Lots of Dive courses, Divers and of course fish :)

On Monday we went to the lovely site of Poco Naufragio together with Sebastian, Cassandra and Trigger. Will was leading, and we had a great dive with super visibility and lots of life! We dropped down from the shelf and noticed that the little wreck, from where the dive site has got its very name, was almost not visible because of the shroud of cow breams that was looking for food there. A couple of barracuda, fairly big in size, were also curiously cruising around, so it was an awesome sight that met us on the first couple of minutes of our dive.

Theiss was buddied up with Sebastian, a Russian once-was Divemaster, and he was very comfortable during the dive and just simply happy to be back in the ocean. On the day, the dive site provided us with a lot of cool stuff to show our Russian guest, including a black moray eel, a massive red scorpion fish very well disguised, a couple of octopi, fire worms and a beautiful black cylinder anemone.

The original plan was to then head to Yellow Mountain, a classic in the Dive and Sea Tenerife dive site inventory, but this got changed by Pete and Will: They would try our luck on The Pipeline to see if we could "spice up" the previous dive with some rays. Last time we went to The Pipeline was simply amazing, with a stingray hiding under practically every 6th concrete blocks or so. Unfortunately, this was not the case this day, and even though we did see a sleeping ray extremely well hidden in the sand, the five of us, who had experienced the previous dive here, were a little disappointed. Sebastian, on the other hand, seemed like he had enjoyed it which obviously is the main thing after all.

After the all things considered great morning dives, the four of us "old" interns went to the marina to do our 800 m snorkel stamina test together with Melissa. We had a good time and we all improved on our times.

This day was also the induction day for three of the new faces of the Dive and Sea Tenerife Team: Nemo, Bruce and Dory, so we also got to welcome them.

The following day Malene went with the girls to Abades to shoot some footage for Hannah's movie. They got to do some diving and video record some dance moves underwater so they had a blast.

Theiss went on a man-trip with Pete on boat cover, Trigger, Will, Bruce, Nemo and Sebastian to Yellow Mountain, where they both swam the Alien Rock-route and the Swim-through ditto. As always, Yellow Mountain was brilliant and among the classics of the Tenerifean aquatic life, like roncadores, trumpet fish, damsels, wrasses, lizard fish and scorpion fish, they saw a common octopus, a massive starry weever and a big beast of a blue starfish.

In the afternoon we went to the Albatross Hotel pool to promote diving by offering free try dives. Last time we went, there was a lot of positive interest, and we actually had to disappoint some of the guests, because we simply didn't have the time to have a go with everyone. Therefore, on this day both Theiss and Will was in the water, which was a very good call, because again it was very busy. Malene, Cassandra and Dory was on the surface "selling" the try dive and doing paperwork. It all went well, and the interest this time seemed far more serious than the previous session, so hopefully we will very soon meet some of the participants again.

On Wednesday we had a very busy day, with a Bubblemaker and a Scuba Tune-up in the early morning and then 11 divers on the boat afterwards. The full roster was Craig, Georgia and her mother Michelle, who were doing their Peak Performance and Boat dive with Melissa for their Adventure Diver course, Cassandra, Trigger, Dory, Nemo, Bruce and obviously ourselves. Theiss got to lead both dives, which he really enjoyed, even though he made some few rookie mistakes (like going a wee bit too fast). At the end of the day, that (leading dives) is what we're here to learn, so hopefully there will be more of that in the near future. On the first dive, Theiss led Malene, Trigger, Cassandra and Craig around the Alien Rock, where we were lucky enough to see two octopi, a hermit crab, a couple of red reef lobsters and even a hairy crab, that was very well disguised! The latter was holding on to a rock, and we're still in the process of finding the reason behind this peculiar behavior.

On the second dive, all 11 divers were diving in one, big group. We dove the Swim-through route and we saw a decent sized octopus hiding in the swim-through overhang, which was really cool. Moreover, we saw a red backed cleaner shrimp right next to a fangtooth moray eel, so everyone enjoyed themselves and had a good time despite the size of the group.

This was also the Induction Day for two new interns, Sam and Catharine (aka. Pearl), so we also got to say "Bienvenido" to those guys after work with a cold beer at Big Al's.

