Urchin kill's, DSD's and I found out im a Master craftsman!

Monday I ate food and then came into work at 7 AM. We set up kit and went to Yellow Mountain and I may have been on boat cover.
Either way the boat is still safe and Hannah still can’t do boat cover very well :)

Tuesday was a complete turn around, it was probably comparable to  what everyone thought of E=MC^2 after Einstein thought of it. I don’t want to toot my own horn but my performance was easily at the top, and even though some interns(I don’t want to name names…Hannah) might think that this is all just a game, it definitely is not.

I actually did boat cover on Tuesday though, it’s all coming back to me. I was fantastic though,its really not a surprise though.
Wednesday I got to go to El Puertito with Melissa and Will and 3 customers doing DSD's. We saw the baby turtle and that also put me at 59 dives, which meant that I was going to beat Hannah to becoming a Divemaster.

Thursday I had the day off and really didn't do all that much except lay on the couch and sleep, then that night I watched a movie called Triangle which was about the creepiest movie I have ever seen and it made it much more difficult to sleep because my mind wouldn't shut off.
Then Friday we went to El Puertito again for my 60th dive. I was immensely tired that day but I did become a PADI Divemaster and I beat Hannah to it by at least 3 days. So it was completely worth it.
We went to El Delphin Saturday and Sunday which was an awesome dive site, and starfish bay was full of sea urchins.

So Saturday Theiss and I got slightly carried away while carrying out a sea urchin genocide. They were taken completely by surprise, the ambush was perfect. We came at them from above with knives in our hands and no remorse in our hearts. We then got told to stop and the cry of joy from the remaining sea urchins was deafening.  I’ve been having hearing issues ever since.

Sunday I also got to start on crafting a new drying rack for the BCD’s and wetsuits. It will easily be the best rack up there. Able to hold an elephant I would wager, probably capable of withstanding hurricane force winds and so stable that it could withstand an earthquake of 9.0 or greater on the Richter scale. I can’t speak highly enough of my craftsmanship.

That was the cherry on the top of my week. Done.

Eric

" They think my name is Patrick"

I started my internship on April fools day and realised that I may have enlisted in a far flung outpost of the French Foreign legion.
The reason being that every intern here is given a new name when they start which is very amusing. Mine is now Patrick!

I received a very warm welcome from Pete, Melissa and Alice when I arrived and they have continued to make learning and development an enjoyable experience.

I have been very impressed with Alice who has been my instructor at the very calm, clear and patient manner that she has with the interns and the customers.

I have also started to bond well with Gary who is a Canarian intern.We are fast become a team and good friends. He has already been here a month and is showing me the ropes.

This week I have done 12 dives and I have done my deep dive adventure dive to the Submarine site just outside the Marina.

There Pete showed me a pregnant Ray in some rocks and a Fangtooth Moray Eel which was sharing a hole with a Black Moray eel. I have also done some shore Abades with Alice, Gary and a customer Kat who is a newly qualified PADI open water diver. There we saw numerous fish of different types which included Parrot fish, Blue fin Damsel fish,ornate wrasse to name a few.

This week I have met some very nice customers and we have all enjoyed the diving that has been on offer.

At Yellow Mountain I saw an octopus,trumpet fish, white bream and fire worms. At Alien Rock with Pete we saw a large shoal of Barracuda near the surface. There has also been octopus, white bream and great weavers and lots of other fish.

At The Swim through site we also saw grey mullets, octopus and lots of interesting coloured coral.

The weather here has been fantastic this last week with clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid 20's. The diving conditions have been fantastic with the sea temperature being 20 degrees and visibility being up to 20 metres.

"So what are you waiting for get out here"

Patrick

Ps Just off to feed my camel now. Yes they really do have camels here on Tenerife!

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)

El Puertito.... Best Dive ever?...........Probably :-)

Once again I began a week with my favourite dive site, El Puertito. This was another chance for me to prove myself as I was given the chance to lead the dives.

Melissa usually leads these dives and if I’m honest we usually see more when she leads, but this is in no way a criticism of me as just about anyone here will tell you I’m pretty professional and not to forget perfect, or maybe they would disagree?

The first dive really couldn't of gone much better we descended and within five minutes were playing with turtles. Another brilliant experience and I truly believe it is impossible to become bored of this dive site. I mean even if you don’t see the turtles, just as we didn't on the second dive, there is always plenty to see.
As usual for the second dive I aimed for the sea anemone, alone this is beautiful, but as I've previously mentioned it is also the home to sexy shrimp. There is also trumpet fish, cuttlefish, cleaner shrimp and parrot fish on this dive, which just makes for some of the best diving around.

More dive leading! I never should have mentioned to Alice it’s something I felt I’d struggle with.
This time we went to Yellow Mountain with George, Allen, Sue and Stuart and Alison. The first dive site was Alien Rock which is one of three dive sites at Yellow Mountain. This one went well with the usual fish about, such as damsels and bream.
However, it wasn't nearly as good as the second dive. After briefing I would lead the group to Crocodile Rock I decided to unintentionally go to Swim Through, but in all honesty the dive was so much better because of this, and thus I still maintain that it was a success. After heading through the big hole in the rock (I think this might be why it’s called swim through) we ended up swimming close to crocodile rock where we saw a baby common ray, which was a first for me, and another great experience.

