The last week of our Dive and Sea Tenerife internship

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

PADI Divemaster Intern ~ Hannah

Hi, I am Hannah and I´ve come to Dive and Sea to do my Divemaster internship.

I did my open water certification 3 years ago in Malta and loved it so when I saw an advert for this internship I jumped to it and here I am hoping to become a Divemaster!

I have been given the delightful nickname of Montana, I’ll leave you to guess why. I’ve been here a week now. It’s been a full on, fun-filled one. At the start of the week we did a scuba tune up in the pool which bought back a few memories from my open water course and some skills I worryingly didn’t remember at all!

It was pretty cold and as we were leaving the pool I managed to fall over with my tank on my back whilst picking up my weight belt so I was like a turtle on its back – smooth.
In the afternoon Eric and I did a presentation about ourselves as well as Alice and Pete to get to know each other.
Day two was our first shore dive and first venture into the sea on Tenerife. I have to say I didn’t see much due to my new mask steaming up which wasn’t ideal on a fish identification dive. We also did a navigation dive, navigating a straight line, square and triangle, we practiced on land which I think was quite comical for the two onlookers. Underwater it took us two attempts to navigate the triangle as I think I couldn’t do the maths or something. That afternoon we headed to a hotel pool;s to offer a free scuba try with Alice.

I was quite surprised not everyone leapt out of their sun beds but maybe that’s just me. One guy seemed really chuffed with the experience and the children who gave it a go seemed to enjoy it.

There’s been lots to do and learn, sorting kit, preparing dives and daily jobs. I have learnt “yeh it was cool” is not a sufficient debrief at the end of the day. We did our Adventure dive readings through the week so we were clued up for the dive the next day.
On Wednesday we went to a deep dive and wreck dive. On the drive there we listened to a dance anthem CD that I am sure I am going to be pretty familiar with by the end! Carrying tanks to and from the car is heavy stuff but I am sure ill get stronger. I really enjoyed both those dives and I recognised more fish. Later on Pete showed us how to map a dive.
Thursday was our first boat dive. It was good fun and I was relieved I didn’t get seasick as we bounced along the water. There were lots of trumpet fish and I saw my first cuttle fish (name dropping). I tried killing an urchin as they take over the area but I was useless at it, it moved faster than me which was impressive!
We attempted to map a dive, Patrick let me borrow his dive computer so I took spot depths and Eric took bearings however when back in the shop and trying to put them together it was very confusing.

It’s going to take a bit of practice but we managed to produce a map by the end. We did our 400m timed swim which I was a little nervous for but I did it in 9 mins 11 secs which is fine, I just thought I was swimming in slow motion compared to super quick Eric.

We have practiced skills in the pool a couple of times, I have made several pretty silly mistakes but there is time for improvement! I demonstrated how not to do a skill pretty well on several of them.
We have learnt how to give a diving brief, on my first attempt I classically got the giggles and struggled through it but second time around I managed to keep a straight face.
After shop shuts I have been doing my readings and trying to get early nights for those early starts! I have been swimming in the pool a couple of times and it is so nice to swim in an empty pool!

On Thursday we completed our PADI Advance Open Water Diver certification! Yay and straight onto reading the Rescue diver manual – there ain´t no rest for the wicked!
We have watched dated American PADI dvds which we just about paid attention to through out. There is loads to remember, lots of checklists and I still regularly go around in circles having forgot this and that but at least I know which keys open each of the 6 doors to put away gear now!
The weather has been pretty cloudy all week, today is the first day the sun has been properly out and I am now embarrassingly very burnt.
I can identify more fish now and a fish is no longer just a fish, it’s got a name.

Hannah

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

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.

Una realmente corta!

Adal aka Gary

Esta semana ha sido realmente corta porque trabajé en mis labores educativas lunes, martes y viernes y además no tuve que ir el jueves porque me dieron día libre.

