue dives and over all evaluation. I had to tow Sam a relatively long distance but I was horribly slow because I find it very difficult to swim on the surface with fins, so this is something I will focus on improving the coming week.
Other than that, we practiced the same skills again, learned from new mistakes, learned how to do knots and that was it.
We went back to the shop, I did some reading in the Divemaster book and during debrief we were told we are all qualified PADI Rescue divers. It was really a very good feeling, it felt new.

I had 4 days diving this week. The first was with Ann, Alice, Melissa, Sam and Lydia we saw a very beautiful starfish, Sam showed me some cleaner shrimps and sexy shrimps and there was a small ray. Suddenly a current started to show up then after a curve it became so strong we were. Ot going anywhere, so we changed direction and made it a drift dive then Alice raised her SMB to signal Pete to come pick us up on the boat. I also went to Abades with Dennis, Andreas and Lydia was leading the dives. Lydia did really well choosing different paths for all the dives to make it more interesting.

We all went out on a farewell dinner night out for Sam. It was great having him around as he was very helpful and practically perfect. One thing for sure, he is going to be missed around here!

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 Exams and Octopus

I will forever remember the first of November 2012 as the day I just started this great adventure in becoming a PADI Divemaster. 

I went to the dive shop of Melissa and Pete the day before the 1st to finally introduce myself in person and also met the two other interns Sam and Lydia that have already been on their internship for one month. Everybody was really nice so I was even more excited about becoming one of them on the other day.

We met in the dive shop the following day at 9 am sharp, all prepared for a great day. I have already met the other interns, who are starting with me, on the Halloween party the night before. So we are four new interns in total, which is Mahmoud from Egypt, Andreas and Dennis from Denmark and me Angela from Germany.

We have been introduced by Alice the future Instructor of Dive and Sea next to Pete one of the owners of the shop. to the duties of being an intern and she also showed us around. We have already learned so much about dive gear, taking care for the equipment and preparations and considerations we have to think about before actually going on a dive.
We also have to learn for our exams and certifications. So we have got deadlines to hand in our exercises of the certification manuals just to make sure that we won't forget about our homework.

Then the real fun part started. Mahmoud and I, both certified PADI Advanced Divers, went in the pool with Alice so that she can check on which level of experience we actually are. For that my last dive was three years ago, I think I wasn't doing to bad. We cleared our masks under water, put the regulator away and had to find it again by moving our right arm in a semi circle from our right leg to our backside and than further behind. We also observed Alice introducing Dennis and Andreas to their first scuba diving experience also in the pool, so we get an idea how to teach someone in becoming a diver.

The second day started with bundling gear up for our first dives in Tenerife. It was still so confusing because everything is new and you just don't now where things are placed at, but I am sure we will improve soon.

Then Melissa the other owner of Dive and Sea took Mahmoud, Sam, me and two other customers with her on a very nice first and second dive in Las Eras, a place about half an hour away from Golf del Sur. It was a shore dive and already a new experience for me because I have never been entering the water for a dive from the shore. I brought some fins with me from Germany and had to find out that they are not useful for scuba diving at all because I didn't fit in with 5mm boots, so I had to go on my second dive without the boots barefoot in the fins.
I was not cold in the water, just the stones on the shore were „tickling“ my feed a little bit. Poor me, so remember... always check for the right equipment before you go on a dive!!!
Still I was so happy about the two dives. We saw trumpet fish ( my favorites by now ), zebra breams, blue fin dam-selfish, a brown moray, a ray and lots of more beautiful sea dwellers.

The night of the third day ended early. At 7 am we were already at the shop starting to get the kits together because we wanted to go on a boat dive to the dive site that is called Yellow Mountain. So that is just what we have done. On the boat was Dennis and Andreas, Pete, Sam, Frank a German customer and me. I have became acquainted to the duty of a boat guard, so I haven't been on the dive with the others, but the job of a Divemaster is not just about the diving. You are supposed to know all the jobs that come with a dive business. So I stayed at the surface, helping the other guys in their kit, taking it of them after the dive, helping them getting settled in the boat again and from time to time I hold my head with mask and snorkel in the water, just to get a little jealous peek on what they were doing under water.

On the fourth day Dennis, Andreas, Sam, Lydia and I had our first day off together and enjoyed getting out for some coffee and breakfast. But we weren't just lazy at all. We actually grouped up to do some reading and some exercises for our exams as well, although it was hard at least for me to fight against the constant doziness. I was exhausted from the long days in advance.