Shore diving to Las Eras with Julia and Frank and for once I didn't have to lead the dive so I was already happy. This dive site is quickly becoming a favourite for me, mainly because of the massive diversity of fish you can see here, if you head left out of the bay you can see an abundance of shoals of bream, barracuda and even my personal favourite sexy shrimp.

However, if you head right to the pipeline you can see the big things like morays, rays and octopus. This is exactly what we saw on our dives, the first dive was brilliant, but for me, it can’t compare to the second dive. To start with the brown moray hiding in the pipeline was stretching a fair way out of its hole to try and snap at Melissa. Then there was the two rays sleeping in gaps and not to forget the octopus in the rocks that were incredibly grumpy if you moved any of their rocks.

Last diving day of the week and I was instructed to lead a dive without any supervision, so it was my first time flying solo, just like Maverick only better looking. The first dive was to Alien Rock and it went off without a hitch and we managed to get all the way round and even see a large colony of sexy shrimp on an anemone.
The next dive was to swim through and after obviously going to crocodile rock on the way back I managed to get lost around five to ten meters from the boat. So we just swam around in a big circle, after about five minutes I was relieved to find the anchor line and finish the dive in perfect timing.

If I’m being honest and I usually am, it’s becoming fairly tough for me here. After seeing me work for five weeks everyone just expects me to be my usual perfect self, which is a big burden to carry, but I do have off days, obviously not as many as everyone else, but it does occasionally happen.

To round the week off I had a day off, and after heading to the pub to watch the formula 1, I quickly realised the pocket where my keys usually are, was feeling awfully empty. Thus I was locked out of my apartment, as the keys were actually on the table inside.

So to finish the week nicely I slept on the sofa of Kevin and Perry (new interns) and forgot to close the balcony door and am now covered in mosquito bites.

Sam (Popeye)

The Professionals at work

Now certified as PADI Divemasters, we had the week to use our skills and at last take our snorkels off!

We all started the week going to Las Eras, our favourite dive site. Two great customers and two great dives.

Melissa who has been diving here for 4 years or so now agreed that it was the biggest Octopus she had ever seen.............. it was rather large.

We were scared it would eat us. It gave a lovely display swimming in front of us we where rather lucky.
We continued to spot many more Octopus and Moray Eels, as well as Barracuda, and two Gurnurds, who have beautiful wings stretched out when the swim or fly.

We all spent the next day at Yellow Mountain where we went to Alien Rock lead by Geoffrey with our customer  Peter,  seeing a Common Ray and all the locals at the mountain.

As our time with Dive and Sea was coming to an end we all went out for a lovely dinner paid for with Beer Fines .
It was a great night with some individuals drinking a little too much. The next day we where left to recover.

The next few days where left to us to re arrange the shop and moving all the diving equipment to our new storage facility and now the shop is much more spacious and airey. It looks great.

Todd and Jess’s last day was leading dives at Yellow Mountain and cleaning the boat and shop.

It has been a roller coaster ride and a great experience we thank Pete and Melissa for putting up with us and all there help gaining us our Emergency First Responder, PADI Rescue Diver and PADI Divemaster qualifications.

Good Bye from us. Geoffrey is still here for a few more days so you will still be hearing from him!

Have i mentioned i feel ill?

The day began with a lay in until 8.30. Luxury. After arriving at work nice and refreshed it was time for some revising, in preparation for our PADI Assistant Instructor exams next week. After the nice relaxed start to the day it was off to the marina for me and Pete to get the boat out of the water for the engines service. Upon arriving at the marina we were informed that the Crane (required to lift the boat out of the water) would be ready in 5 minutes. So a Spanish 5 minutes later or the English equivalent of an hour and a half someone finally turned up on a golf buggy to lift the boat out of the water. Laid back to say the least.
After laying around on the boat we returned to the shop to revise, clean the cars and remind everyone how hard we had to work at the marina. Next, time for a spot of lunch following a relaxed morning.

After lunch myself and Melissa headed off to get some tank’s filled, then me and Bungle had some enjoyable physics exams to get our teeth into, in which I managed to fail. Not pleased, some more help needed.

On to Saturday, no sign of a lay in this morning being in the shop for 7.30am. First on the agenda was assembling the kit ready for Ann’s Open Water Dives 1 and 2 for her PADI Open Water Course.
I spent the morning on shop duty along with Melissa chilling out, catching up on revision and paper work. Then to my horror I discovered a major wound on my hand which led me to the conclusion I was going to lose my hand.

On the other hand Bungle headed to Playa Negra with Ann, Alice and Pete. After a peaceful morning and some tea drinking the group returned from Playa Negra and Pete expressed how much he loves shore dives and never has the opportunity to do enough of them! Then we headed off the marina to clean the kit. When we arrived at the marina there was still no sign of the boat which was still being serviced, which added to Pete’s ‘joy filled’ day. Once back at the shop we fixed a BCD and sat some more ‘old dive master style’ exams in preparation for our PADI Assistant Instructor Course. I managed to score 90%, 95% and 100% on the three exams completed. Not bad but not perfect... Yet.
A very ‘Spanish day’, very laid back and I can’t complain.

Another Sunday in paradise and a perfect opportunity to do the bare minimum. The day consisted of eating, reading, more eating and a run around the golf (Gold Del Sur). On the other hand Bungle headed back to the U.K for a few days to buy some much needed Nesquick for Melissa!