Thursday was a quiet day for Theiss, who had a skill session in the pool in the morning together with Will, Cassandra, Nemo and Bruce. In the afternoon Theiss went with Bruce to the pool to observe Ruolof doing his DSD and Dorien doing her Discover Snorkeling conducted by Alice. Malene went to Abades with Melissa, Trigger, Pearl, Sam and Marvin, a guest from Germany, and despite the strenous swell conditions they had two wonderful dives, where they even saw a couple stingrays!

The next day was again a busy day with a good mix of both DSDs and certified divers. After a successful pool session, where Malene was observing a Scuba Tune-up and Theiss was with the DSDs, we went out on the dives. On the first one, Malene went with a DSD called Alexander, and he was very comfortable in the water. We went by boat to a site called Gijarro Arrecife, which is basically just outside the small marina beach, and they had a good dive. Theiss was with the other DSD, who unfortunately had some ear problems. We tried to descend but every time we got deeper than 3 meter or so, his ears were causing him problems, so we decided just to cruise around the boat in ca. 2 m. of water to give him some experience of the diving.

On the next dive, we went to the Pipeline, and customers really seemed to have a good time. Theiss went with Alice, Cassandra and the two certified divers, Nigel and Katharine, towards the deeper end of the Pipeline while Malene went with Will and Alexander towards the shallower end. We didn't see any rays unfortunately, but we saw an alicia mirabilis and a hairy crab, of course among the "usual suspects" of the local marine life.

In the evening we had a couple of drinks with Trigger, Cassandra and Nemo, which was really delightful.

Saturday was our day off, and we walked all the way to Yellow Mountain and back together with Cassandra and Trigger, with Theiss and Trigger doing a couple of "snorkeling stops" on the way.

Sunday was yet another good day. We both went to El Puertito (aka. "El Puer-turtle-o") together with Melissa, Will, Nemo, Nigel, Katharine, Ruolof, Dorien and three DSDs: Nicholas with his two children, Lauren and Alex. Malene went out to snorkel with Dorien, which went very well. Theiss, Cassandra and Nemo did the DSDs's skills with Will, and it went okay taking into account the pretty heavy swell.

On the second dive, Will, Rulof, Nigel, Katharine, Nemo, Cassandra and Theiss went for a "fun dive" and we saw a couple of turtles, which was really awesome! Moreover, we saw a sea slug, a cuttlefish and a lot of hermit crabs.

In the afternoon, Trigger and Theiss repaired Eric's rack, and we're sure that he would be proud of our efforts.

That was the fourth week of our internship, which obviously means that we're half way through now. We've come to a point where we're really having a good time doing the dives and mentoring for the new ones while still picking up new things to learn and remember every day. Onwards and upwards, or as we say in the Dive and Sea Tenerife: Élla éllaaaa!

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

Dolphins and Divemasters

Diving everyday, how does that sound?
Two months ago sounded just like a dream, but now it's this week's reality.
Combine that with new dive sites and crazy dolphins and you have magical, add some happy customers with the completion of 60 dives and the stamina tests left for being a PADI Divemaster then it's rewarding.
Simply put, productive, amazing and beautiful week!

I started this week with 54 dives in my logbook. Alice took us to the new dive site to start our day with 3 dives.
The weather was just perfect, we saw the sun rising on the horizon and took some pictures and we were kitted up and ready to go very quickly.
We had three lovely dives, on the first we had a close encounter with a very curious octopus, it kept swimming gracefully like a jet from one rock to the next while watching us.
On the next dive Dennis realized that he had dropped his knife, so using his slate we planned a search and recovery technique by positioning us 4 divers horizontally next to each other going back with the same speed and looking for it.
Andreas found the knife, his buoyancy control is now very impressive, he always spots amazing creatures and now he found the knife as he usually glides at shallower depths to have a broader view of what's around him.

I was leading the third dive, we entered the water from the right most point of the coast. We saw a huge starfish and a cuttle fish next to each other, as we got closer the cuttle fish swam very fast till it disappeared in the distance. We then had a relaxing dive where we saw some scorpion fish, red lipped blennies, another octopus and some trumpet fish.