We started refreshed in the fifth day of our internship and went on a navigation or orientation dive at the yellow mountain dive site without any customers. Sam was briefing us ( he will be a Divemaster soon ) in how to hold on to our orientation under water where sometimes everything seem to look exactly alike.
Andreas and I were buddies, which means that we have to watch out for each other and stay close to each other ( you will never loose sight of your buddy, he might save your life if you have problems ).

We split the duties between each other, so I paid attention to the bezels of our dive with my compass and he paid attention to the depth we were diving in. All this information’s, with the direction and some details of the surrounding environment ended up as a.... kind of weird drawing on our slates that we use under water.
Depending on the drawings you could really see that we have done this skill never before. Let's just say, there is a lot room for improvement!!!

The second dive that day was Sam's „special“ :). We got kind of lost under water as he is still training and improving his skills in leading a group under water, he did a really good job in reassuring us, keeping us calm and relaxed and finally we could see the outlines of the boat again. Well done Sam!!!

On the sixth day Melissa, Sam and I went with a Linda, Nick, Tony, Eileen and Mark all experienced  divers from the UK to Las Eras to do two shore dives. Unfortunately for me, we were short on tanks and had to change the plans ( you have to be able to improvise as a professional diver, because it might happen from time to time that gear is missing or dysfunctional or breaking or somebody just doesn't feel well anymore ) and I had to pass on the dive.
Actually I wasn't so sad about it, because I was behind on my reading and homework. So I went through my PADI Rescue manual instead and you can see that it was for good, because today I successfully passed my writing exam and I am on path to become a future PADI Rescue diver.
Well done me :))))

Apart from that, I went on my seventh day on another dive with the same crew than the day before except Melissa, she stayed at the shop and Pete came with us instead. This time we went to Yellow Mountain and Sam was leading both of the dives. First to “Alien Rock” and the other one led us to the “Swim through”, which was a nice rock loop that you could literally swim through.
I found two Octopus on the second dive, which was beautiful. They are incredible intelligent and could probably even learn how to turn off the air of an dive tank to get away from annoying divers.
Never ever should somebody show them that trick!

Angela

PADI Advanced Open Water course and EFR Training

The EFR (emergency first aid) training today was entertaining as you might imagine, bringing a mannequin into a group full if exceedingly mature interns ensures a couple of laughs here and there. I found if a bit odd that Will tried it on with the mannequin but a couple of ‘your not getting any tonight’ looks from Jake put a stop to that.

The EFR was preceded by some skills in the pool with Alice which greatly helped me, it is now getting easier to do skills so hopefully a few more sessions should perfect them.

Tuesday was the first day that I got to observe a open water course. So it was a good opportunity to get some experience of what I was going to do for the rest of my time here.
The dive when well and was great to watch  the student in the pool and on the dives.

Today was a tough day. Only Will and I were in as everyone else got a day off, which meant we must have carried a thousand cylinders between us.
The two dives we did with the customers were fun though, and we managed to see a variety of marine life.

Being buddied with Will was an experience in itself as I was constantly having a babysit him in case he crashed into the seabed or got mauled by a fish. When Alice asked us to deploy our SMBs, I simply had no clue of what to do, so cant wait for the training course on that.
By the end of the day we were both dead tired but not so that I couldn’t fit in a nice bit of ice cream and some chips.

A day full of diving started with three dives in the morning with me, Matt and Alex doing our navigation dives with Pete.

Next we got led on a mapping dive of Yellow Mountain by Will and Jake, this all went well.

Then it was back again after dinner for another two dives, first was the first dive we did of Poco Naufragio so we could have a look around before it got dark.
Then we got on to the boat and waited for it to get dark.
This was my first night dive here and was a lot of peoples first ever night dive. 
And along with the new night diving experience the night dive brought along with it the opportunity to play lots of new bits of kit witch is a lot of the attraction of diving for most people. Like me with my not at all oversize torch or watching Will being endlessly entertained by a glow stick.
During the dive we saw a lot of night sea life and first time seeing the couple of big Rays that are of that site.

The day started off with an early morning pool session to practice some of our skills so we were not as useless as a bunch of dead squirrels when it came to the Divemaster tests. I did nearly slip and crack my back mopping the stairs so that other people wouldn’t slip and crack their backs which was a tad ironic.