On to Monday arriving at the shop for 7.30am to get the kit together for a spot more diving with Ann. Next we headed to the marina where the boat was ready and waiting, much to Pete’s delight. We headed out to Gijjaro Arrecife for Ann’s Open Water dives 3 and 4 in which she did brilliantly and overcame here fear of removing her mask with little help from Pete.

After some brilliant diving we arrived back at the marina, where I successfully managed to misplace a
T-Shirt, I was not pleased to say the least. After overcoming the distraught of losing a T-Shirt we unpacked the kit and headed off to eat. After lunch, some more exams including physics which I was fairly confident of my ability in, which proved very misplaced as I didn’t manage to pass the exam. Ohh dear, Perfect Pete would not be best pleased. The day finished with a de-brief and some mockery of my physics errors. A bit more revision in order I think.

One whole week since last Tuesday and the day began at 7.30, when we assembled kit for Patrick, on holiday from Ireland and Ann our newly qualified Open Water Diver. After picking everyone up Melissa, I, Patrick and Ann headed to El Puertito to try and find aquatic animals of the Turtle kind.

Two dives later and lots of smiling faces from seeing the Turtles on the first of two fantastic dives. The Turtle/s thought It would be a good idea to follow us almost to shore on our return from the dive and one even managed to bump in to my mask due it’s ‘fantastic’ vision.

After returning, cleaning the kit and a spot of lunch Tiede Diver’s turned up to start the first section of Bungle, I and Jackie’s PADI Assistant Instructor Course. EXCITED. The afternoon consisted an introduction to the course a brief presentation and a full sitting of all 8 ‘old style Divemaster’ exams. Oh the Joys. A nice late finish later and some discussion on just how ill I felt all day (near death) we headed to a bar for several beers in aid of Alice’s departure. Huuuwahhhh wahhh wahhhh (Sympathy).

Just for anyone who cares I was feeling slightly better and in fact did not die. Bonus.
The day began with assembling all of the kit for yet some more diving with the ‘fantastic Ann’, who we have almost persuaded to come back out here later in the year to complete a Divemaster internship.

Bungle, I, Alice and Pete headed to the marina where Ann met us, we loaded the boat and headed out to Yellow Mountain. The first dive found the group heading off to Alien rock, leaving me on the boat due to still recovering from my near death experience.

The first dive was also Alice’s 100th dive, BIG Congratulations even if she didn’t stick to tradition.
The second dive took Alice, Pete and Ann off to the swim through followed by Crocodile Rock, leaving an ill Bungle on the boat with me.

We all returned to the shop and then Bungle aka ‘Bodge it’ and I had the task of destroying the shop and reassembling it, well that’s what we did any way. Two cabinets later and some rearranging of kit storage, it was time for a well deserved breakfast at the Aberdeen, Perfect. When we returned to the shop we finished tidying away the mess we created and headed off to get some tanks filled with Melissa. The day concluded with a brief de-brief and some more tea. A good day all round.

The next day, Bungle and I, although being given the option of a lay in decided to get up anyway and come to the shop, because we are such fantastic interns. We spent the morning finishing off yesterdays rearranging of the shop and this very blog. Then Pete and Alice arrived at the shop in order to collect some kit and say fair well to Alice who was sadly leaving us today.

Shortly after the one and only Tiede Divers (Jackie and Phil) arrived for day 2 of our PADI Assistant instructor course. The day began with a lot of tea drinking followed by fantastic presentations on everything from ‘the PADI system’ to ‘Quality Management’.

Then Melissa and Fantastic Ann returned from a great morning of diving at Abades which warranted another break and some more tea drinking. Rightly so. After a spot of lunch we returned to enjoy some more physics revision and a few exams to test our knowledge. Not to mention the fact that Melissa and Ann disappeared to the Aberdeen for a breakfast whilst everyone but ‘Admin’ continued to work.
The day concluded with saying good bye to Ann and a recap on what we had completed throughout the day.

Another week gone and only 12 days remaining! Not good. The idea of returning to England is less appealing now more than ever. As a final note, good luck to Alice with whatever the future throws her way (like a war for example), see you again soon.

Adios

Dolphins and more Dolphins

Time still flies by, where have all those weeks gone?!

On Monday the next new intern arrived; Carl, a PADI Master Scuba Diver from England. 

The morning began with a skill session in the pool, which for me, was quite a while ago. Melissa, Chris, George, Carl, Pete and I got into the pool to see where our skills were up to. 

For Melissa, it had already been more than a year since her last skill session, for Chris and George this was all still new and for Carl it was also difficult, because he learned his skills a different way at another dive center and with another instructor. 

The session went very well, and after a welcome cup of tea, everyone except Pete and Carl, who had an induction morning, went to Abades, where Chris and George were doing to do two dives. 

I unfortunately had to skip these dives because my arms and legs were completely covered with a horrible rash, and I was afraid to make it worse. Whether this is due to an allergic reaction to my last week's antibiotics, something I ate or the cleaner for wetsuits (as it is only my arms and legs) I don't know, but hopefully it will get better soon. Melissa and I enjoyed some biscuits and hot chocolate on the terrace, while studying our Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving. 