The next day we went to one of my most favourite dive sites. Poco Naufragio where the huge rays are.  So we took the boat, descended instantly to the deepest point of the site where the small wreck is waited for a couple of minutes and this huge ray was coming from the distance.
I had a look on Alice and she was covered with hundreds of fish so Pete decided we take a cruise around the site. It was the first time we do that here at Poco Naufragio, we always descend stay for a while with minimum movement then ascend back up.

But this time was really interesting because it gave me an idea of what is really around. We saw an octopus hiding under a rock. Pete was playing with his hand in front of the octopus trying to "talk" to it and it worked, the octopus' tentacles were trying to reach for Pete's hand!
Pretty impressive. On the distance, we found huge spurts of octopus ink everywhere around us.
We saw one black moray eel coming out of a rock, then from the same rock a brown moray appeared, then another Fangtooth moray appeared with some spider crabs in the same hole.
It was absolutely magical to see all three morays next to each other. We stayed there for some time taking pictures and watching them.
Then it was time for us to make our safety stop and go back on the boat.

Dennis had to choose the next dive site of the day since it was his 60th dive! We all went to yellow mountain and had an amazing dive there.
We took the tour around Alien rock from the opposite direction which is always interesting. There were so many divers around which was quite unusual.
After the dive and before we were ready to go Pete spotted what seemed like a pack of dolphins hunting on the opposite direction from the marina. But of course that doesn't matter.
When we went there, there were at least 7-9 dolphins.
They surfaced higher than usual, sometime almost jumping out of the water and so close you can hear them breathe. A mother and it's calf were the highlight of the pack.
We kept watching this happen for some time until three stupid jet skies were coming from the distance and ruined the situation.

The next day we went to Las Eras some customers.
It's always nice to go there because the rock formations are so beautiful. It was my 60th dive.
The next dive was to the pipeline and this still remains another one of my most favorite sites in Tenerife.

Lydia was doing her wreck diver speciality so we all went to Tabaiba for two amazing wreck dives. Congratulations for Alice for teaching her first wreck diver speciality course and for Lydia for becoming a new wreck diver specialist!
It was my first wreck dive and I absolutely loved it. It's relatively a big boat 6 years ago and already surrounded by loads of aquatic life. Being there underwater around the wreck is just a great privilege and you feel humbled by the size of this thing and the moment you are experience it.
Between the dives we saw a pack of dolphins hunting close to the shore. This time they were not surrounded by any boats so they felt free to jump as high as they can above the water!

Our last two dives of the week were boat dives at El Delfin and Pequeno Valle.
On the first, we descended in deeper water and went looking for angel sharks.
Just great! I could see his eyes watching us. Then we reached the rock formations. And it was packed with wildlife, we then had a relaxed dive looking around and taking pictures.

Back next week.

PADI Divemaster.... at last :)

Finally! The very thing I have been waiting for, was achieved this week. I can now call myself a PADI Divemaster!

I logged my 60th dive and that shiny red Divemaster t-shirt, and all that comes with it, is now mine!

We get up early, go to the shop, make a few mistakes with the kits, go diving, make some more mistakes, clean the kits, make some more mistakes, return to the shop -where we then make some more mistakes. Just the way we like it! :)

Alices dive number 300 was at Poco Naufragio

We just swam around, with the Morays and saw a huge Ray.
That was the very same day I did my 60th dive. I was leading the dive, along with Andreas, Lydia and Mahmoud. I had the huge honor of being in charge of the camera and did a few pictures.

Next day we went to Las Eras with a Russian costumer. The guy was a free diver with little experience in actual scuba diving, but all in all, he did well.
What I remember most from these dives at Las Eras, was trying to keep up with him (he was my buddy) which was a hard job, since he was wearing these amazingly long fins used in free diving.

Next day we went to a place called Tabaiba, which is home of a wreck.

We came there so Lydia could do her wreck diver speciality. For the first time ever I experience vertigo. The tugboat was laying a bit slanted on the bottom, and I automatically line myself up so I had the same angle as the ship when I looked at it - which apparently didn’t suited my stomach.
Luckily I got myself straightened out before the vertigo overwhelmed me completely.