Al fin terminé los capítulos de mi libro de aventuras y el miercoles fuimos a Pequeño Valle y Moon Pools con una pareja Alemana Jan (instructor y Eleonora y tuvimos unos magnificas y relajadas inmersiones, el primero fue especial para Jan ya que con esa inmersión hizo las 400 y pudimos ver un chucho y vimos como Alice despertó a una manta raya que estaba cubierta de arena y muchas otras cosas porque la visibilidad era excelente y disfrutamos el recorrido por estos increíbles lugares.
El Sábado tuvimos 2 irlandeses Niall y Emmet que realizaron su Discover Scuba Diving (DSD)  y mi primera vez con Alice y Emelyne en la piscina impartiendo un DSD. Después de la sesión en la piscina y como Emelyne iba a recibir a su tío, fuimos a la Marina Pete, Alice, los irlandeses y yo, para sus primeras inmersiones en Montaña Amarilla.

El domingo para empezar el día Alice, Emelyne y yo fuimos a la piscina para prácticar nuestras skills(habilidades???) durante un rato. Yo ceo que lo hicimos bastante mejor que la primera vez que fuimos a la piscina, pero aún nos falta bastante para hacerlas correctamente, y hay tantas cosas en mi lista de cosas por hacer para llegar a ser Divemaster, pero se conseguirá llegado el momento ;).

Después de ir a la piscina Melissa nos llevó a Abades y mientras nos preparábamos para las inmersiones Alice encontró un nuevo apodo para mi Gary Pineapple, o dicho de otra manera Gary Piña, porque se me ocurrió la brillante idea de hace una cola con el pelo en la parte superior de mi cabeza, en vez de en la parte posterior.

Otra cosa que sucedió mientras nos preparábamos para las inmersiones fue que nos tocó caminar por el parking durante un rato, de una manera extraña y algo alocada, mirando nuestras brújulas e intentando que no nos atropellaran coches, porque íbamos a realizar nuestra inmersión de navegación.

Realizamos dos inmersiones allí, en la primera Alice lidero la mitad de la inmersión y Emelyne nos llevó de vuelta al punto de encuentro nos indicó Alice al principio de la inmersión, esa también fue nuestra inmersión de identificación de pescados (FID) en la que pudimos ver viejas (parrotfish), fulas negras (blue-fin damselfish), fula blanca(atlantic damselfish), sargos blancos (white bream), chopas (black bream), pejeverdes (ornate wrasse), lagartos (Diamond lizardfish), lagarto (Atlantic lizardfish), gallinitas (sharpnose buffer), tamboriles (bandtail buffer), tapacubos (wide-eyed flounder), estrellas (blue starfish), cangrejo araña (arrow crab), abanico/peineta (spiny fan-mussel), holoturias/pingaburros (cotton spinner), gusanos de fuego (fire sworms), erizos de mar comunes (sea urchins), and much more.

Otra cosa a nombrar fue también que ese día Emelyne y yo hicimos nuestro primer intento a hacer la presentación previa a la inmersión briefing, espero de verdad que llegue a parecerse más, porque tendremos que trabajar bastante porque nos faltaron bastantes cosas que decir y también tener en cuenta el orden adecuado.
De cualquier manera los dos lideramos por primera vez lideramos una inmersión correctamente, no como la parte de la inmersión de navegación en que por una de mis mal interpretaciones y alguna de Emelyne, la liamos un poco, de cualquier manera fueron unas magnificas inmersiones en las que vimos bastantes peces, con buena visibilidad y también la locura que significa ver por primera vez un club de buceo o lo que fuera que fue, teniendo algún momento con algo de masificación subacuatica en nuestra segunda inmersión.

Esta semana fue bastante buena en la que los clientes fueron muy agradables y ayudaban y también una semana extraña porque estaré fuera durante casi 2 semanas, porque después del lunes y martes en mis labores docentes, me voy unos días a Madrid y mi primer viaje al África continental, visitando Marruecos hasta el día 29 de marzo.