Meanwhile, Chris and George had to really lovely dives and claim to have seen an Angel Shark and Stingray. However, as we all know: "No Picky No Believy".

The next day we left with the whole group for two dives, again with the exception of Pete, who stayed behind in the shop. We had heard of a beautiful dive site, El Poris, but didn't exactly know where that was. 

After a long drive we found the little village 'El Poris', where we discovered that it would be a long walk on the beach before reaching the water. It was a small bay that looked very shallow, which meant that had to do a long surface swim to actually get to the dive site. So we decided that is would be better to go to an other dive site to have more valuable dive time. 

We went back to Abades, where Chris and George had seen a lot of beautiful things during their dives on the previous day. For me this was only the second time to this dive site. The last time was with Rachel and Helen. Although it was a cold, cloudy day, it was a lot warmer than last time so we got in the water to explore this beautiful dive site. 

The first dive was to the right side of the bay, where we followed the rocks on our right hand side. I had never been to this side of the dive site and was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of the aquatic life. We saw a pink colored Octopus, a Black Sea Hare, a lot of common Sea Hare's, numerous Nudibranch, Annulated Brittle Stars, Blue Starfish, Lightfoot Crabs and much more. After 40 minutes we had seen so much despite the fact that we had only swam out about 30 meters. 

For the second dive, we decided to go to the left side of Abades, where we soon found ourselves surrounded by Jellyfish. Melissa, who led the dive and wasn't wearing gloves or a hood, decided it was best to get out of the water as quickly as possible, to avoid anyone to get stung. We had only been underwater for 12 minutes, so this 'dip' was actually not a dive, as it was shorter than 20 minutes, so we could not log this dive in our logbooks.

Wednesday I got the chance to conduct another PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience for Rebecca and a PADI Scuba Tune-up for her boyfriend Andy. Both sessions went well. Immediately after we were done in the pool, it was time for the real thing, the dives itself! These dives were, as we usually do for new divers with us, to Yellow Mountain. The first dive went fine, although the sky was filled with increasingly darker clouds and Rebecca didn't feel well and decided not to do the second dive. 

During the dive, towards the end, I took a photo of the group divers underwater, and the flash suddenly went off even though I had turned it off. I looked up to the surface, and it became clear that it was a thunderstorm, even though the sun had been shining when we left. The flash appeared to have been lightning, and during our trip back to the Marina, rain and hail was pouring down on us. Chris, who had stayed on the boat during the dives (as there always must be someone present on the boat) had not taken his wetsuit with him on the boat. We found Chris laying down on the floor in fetal position wearing only his shorts. 

We think next time he'll probably remember to take everything with him, as Pete always says: 'All the kit, all the time'...

Thursday we got into the water again, this time with Alvaro, a PADI Open Water Diver and Livio, a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver with over 300 dives experience. Livio dived in a drysuit, something Chris, George and I have not seen before. The difference between a wetsuit and a drysuit was not as big as I had imagined, and the difference in exposure protection seemed to be only slight, as Livio still felt cold. The dives itself went fine, Chris led the first dive, to Alien Rock, where we spotted a huge Brown Moray Eel, a Snake Cucumber and Red Reef Lobster. That was the first lobster I have encountered here in Tenerife. The second dive was to Swim Through followed by Crocodile Rock, where we saw a Sea Hare and Nudibranch, plus all the fish that we literally see on every single dive, like the Parrotfish, Ornate Wrasse, Trumpet Fish, Blue-fin Damselfish, Atlantic Damselfish, Arrow Crabs and many more.

Friday morning we practised our pool skills again in the pool, and Chris and George are doing very well, their skills are really improving, keep it up guys! The rest of the day we did some work in the shop, as well as some more studying.

Saturday Sophie and Marie were back, to finish their PADI Advanced Open Water course. Philipe and Livio also accompanied us on this dive and Melissa stayed on the boat. The first dive was the PADI Deep Dive, Adventure dive, to Poco Naufragio. Since Philipe was a PADI Open Water Diver, and thus limited to 18 meters, we split the group in half and I stayed with Philipe and Livio above 18 meters. 

We spotted a large Octopus and a Common Eagle Ray. Halfway through the dive we were joined by the rest of the group; Sophie, Marie, George and Pete. After a quick change of tanks on the boat, we were off for the second dive, the PADI Drift Dive, Adventure dive. 

During our trip to the dive site, we suddenly saw a group of dolphins in the distance! Pete did not have to think twice and immediately decided to turn the boat to have a closer look.

It was a group of hunting Dolphins, that had 2 or 3 babies with them. For about 15 minutes, our boat was surrounded by Dolphins and we were able to see them up close in the wild.

After this pleasant surprise it was time for our dive to Nelson's Point. It was a beautiful dive, and very different than what I'm used to, since we were at a depth of 15 meters, swimming mid water in water of about 50 meters deep. Pete had his SMB (Surface Marker Buoy) up throughout the dive, and at the end of the dive I also let my SMB up and we were picked up by the boat.

That evening we celebrated George's 19th birthday at Big Al's, where George, whose nickname is Zippy, got a Zippy cake with a rainbow on it that Melissa got him. Later that evening we went back to the karaoke bar where we had a really nice evening.