We completed the dives at Tabaiba with a cup of coffee at a local bar, just talking and laughing for the better of an hour, before returning to the marina to wash the kits.

Next day we had a Dutch customer's and we did two dives at the dive sites called "El Delfin and "Pequeña Valle".
Going to these two sites, was a first time experience for me - so I obviously enjoyed my self.

At the dive we did at Pequeña Valle, we came across some rusty old cages at the bottom, left behind by some fisherman long time ago In one of the cages we came across, a Trumpet fish and a few Atlantic Damselfish had got themselves trapped.
I don’t know why seeing those poor beings trapped in there left such a huge impression on me. The cruelty of some individuals cannot be describe by words (well, yes they can, but I'm not sure that my blog will pass through the censor if I try) Naturally we freed the fish, and continued our dive.

Lydia started doing her DSD leader, and I had the honour of assisting her and the two customers in the pool supervised by Alice.  All in all, we did a pretty decent job with the two customers, but I must admit that keeping an eye on both of them and catching them every time they were about to fall over, wasn’t as easy as I thought.

In the evening all of us went out together to a place called showtime.
A bar-restaurant with a musical theme. They put up a great show for us, performing the highlights from some of the most famous musicals in time.

The thing I liked best with that place though, was that the waiters kept refilling your glass as soon as you had drunk around one third of your beer (In my mind I only drank half a beer that night, but since I ended up with Pete on my back, running up and down the parking lot and screaming like a madman, I must have had the equivalent to at least two beers).

More from me next time

PADI Instructors, PADI Divemaster's and Cava!

Welcome back to Tenerife!

This week has been a blast. Christmas is close (at least in the head of Melissa), everybody went and got drunk, Pete and Melissa has been off for a couple of days and a lot of great dives has been logged.

My first dive this week was the weirdest thing in the history of man. At least my history. Santa Dive. It sounds a bit weird, which it most certainly is. Imagine Pete, Melissa, Alice, Dennis, Lydia Mahmoud and me, all dressed like Santa Clause cruising into the waves on the RIB, off to Yellow Mountain where everyone is diving fully equipped with Santa clothes, beards, scuba equipment, dive computers, knives and whatever else fits the modern day Santa Clause.

We had two amazing dives.
Back in the marina no one could say we didn't pulled our share of attention and comments.
I think one of the funniest things about the dive, was the second one where the interns and I were on our way back to the boat. On the way to the boat we actually encountered two other divers. This happens kinda rare because Yellow Mountain is a fairly big place.
Anyhow what those divers saw that day at Yellow Mountain, no one will ever believe. The two divers descented and swam for Alien Rock, when out of the distance four shapes comes close. At first they won't believe their own eyes, but as the silhouettes come close they can see the red hats, the beards and when one of the four dives pulls out his 'slade' and writes "HO HO HO" they are certain. Santa Clause moved to Tenerife and became a diver.

After the Christmas dive everybody went out one day to celebrate Alice's new PADI instructor certificate and Lydia's completion of her PADI Divemaster course. We had so much fun and were practically laughing almost constantly from we arrived at the bar till we went home.
The next day Pete and Melissa was preparing for their holiday. None of us were up to much so we wasn't diving, but in the afternoon Dennis, Mahmoud and me went snorkling. I've never bother much for snorkling before I came here, but this was really cool. We found a great spot with loads of beautiful fish and because it is a lot quieter to snorkel than to scuba dive, we also saw a lot of fish that we don't usually see much of.

Anyway, after that day, Alice has been in charge of the shop. Fearing the worst, Pete and Melissa found it right two rent a car so we wouldn't be bored and go destroying the shop trying to find something to do. Up until now we have had three amazing days.
We have been diving everyday. First dive was at Abades. The dives was a lot of fun as everybody is getting used to each other underwater. Alice is a great dive leader and finds a lot of nice critters and such to look at. Of course it help a lot that i won the competition of spotting the "biggest" fish and that earn me a bottle of cava at the end of the day.