Adal aka Gary aka Gary Pineapple ;)

La vuelta de Marruecos

Adal aka Gary aka Gary Pineapple

Esta fue otra semana corta, porque llegué el viernes y solo pude trabajar dos días.

Nada más llegar a Tenerife el viernes de mis vacaciones, de vuelta a la gloriosa luz del sol y como algunos amigos querían ir de caminata a las Montañas de Anaga. Fue aterrizar, dejar mis maletas en casa, descansar un momentito e ir de pateo desde el Restaurante Casa Carlos a Taborno y vuelta al Restaurante, en el norte de la Isla.

Un pateo agradable con buenas vistas y un tiempo relajante para coger fuerzas pare el resto de la semana y recuperar algo de fuerza para la vuelta al trabajo.

Así que el Sábado empezamos con una session de piscine con Simon, Connor, Deborah y Lucy de Brighton que estaban haciendo su experiencia de Discover Scuba Diving con Pete, Alice, Sam y yo. Ellos lo hicieron bien y eran avidos snorkellers, las chicas contentas con la session de piscine, pero decidieron solo acompañar en el barco.

Más tarde Simon, Connor, Sam, Alice y yo buceamos en Montaña amarilla y ellos disfrutaron de las inmersiones y Debora y Lucy disfrutaron su viaje en barco, así que todo fue bastante bien. Como siempre, había bastante pescado, unos pocos pez trompeta, las pequeñas gallinitas, tamboriles y sargos dejandose ver, pasando junto a las anguilas jardineras. Todos disfrutamos de las inmersiones.

Este a sido mi primer DSD completo desde el principio hasta el final, con las inmersiones actuando como ayudante, me encantaría poder enseñar la experiencia de DSD por mi cuenta .

El domingo tuvimos un par de inmersiones en Roca Alienigena y otra en la Roca Cocodrilo con Molly y Dan, de Estados Unidos de Norteamerica que vivían en Londres y Jean Pierre de Bélgica y Che de Reino Unido. Alice lidero las inmersiones y yo acompañaba a Sam. Las inmersiones fueron muy agradables y pudimos ver algunos de esto reefs y bastante pescado incluyendo algún pulpo y algunos lady escarlatas y poder observar y comprender de qué manera los erizos diadema(erizos de lima o erizos de puas largas) destruyen el entorno para otras especies.

Después las actividades para un día normal y también realizar la segunda medida de mis 400 metros a nado, actividad en la que realmente tengo que mejorar desde ahora hasta que termine las prácticas.
Parece que sigo liandola un poco con la cuerda para atracar el barco, pero al menos ya voy haciendolo bastante mejor con el ancla.

Fue una buena experiencia conocer a Sam, un Divemaster español que hizo sus practices hace dos años, está trabajando en Londres y volvió para disfrutar del sol y las sensasiones de bucear. Buenas charlas y otro compañero que trabaja duro.

Además para despedir a Sam, al terminar el día Sam, Peter y yo nos tomamos algo ya que Sam volvía a las frias tierras inglesas antes del miercoles cuando yo volvería a mis labores de buceo. Peter es un nuevo compañero en practices  que va a empezar este lunes y que a partir de ahora se llamará Patrick y que es demasiado joven para juvilarse de su actividad anterior.

Sigo leyendo mi libro de rescate de buceo



que espero terminar pronto, de manera que pueda empezar con primeros auxilios, nadar y otras actividades que tengo que mejorar estas semanas. De cualquier manera mejorando, pero mucho camino aún .

Y creo que esto es todo de momento,
Salu2 y mucha suerte,
Adal aka Gary aka Gary Pineapple ;)

New Divemaster candidate, New Name and New Adventures...

And the adventure starts

Adalberto (Gary)

I’m originally from Tenerife and after a long while just enjoying snorkelling at last after several years looking forward to learning to dive. I started my Open Water Diver but it took nearly two months to finish with another company, I finally finished it on Saturday woohoo I am an Open  Water diver at last!! 