Sunday was my day off, and I also got Monday off to visit Teide Divers in Puerto de la Cruz. Sunday morning it was very early in the morning when it was time to go to the North of Tenerife together with Jackie. I spend the majority of the day in Loro Parque. It was very special to see the park again. It has been exactly 2 years since I've done my 4 week internship there.

I had a beautiful day and tomorrow I am going to do two dives with Teide divers Jackie and Phil!

Keep reading, more next week!

Love, Alice

DSD, PADI Rescue cursussen en de verloren Duck!

Mijn eerste week van mijn extra 5 weken begon niet zo super, omdat helaas mijn nek weer opspeelt. Ik heb zo'n 9 jaar geleden een whiplash opgelopen en zo nu en dan heb ik daar weer last van.

Maandag zou ik met Melissa, Chris, George en Phil naar Abades, een kustduik, gaan. Helaas moest ik vanwege mijn nek thuisblijven en de duik overslaan. Bij een kustduik moet je namelijk een eind over het strand lopen met alle duikapperatuur op je rug en daarna een stuk aan de oppervlakte zwemmen voordat je aan de duik kunt beginnen; niet zo'n goed idee voor mijnnek dus. Hopelijk voel ik me snel weer beter!

Finally a PADI Divemaster, although my internship is nearly over :-(

Monday was another busy day! Melissa took Sara and James to El Puertito to see the Turtles. Pete did two dives at Yellow Mountain with Steve, Louise and Harry, while I led my first snorkel trip, also at Yellow Mountain. I led Jan and Jackie around at the surface, to the sites where we normally dive.

We started at the tip of Swim Through, which sticks out of the water just a little bit. We saw numerous Blue-fin Damsel fish, Ornate Wrasse and a couple of Cotton Spinners. Next, we snorkelled to Alien Rock, where we saw even more Damsel fish and Wrasse, along with a couple of Starfish. Finally, we explored the shallow waters near the coast as well. It was nice to see the underwater world again from a different perspective.



Tuesday and Wednesday were two calm days in the shop. On Tuesday, the sad moment of saying goodbye to Harry, had arrived. After spending so much time together with Harry and his family, it was hard to see them leave. I've had a great time with them and miss them very much! I will definitely come to visit you in Northern Ireland.

On Thursday, the two new interns; Chris and George, started their internship. They will be here for 8 weeks. I got the morning off, while they had their induction day. Chris is a PADI Open Water Diver and George is a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. After lunch I joined the rest of the team again, and we were off to Yellow Mountain for Chris and George's first two dives with Dive and Sea Tenerife. The dives went well, and before we realized, the day was already over.

Friday morning, we started with the first two dives of Chris's PADI Advanced Open Water course. The first dive was PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy adventure dive. To practice his buoyancy skills, he started with a hover. Just like we did during my own PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy, adventure dive, we got the hoops into the water. First George and me both had a go, then followed by Chris. He quickly got the hang of it and managed to get through the hoops without touching them after just a few practices. We also got to see some Black Sea Hare's.

The next dive was the PADI Navigation adventure dive, where Chris learned how to use his compass and use natural navigation to navigate on a dive site. Using our compasses, we swam in a square pattern and a reciprocal line. During our last task, a 50 meter reciprocal line, we drifted off a bit while we were making our way back to the boat, because of the current. Thanks to Pete, we quickly managed to make our way back to the boat.

Saturday early morning the moment had finally arrived; I was about to do my 60th dive! This was the only thing left for me to achieve for my PADI Divemaster certification. This dive was going to be a night dive, my second night dive, to Poco Naufragio. Sofie joined us for this dive, which was part of her PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course. 

Sofie, Chris, George, Pete and I did the dive, and we all had a great time, exploring the waters with our torches in pitch black. Melissa, who got out of bed very early, even though she was feeling ill, stayed on the boat to give us the chance to do the dive. Thanks Melissa!

After doing this magnificent dive, I am now a certified PADI Divemaster!!

As if I wasn't thrilled enough already about my final certification, that same day my dive computer, the Mares Puck, came in. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a lot of dives with my brand new addition to my personal diving kit.

On Sunday I had a nice lay in, followed by a calm, relaxed day. I felt that I really needed that break, after going on trips and visiting several parks on the last couple of Sundays.

I now have less than a week left, I will enjoy my last few (warm) days of my internship here in beautiful Tenerife.

Welcome to George ~ AKA Zippy !

Hello my name is George (18) also know as Zippy in the dive centre.


Thanks to plans of going to university in September, now is the perfect time for me to expand my diving knowledge. I am currently qualified to PADI Advanced Open Water diver, hopefully soon to be PADI Rescue diver and finally PADI Divemaster.

Due to initially learning to dive in Tenerife, it was the perfect location to continue my diving adventure and take my sport to a professional level.

First week blog update.

One week into my PADI Divemaster internship and all is well.

I met my room mate and fellow intern Chris on Tuesday, little and large being the summarising phrase. We started our first proper day with high expectations and it appeared so did our new instructors, beginning with a shop introduction followed by a presentation on what to expect over the next 8 weeks. Soon Chris and I were getting together the kit and heading down to the marina with Pete, Alice (Kim) and Melissa to show what we could do underwater.
As expected this didn’t go quite to plan, with poor buoyancy and high air consumption, on returning to the marina after two dives myself and Chris proceeded to clean and pack the kit back into the car under the watchful eye and instruction of Alice, who has just recently finished her PADI Divemaster certification and decided to stay in Tenerife for awhile.