Our second dive was at Las Eras. Despite of a very strong current i enjoyed the dive a lot. This place is a really beautiful dive with kinda like huge steps into the deep. On the third dive that day Alice told me to lead us to the pipeline which of course was no problem for a skilled diver like me.
At the pipeline we saw so many fish and everything that I nearly don't remember them all. I saw five or six Moray's  A Common Ray and loads of other cool stuff.

The dive we had today was a Project AWARE-dive where we got to pick up rubbish. Wohoo!!!... Though I can easily hear how it sounds it was actually quite good. It helps a lot when you have to pick up garbage surrounded be turtles and pretty fish. We made a competition out of it and though I'm not really sure who won, I'm pretty sure I did again.

I think that is it for this week. Now i want to return to my recharging for tomorrow which involves me and Dennis sitting in our balcony playing guitar and drinking well deserved cava. Dives, dive certifications, good friends, warmth, what more could you ask for.

Till next week, Don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Divemaster Exams and climbing Mountains

Another week down and I'm actually more than halfway through my internship. I really dont know time managed to fly by so quickly - but it did.

I led my first dive this week at Abades. We we're only 4 interns and no customers, so its not like there was any real pressure on me.

Anyway, Andres, Mahmoud, Lydia and I did three dives (Lydia only did the two first due to some misunderstanding regarding bringing enough bottles), Typical intern :)

I led the first dive. We were told to do a 30 minutes dive, and then surface exactly at our descend point.

Everything went fine - after 15 minutes of dive I signalled that it was time to start making our way back and everything went as smooth as I could wish for!

The only hassle we had, was the fact that the surge had roughed up so much silt were we were to descend and ascent, that the visibility was down to one or two metres. We stayed close together and never lost track of each other, so no it was never any major issue!

Andreas led the second dive, and Mahmoud the third, they both did well.

We had Pete timing our 400 meters swim this week as well. Swimming laps in a pool never was my cup of tea, but at least I finished within the allotted time - so I got it in writing now! 

We also did the 15 minutes float (whereas the last to minutes is with your hands and wrists out of the water) In the pool doing the 15 minutes float with me, I had Andreas and Mahmoud. Mahmoud and I had no problem floating the first 13 minutes, but Andreas (due to "slimmer" physic) was struggling a bit keeping buoyant. Then came the signal to raise our arms, and we did. I remained floating as if no change had occurred.

Mahmoud started struggling to keep is nose above water and Andreas just went down like a rock. All that donut eating finally paid of I suppose!

Our very own Alice, AKA Kim, AKA Santa's little helper rose to the rank of PADI instructor this week. So, well done and congratulations to her!

Convenient enough we had 4 customers, 3 of them doing their PADI Advanced course , so Alice was baptised in the doings of an instructor.  
Alice, Peter, the 4 customers and I headed for yellow mountain to do the course's. 
First we did a Peak Performance Buoyancy dive consisting of some exercises in the likes of hovering and swimming through hoops - they all did well - some more than others of course.

Next dive was a navigation dive. Before the second dive, I decided that I had enough air left in my tank from the first tank (you see were this is going already?)

After around 30 minutes of dive, I was down to my last 20 or so bars, and I decided it was time for me to get back to the boat. I swam up to Alice, intending to signal that I was low on air, and wanted to surface.

Poor Alice, conducting her first ever course as an instructor, and doing really well. And then suddenly she has this diver tapping her shoulder, signalling that he is out of air.

Ah well, nobody drowned and all went well in the end, so the day ended as a success for all of us.

There hasn’t been a whole lotta diving this week. We are mainly focusing on polishing our PADI Divemaster skills for the skill circuit. So this means many an hour in the cold waters of the small pool, consulting our slates to see what skills we should do next, trying to forget that we are shaking so much that it feels like we are dancing.

At least I feel that we are all making progress, developing pretty smooth like instructing skills!

It has also been a huge step forward that I passed my Divemaster exam. I can't remember my exact score, but I did alright.

We had a few days of this week, actually we had two days of in a row. The first day of, Andreas and I decided that we had seen what Golf del sur had to offer, so we headed of to Los Christianos for a crazy night out to end all crazy nights out. 
I don’t want to bore you with every boring little detail of our adventure. But the climax would be the two of us ending at a local discotheque at around four in the morning wanting to socialise with some of the locals. We actually had great fun at that place, that is until we got kicked out by a grumpy bouncer for performing a neat little party trick we have invented called the "spider-pig".