If I’m not mistaken, Jamie spent more timing being pushed into the water, whilst we cleaned the boat, than anything else which was entertaining at the least. The rest of the day was quiet following a nice walk back from the marina.

We were diving at Poco again, wanting to get our deep dive done. On this dive Pete decided to try to show us how much slower doing thing's deep under water is as to on the surface.
This would have worked better if the task he had chosen didn’t involve math, because it took me an age to do this on land.

On the next dive we did more mapping that would have been much easier without getting distracted by Rays following us around but I guess ill just have to put up with that.

Another week done............. Matt & Foster

Nervous, excited and being the "New Kids"

Waking up at the start of something new is a difficult feeling to describe. A mix of excitement, nervousness and intrigue at what is to come is the closest I can get. Unfortunately we did not get off to a spectacular start, as we were 15 minutes late for pick up…

At least we could only improve right?

The rest of the day went reasonably smoothly; not having to do anything trying contributed to that.

Alice and Pete ran us through the ins and outs of what is expected of us new little lambs which by confirming the looks on the other two faces seemed a tad daunting, with the complex system of organization.

Our first pool diving session by Pete and watched the other interns give some reassuring, informative skill demonstrations that made me perfectly confident in being able to do them after.

After that we went to do our first open water boat diving experience in Tenerife. (and was assured by Pete that a RIB was definitely a boat after some of Matts questions).

After returning from the dives, washed the kit, and returned everything to the shop for the end of the day.

Tuesday was a nice relaxing day to begin with, then we were introduced to the big ugliness that is the 400m swim. It did not help that we were so unfit that eating a chocolate bar is tiring. Needless to say, our times were slower than a legless horse at the races.

We then experienced what cleaning kit with Melissa is like and I am now in the process of developing schemes to take revenge for nearly being drowned with a hosepipe.

After a quick pint at the pub it was time to churn through some first aid reviews with Conan the Destroyer on the tele in the background. At least dinner tonight wasn’t as big a disaster as last night.

We practiced doing briefs for Bubble makers using the other interns as eight year olds which turned out be not that dissimilar. One or two things to remember for next time first is that an eight year old will not listen to you for twenty minuets and will not be entertained by one game for very long (To be fair, Foster could bore the paint off a wall –Matt).

We then spent some time filling toys with sand so we could play with them under water, and according to Jake it looked as though I was having the most fun I’ve had had all week (I wouldn’t exactly put it like that)

Pool Skills. Coming from a BSAC background, Foster and I had different experiences with pool skills and gear.

Some of the PADI skills we had never encountered before. Cue hilarious stupidity during the hovers. If someone had just tuned in to watching this underwater fiasco I would dare say a sense of pity and bemusement would cross their minds. I was also daft enough to underweight myself as I forgot I was not using a shorty so occasionally I decided to float up to the surface during weight belt removing and the like which probably did not help my scores.

Regardless, the day passed and I even managed to meet some Chinese people that reminded me of home in a lovely restaurant which was nice.

Second time doing the 400m swim and first time doing the 800m snorkel one after the other (thanks to Jake for that one). And did much better all around.
It is true that once you learn you cant forget how to swim, but you can forget how to swim well.
Luckily I think it coming back to me… a bit.
And in the 800m snorkel Matt and I got good times considering it was the first time we did it.

The morning started with setting up two DSDs kit for their pool dives which took far too long for some reason. Leaving the training to the more experienced people than us, we started watching the Advanced diver video.

One of the things that I am set on doing is getting hold of a Diver Propulsion Vehicle and tearing through the underwater world as if I’m flying a Eurofighter. It genuinely looks like a massive laugh. Shame about one costing more than my current life savings.

We were joined after by a customer going through her Rescue diver course and we then hit the marina in the afternoon with Jake and Jamie to go through their practical rescue skills.
Unlucky for them, we got to play the hapless victims. Needless to say when Jamie attempted to subdue a certain panicked diver, she did not expect herself to turn into a climbing frame for said diver.

Started the day by setting up our kit ready to go out on the boat to help with the rescue divers again.

We had to help find a “lost” diver and pretend to be unresponsive and got lifted to the surface before getting pulled on to the boat. It’s a shame we cant get on to the boat that way every time, its much easier than doing it yourself.

Only one person "fell out" of the boat on the way back, luckily enough the newly qualified rescue divers on the boat leapt to his aid with a rope and BCD.

We finished the day early as everyone was keen on getting home to watch the formula 1.

A rewarding but tiring week, but ready for more.......

Matt & Foster