Day one finished with some tea making practise and a nervously awaited debrief, to see where we could improve. For some reason outside of my knowledge, we left the de-brief with the new names Zippy and Bungle!

Day two consisted of two more dives, this time for Bungles PADI Advanced Open Water Course.
The dives consisted of Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation dives, in which we ‘perfected’ the control of our buoyancy and navigation skills resulting in us getting lost and having to rely on the all-knowing Pete to return us to the boat. I also successfully managed to lose a fin strap clip, despite being told not to unclip it moments before. Luckily I had a spare for the next day.

On to the Saturday of our first week and the night dive which entailed a pleasant 4am wake up to be at the shop for 5. It was mine and Bungle’s first night dive so nerves ran high prior to getting in the water, however soon settled after descending. The so called ‘marmite dive’, due to either loving or hating the experience, turned out to be something I loved and cannot wait for more.

However on return the weather conditions changed for the worse, resulting in the two dives planned later that day to be cancelled. On the other hand this left me plenty of time to get my teeth into the Emergency First Responder (first aid) and PADI Rescue manuals required for the completion of my PADI Rescue diver course.
Sunday was a well earned / needed day off to read, rest and practise for the 400m timed swim needed for our PADI Divemaster certification.


Sufficiently refreshed, we began the next day with once again helping get the kit ready and heading off to the marina to have some more fun under the sea. Alice, lead both of the two dives and did very well.
My day did not quite go to plan either, due to having trouble on the boat connecting my regulators due to broken O rings. After returning from diving, we had the lovely surprise of an PADI Open Water exam to complete, in order to test our knowledge, which I thankfully achieved nearly 100% correct. Feewww.

Moving on to Tuesday the 20th in which Bungle and I had the pleasure of assisting and observing on Matts PADI Open Water dives 1 & 2, which saw him one step closer to becoming a fully fledged diver. However after the consecutive dives, I was starting to notice the cold, finding myself shivering near the end of dives. Some shopping was in order.
Upon returning from the marina myself and bungle had yet another fantastic surprise of an Emergency First Responder exam to sit, again which I thankfully passed... Just. We finished the day with a debrief and a touch more of tea making.

Wednesday, I found myself on boat duty, consisting of chilling out on the boat while everyone goes diving, it’s a hard life. When I returned from the morning of relaxation Bungle and I both had to undergo an intense medical exam to ensure we were still alive. Following this, I couldn’t resist going shopping to purchase an ice vest to keep me warmer under water, so me and Melissa headed to the sweet shop for divers that is Pro Sub. Upon returning to the dive shop yet another exam awaited, this time the PADI Rescue diver exam. Which I passed with 92%. Not a bad day at-all.

Finally on to today and more diving, including mine and Bungle’s PADI Surface Marker Buoy speciality dives as well as an opportunity to begin mapping the Alien Rock and Crocodile Rock dive sites, with the ever reliable navigator Alice. Also I managed to use my lovely new ice vest which proved to be a worthy investment. Adding to a good days diving, as we approached the boat on our last dive we caught a glimpse of an angle shark. Cooool.

In the afternoon, following more swimming practise Bungle and I had the enjoyment of completing the practical side of our Emergency First Response course which involved attempting to save ‘Australian Dave’s’ life many a time.

All in all, a very good first week and I cannot wait for the challenges that lie ahead.
George

Last week on my Divemaster Internship

It's incredible, just one week to go and the internship is over!

This week started with Moniek's last two dives. For the first dive we were on our way to Nelson's Point, a for Harry and me new dive site. This dive was Moniek's third dive, with Harry briefing and leading the dive, while Moniek and I buddied up. 

The dive went well, we've seen a lot of different aquatic life and Moniek did very well. The highlights of the dive were Barracuda, Trumpetfish and a Black Moray Eel. Moniek has also held an Arrow Crab, what she enjoyed very much. Unfortunately, when holding the Arrow Crab, she landed with her knee on a Black Long-spined Sea Urchin, resulting in a number of painful stings... Auwgh!

The second dive it was my turn to lead the dive to Swim Through. As Moniek is a PADI Discover Scuba Diver, she is limited to a maximum depth of 12 metres. Because I am used to a limit of usually 18 or 30 metres, it was sometimes difficult to keep a close eye on our depth. We managed to stay within a neat 11.4 meters, and that was my own depth. One of the reasons we ask divers always to stay behind and above the dive leader, is that if the dive leader by accident descended half a meter deeper, the other divers would still remain within their depth limits.

Still tired from the previous day in Siam Park and our brief visit to Carnival, plus our skin still as red as a lobster, Moniek and I had another relaxed afternoon. We planned to go shopping in Los Cristianos, but since the bus had still not shown up after 40 minutes of waiting, we decided to go back to San Blas. In this small shopping centre within walking distance, we bought some souvenirs to take home.

Tuesday we were joined by Barry, an Open Water Diver from America. After picking Barry up at his hotel, we got on the boat for two dives to Alien Rock and Swim Through. The visibility was still pretty poor, and we got a bit lost on our way to Alien Rock. 