The "spider-pig" truly is an amazing acrobatic trick that is out of this world. To perform the "spider-pig" you need to have two guys. One guy stands perfectly still, while the other on jumps up and hangs on his shoulders, climbing all the way around his waist, and then over his shoulders and out through his legs - WITHOUT TOUCHING THE GROUND! 
Needless to say, we were the kings of that discotheque upon performing our act - at least in the eyes of us and the guests, but not in the eyes of the bouncer!

The observant reader may recall that I have been writing about climbing the "Montaña Roja" in one of my older blogs. So on our second day of, the mountain climbers club got together again - this time we had our eyes on a much higher mountain that we had named "Titty Mountain".

We started walking towards the mountain at around 13:30 in the afternoon, and reached the bottom of it around 17:15.

We had been walking all day, and now we were facing a serious problem, we had only around one hour worth on sunlight left, and the mountain was looking pretty steep.
The sensible thing would have been to call of the expedition and return on another day. But the mountain climbers club does not consists of weaklings, so we decided to go to the top, plant our flag, and hightail it down that mountain side before dark. 
Of course we ended up on that mountain top in pitch black, being trapped for more than four hours, before we found a somewhat safe trail down again. 
We all learned an important lesson that day!

"We all happy bunnies?"

-Dennis

My first time getting drunk................... honest :-)

You sure missed a lot of fun this week!
This time it’s not for me to say that I achieved a lot (except for the fact that I had my 100th dive), but the boys sure did achieve a lot!
The boys also did their 100m tow and their 800m snorkel (well Dennis and Andreas did their 800 meter, Mahmoud did 200)
They did their skill circuit and the kit exchange (if you have been reading my blogs, you know what I’m talking about when I say kit exchange).

Oh, oh, and we had an amazing night out!
Well, let me tell you about my week.

So, Monday Andreas and I had a day at the shop while Alice was diving with Dennis, Mahmoud and 3 customers  So Andreas was cleaning the windows of the jeep while I hovered the jeep (and I learned what hovering is, apparently you don’t need to be a wizard) after cleaning the car I timed Andreas his 800 meter swim.

Oh, Tuesday! I had two amazing dives. Melissa took me, Andreas, Mahmoud and a Dutch person to Abades Point and Abades Beach. At the first dive I saw 3 Cuttle fish, I sure love Cuttle fish. The second dive Andreas was leading and he did very well. I saw a Fangtooth Moray Eel, a Black Moray Eel, Cardinal fish and I hope you sit down while reading this because this is going to be so amazing! I saw an Angel shark!!!
The Angel shark was so beautiful. Unfortunately it was gone before Melissa had the chance to make a good picture so nobody really believed us, but who cares, I saw an Angel shark!

I timed Mahmoud and Dennis for their 400m swim and then Mahmoud again for an 800m again. Then I took Dennis and Mahmoud to the pool for a pool session to look at their skills, they’re taking it really serious and it’s great to see how good they are doing.
I hope they are ready for their skills with Pete tomorrow, and I hope they’ll get a great score.

All right, let me tell you about Saturday. We started this day with 2 SANTA dives, they were a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see the pictures!

And the first Santa dive with Dennis being my buddy was my 100th dive! And after the Santa dives the boys did their 100m tow and Dennis and Andreas did their 800m snorkel.

In the evening we all went out again to celebrate that Alice is a PADI instructor and that I’m a PADI Divemaster,

So this was part 2. Oh Mama, I was so drunk. I have never ever been drunk in my life, I don’t even drink.
And because I felt safe surrounded by Pete, Melissa, Alice and the 2 boys Dennis and Andreas, I thought why not. We had an amazing time and we had a lot of fun.
I can say that it sure was an experience. I remember the most crazy things and Dennis and Andreas told me a lot more funny things that happened that night.

The next morning after being so drunk, Melissa came to check on me to see if I was ok, and actually, I was mighty fine. (from all the stories I’ve heard about being drunk I expected a major hangover.) That’s how nice Melissa is.