So finally I was able to begin my PADI Divemaster internship on Monday morning with Dive and Sea Tenerife.  The island was on an Orange weather Alert which meant I could have the whole day off as I am also a part time teacher in the north of the island.

When I got to the shop I met Pete, Melissa and Alice (Kim) and also another new intern from France Emelyne that later on was renamed Brian (the snail out of Magic roundabout) and I also got a new name Gary (this is the snail out of sponge bob!!,) apparently this is a tradition for all new interns.   I have to say its better than some of the others that I have heard!

On our first day we received information about the internship and how to do daily duties. As well as running through a pool skill session with Alice first thing in the morning, apparently I have many more of these to look forward to…..

Unfortunately the orange alert finished, so on Tuesday morning I had to go and teach, but headed off down south to Dive and See Tenerife to go shopping to get wetsuits for Brian and I as well as some other things we need for the internship.  Its like a divers heaven in there I could have spent a fortune. 

Apparently this is another tradition taking interns over to ProSub so that they can try on their suits…… Melissa and her friend Ann found this really funny, as Brian and I were really over heating trying on different wetsuits!!  Luckily after the second suit I had found the suit for me. Phew!

Then the real adventure began as we went out on the boat for our dives. Brian and I were starting our PADI Advanced Open Water Course and on this day we completed our Deep and Boat dives.. Already I am well on my way to completing the Advanced course.. thankfully its not going to take two months here. 

Still so much to learn we are learning on our dives as well as learning how everything is done here at Dive and Sea Tenerife.  Part of the learning seems to be making lot of mistakes but I am sure its going to click soon!

I had three great dives, my first dive was at Poco Naufragio with Pete, Emelyne, and Ann, this was my Deep Adventure dive, and on the dive we even saw a Common Ray, this dive site is so special, I couldn’t wait to go again and luckily I was able to go later in the week, with Dan on his Advanced Open Water Course.  Our second and third dives of the day were at Yellow Mountain, Alien Rock, there are several sites here so I am told and I am definitely looking forward to exploring the other sites, but on this occasion we did two deep dives to Alien Rock, there was so much to think about and see that I am sure I would get lost if I was asked to navigate this site!!!

Another very early start and out we went for 2 boat dives with customers Ann and Dan and made a couple of nice dives.  It was great to be able to work on my buoyancy this was my third advanced dive… two more to go and I will be an Advanced Diver.  The second dive to the swim through, another site within the bay was wonderful I really enjoyed this dive

On Friday shore dive to El Puertito, because of the storm we had at the beginning of the week the conditions were not ideal there were strong waves so getting into the sea and out was quite difficult specially for Dan, but when we were inside, except for the low visibility it was a nice dive in which I first meet the lovely turtle that hugged us.

Finally a nice bright sunny day and the sea has calmed so I was very excited about more dives.  Two boat dives this was Dan’s Deep and Boat dive of his advanced course, it was good for Brian and I to be able to observe the course.

On the first dive to Poco Naufragio,  we met a ray who was going around us like a dog and then three morays, two black and one fangtooth. Amazing.  Our Second dive after dropping Melissa back at the Marina was to Yellow Mountain, this is such an amazing site and very popular with all our divers.  On this dive we were able to see TrumpetFish, Wrasse, Bream and Octopus fantastic.

On Sunday we prepared for a shore dive to Abades, where we did 2 dives with Melissa, Alice, Emelyne, Jake (Doing Discover Scuba diving), Dan (Doing his Advanced course) and Jan(Instructor), I did really enjoy both dives as in the first one was buddy with Dan and helping him and seeing how a Discover Scuba diving usually manage and on the second dive my buddy was Jan and it was really interesting to see the big difference that experience give on this underwater world.

The week was really long, think have never being so physical and mental tired in my whole life and had seeing that after the internship I will be much fitter and also will learn quite a lot of things. And really looking forward to next week more learning and hopefully lots more dives

And I think this is it for now,

Take care and good luck,

   Adal (Gary)