Thanks to our compasses we were able to find our way back to the boat, if only we hadn't encountered a slight problem. Harry had managed to use most of his air. Thanks to my Specialty course SMB (Surface Marker Buoy), I was able to let up my SMB, and get the attention of Pete, who had stayed on the boat. 

Thanks to Pete's excellent skipper skills, he was able to retrieve the anchor and pick us up by boat, without to much delay, we prepared ourselves for the second dive. 

Now it was time for me to brief and lead our next dive to Swim Through. During the dive we spotted an octopus, which allowed us to take a few photos. At the end of the dive we also saw a Wide-eyed Flounder and a whole bunch of Arrow Crabs. Meanwhile, Moniek, which we already said goodbye to in the morning at the shop, had begun her journey back to the Netherlands and was probably in her air plane by now.

On Wednesday, Melissa came back from England, and it was also Harry's last day of his internship. Harry and I did the last tasks to be completed, such as thoroughly washing the boat, which now looks spic and span again, and finish the last part of the shop clean-up. After a last drink at Big Al's, we raised our wine glasses for Harry, who now finished his internship as a certified PADI Divemaster. He will stay in Tenerife for another week as a little holiday with his girlfriend and son. They have picked the right week, as since Wednesday, it has been a lot warmer than the past few weeks, about 26 degrees. This is due to warm air coming from the Sahara desert, which also brings a lot of dust along. This makes the air look brown-like, and even worse, both the boat and the freshly washed car are all dirty again!

Thursday it was time for our medical statement, that we need for our PADI Divemaster certification to be valid. Harry came to the shop that morning, specially for his medical. After a brief medical examination and a questionnaire about our medical history, the doctor declared us healthy. Tim and Charlotte from Wales, who are friends of Pete and Melissa, arrived in Tenerife that morning and we enjoyed an English breakfast for lunch together. The rest of the day we updated our blogs, and did the usual online promotion activities. It seems that Harry doesn't really want to end his internship just yet!

Sara, from Belgium and James, from Australia accompanied us on Friday morning for two dives to Yellow Mountain. This was the first time I went diving without Harry along my side, what appeared to be quite a big difference!

The diving-kit preparation, packing, loading the car and the boat took a bit longer doing it on my own instead of with two people, like it has been like for the last 6 weeks. Not to mention the fact that I do not own a dive computer yet, and have gotten used to relying on Harry's computer too much. For the next dives, it was my task to brief and lead both dives. Pete came with us for the first dive to Alien Rock. Sara and James, both of Rescue Divers, formed a buddy team and proved to have excellent diving skills, having good buoyancy control and staying close to me. Without any problems we arrived at Alien Rock, where Pete soon spotted an Angel Shark.

We also saw an Octopus, Snake Cucumber, Barracuda's and many more little fish. We made our way along Alien Rock, and returned to the boat. On the boat we changed tanks and after another dive brief about our next location Swim Through, it was time for my first dive alone with two customers. As soon as we reached the bottom, I found out that my mask was flooding. This is usually a result of hair or my hood stuck under the mask. After a few attempts I still couldn't fully solve the problem. I wanted to avoid having to take my mask off under water, because it would be more difficult to keep an eye on Sarah and James.

After a few minutes of almost continually clearing my mask, I decided to ask Sara and James to settle down on the bottom and wait a minute, while I took off the mask, replaced and cleared it. The problem turned out to be in the band of the mask, which was twisted around my snorkel. Now I could see normally again. Meanwhile, we did see a lot of beautiful aquatic life during the dive, such as Cuttlefish, Wide-eyed Flounders, Atlantic Lizardfish, a Red Mullet and all the small fish that came to take a took when we culled a number of Black Long-spined Sea Urchins.

Saturday we had a nice and quite day in the shop, followed by a party night.We went to Big Al's again for a lovely dinner, and afterwards to the Premier Bar, which is a karaoke bar located in Amarilla Golf. 

With the seventeen of us, we had a great night, and everybody had a go on singing on stage, including me.

After sleeping till quite late on Sunday, I went to see the famous tree: 'El Drago' up North, along with a drive through the mountains together with Harry and Louise. We had a wonderful day and I took plenty of pictures of the beautiful views that seemed to change at every turn.

Let's hope we'll do a lot more diving next week. I'm on 55 dives now, so only 5 more to go for me to be a PADI Divemaster!! 

Guiding Dives and Search & Recovery Assessments

For week 5 I thought I would give you a daily breakdown of what we get up top on the Divemaster internship.

Wednesday 
Today we went to Yellow Mountain with George, a diver who called into the shop a few days ago. I was given the chance to do the dive brief and lead the dives. The dive brief was not bad, but it still needs a little bit of work. I know I have the capabilities to give a good brief but it's always more difficult in front of a customer and Pete!

Carnival Week in Puerto de la Cruz

Oh my god, the internship is over halfway now! The time just seems to go faster and faster. I’m starting to settle in and get used to the life on Tenerife now.

The last few days the weather has been improving, not that it really had been bad, but we’ve had lots of clouds and strong winds. The wind is still pretty strong, but the sun is coming through a bit more and I can again walk around in a T-shirt again.

Earlier this week we did (surprise surprise) some more diving. Wednesday George, a PADI Open Water Diver, joined us.
During the first dive that day, George, Harry and Pete headed for Alien Rock, while I stayed on the boat. The second dive Pete stayed on the boat, and I joined George and Harry to Swim Through.