Well, that was my awesome week

PADI Advanced course and PADI Rescue course!

Well, my third week at Dive and Sea Tenerife. 

This week has brought a lot of different dive, studies and experiences.

For starters I had my first deep dive as part of my PADI Advanced course. great dive with Dennis, Pete and Ann.

We got down to 26 meters where we had to do some different tasks. Putting squares and triangles into a for-the-purpose-shaped box seems easy for my one-year old nephew, but it sure ain't that easy when you're sitting on the bottom of the Atlantic, with a playful Common Ray trying to push you over!

Next dive that day was my navigation dive. We went to Yellow Mountain where we got down with compasses and tried the best we could to do some different swim patterns using our compasses.
Last dive that day was our fish-ID. Great dive. our objective is to go down and try to spot as many different fish as possible. 

We tried to sketch some, and then find the names and such back at the shop. Maybe me and Dennis, my buddy, cheated a bit by just swimming to the nearest reef, splitting a few Sea-Urchins and waiting for the fish to come to us. Luckily for us our plan worked out just fine, and we saw loads and loads of beautiful colours all around us.

The next day was our time to become PADI Advanced divers. 
A day with a night dive and a peak-performance buoyancy dive.

Well beside the obvious physical pain in my body by getting up that early in the morning, it was probably the best dive I've ever had. 

It's a completely unique feeling when you are descenting into dark water with only a flashlight to keep you just a little oriented. Well the most amazing thing of the dive was after a couple of minutes down hanging a few meters off the bottom, when a huge two and a half meter Sting Ray come gliding our of the water. One of the most incredible sights I have ever seen.

After that experience the next dive that day has to have a serious thrill to keep up, but none the less we really enjoyed ourself at the next dive, swimming through hoops under water and trying to establish good buoyancy  Piece of cake if you ask me.

With my PADI Advanced course completed I was going straight on to the PADI Rescue course. At first it took a lot of reading to get ready for exams and stuff, so that we could finally all get onto the fun part by splashing around in the water.

The rescue course is really one of the funniest courses you can take of all the PADI courses. Even picking a non-responsive diver up from the bottom, it really gives a lot of laugh. people passing by stopped just to look at seven crazy people swimming around, half of them giving their best efforts to act like panicked divers, and the other half trying to rescue them to the boat six feet away.

Anyway the course went great and I can now call myself a certified PADI Rescue Diver.

After that the rescue course I had a few days just working in the shop. Cleaning kits, reading and things like that, so I was really thrilled when I went on a dive at Abades again with Melissa, Dennis, Lydia and Mahmoud. We had three dives with Lydia leading and they all went great. 

Just swimming around looking at funny and pretty creatures with no stress at all. Abades Beach is a really chilled place to dive. Just to walk to a beach with sun bathing tourists and disappear into the waves to find a quiet world just outside reach of the regular sun tanners.

Yesterday I had a great dive. Dennis and me were doing our first mapping divers which we need for our PADI Divemaster certification. First we got a really nice tour around Alien Rock together with Pete, where we tried to draw our own maps. 

The next dive we had to find our own way around leading Pete who got lost for the first time at Yellow Mountain and had to rely on his two new favorite interns. But after all we led Pete safely back to his beloved little vessel and he could climb safely aboard. I'd like to say that we tried to calm him down and then sailed the boat back to shore and smoked cigarettes while Pete washed the kits,( Or was this all just a dream!!)

We went to help out at some pool sessions with some new costumers, preparing them to their first dive in three years. all in all it went quiet well and we all went to Yellow Mountain for three dives. 
We had three very good divers. spotted a lot of Cuttlefish and Common Octopus, aside from all the more regular, but still beautiful fish, at Yellow Mountain.

Well I think I'm gonna end my blog for this week, 'cause I'm in the lucky event of having my girlfriend being here to visit me for a few days, so at the moment I feel that I got more important things to do before my next day start tomorrow at seven. For a freaking wreck dive. That sounds pretty cool!

Hasta luego, which is Spanish for see you next week... Or something like that.

Andreas