Halfway through the dive, we decided to return to the boat, as George, who wore his own thin wetsuit, started to get really cold. After a short trip on the boat we arrived at the Marina, where we washed the kit, and got ourselves warmed up. Because of the strong wind that day, I did a spectacular (just kidding) rescue of George's hat, which had ended up in the water.

Thursday was another busy day, starting the morning with our pool skills once more. Most skills went fairly well (by now we don’t just have to be able to do the skills ourselves perfectly, but also demonstrate them to teach others).

We also did our kit exchange, which proved to be a real challenge. After a 10-minute talk about how we were going to accomplish this, Harry and I entered the water. Our goal was to exchange our complete scuba unit, mask and fins while breathing from one regulator. Clumsy swimming together from the shallow to the deep part of the pool began our challenge. The first attempt failed, because we did not use the proper techniques, resulting in shortness of breath. Harry was the first who sought refuge to the surface, but it wouldn’t have been long before I would have done the same.

After a brief (and very welcome) pause at the surface, and a few tips from Pete, we were off on our second attempt full of confidence. Although it took quite some time (and wasn’t much like - as Harry called it - a water ballet), our second attempt succeeded.

Back at the shop it was now time for the presentations of our demonstration skills. We did two more skills; the kit assembly, and the pre-dive safety check. We managed to do well, and Harry and I both ended up with a good score.

Later that morning we were off to the Marina, where we did our 800 meters snorkel again. In an attempt to improve our times, Harry and I decided that it would be a good idea to snorkel in our shortie’s, so we would be less buoyant. We thought, as a result, our more fins would be more in the water, with the result that we would be quicker.
Well, that’s what we thought. We swam as fast as we could, (feeling freezing cold) and I looked forward to hearing my - obviously - great time, which was .. (Drum roll).. Was 2 minutes slower than my previous time... Not such a good idea after all, those shortie's.
Hopefully I will have another chance, and I will improve my time then!

The day was not over yet, not even halfway through! Since we were already in the Marina, we might as well do some more diving. Pete, Harry and I headed to Yellow Mountain again. Pete stayed on the boat, while Harry lead the first dive to Alien Rock, and I lead the second dive to Swim Through. The dives went well, and I’m slowly starting to get to know the dive sites, and recognize certain rock formations. This is, for a part, due to the fact that I did my underwater map at Swim Through. Since we do many of our dives to Yellow Mountain, I hope it will be like a second home to me soon!

Back at the shop, we got a lot done that afternoon. I started rinsing all the regulators (and there are many of them) to give them an extra good cleaning. We also did some, at first rather unsuccessfully
 :-), redesigning of the shop. It is clear that we have to work on our retail skills.


Friday early morning, it was time for my first night dive. At 5:45 we were at the shop, 15 minutes later we found ourselves at the Marina, loading all the diving kits on to the boat. We headed for Poco Naufragio, the small ship wreck just a few minutes by boat. In pitch black darkness, Pete, Harry and I got in the water, while poor Melissa was left all alone on the boat.

The first thing I noticed were the luminescent algae, that swirled around us like little stars. The colors underwater, which were much more visible than during the day due to my underwater torch, were stunning. We saw many animals we often see during daytime, that were now, during night time, much more active. I also saw some species that I had never seen before. We saw lots of Cardinal fish, Scorpion fish, Arrow crabs, Red mullet, Almaco Jack, Anemones and more.
After half an hour of enjoying the dive which is now one of my favorites, we swam toward the surface. We were approximately two meters from the surface, when I suddenly experienced my first Jellyfish sting, which was on my face! Thanks a lot Mr. Jelly...!

When we got back on the boat, Melissa told us that she had just seen a Dolphin near the boat, which made up a little bit for getting out of bed so early.

Towards the end of the week we mainly did a lot of little jobs at the shop, such as the maintenance of the regulators and wetsuits, reorganizing the window displays, and the usual online promotion activities.

Saturday, Harry and I had the responsibility of running the shop, whereas  Pete and Melissa went to see the Carnival in Puerto de la Cruz, which is a hugely celebrated holiday here on the Islands. Slowly but surely, we are becoming increasingly independent!

I am planning on checking out the Carnival as well, next Sunday in Los Gigantes, together with my friend. She is coming over all the way from Holland for six days, and we’ll try to get her into the diving experience as well.

Meanwhile, I'm a long way through my studies, and my Divemaster exam is coming up soon. I'm now at 42 logged dives, 18 more to go to reach the 60 dives required as a Divemaster.

Remember to keep checking our blogs!

Love, Alice

Week 1 of my PADI Divemaster Internship with Dive and Sea Tenerife

What a stressful and restless start! The hours before my departure were, to put it mildly, chaotic and very, very early in the morning.
After almost not making it to the airport, due to a slippery, frozen road, my parents and me managed to get there in one piece.
The flight itself, took around 4,5 hours and went well. I even had a whole row of 3 seats to myself, thanks Ryanair!

Arriving at the airport (at 09.30, it is one hour earlier here in Tenerife), I immediately pulled off my thick winter sweater and coat. It took a while to get used to the temperature, going from minus two, with ice and frost, to 19 degrees and sunny. Not that I’m complaining though, haha, it has been at least 19 degrees since my arrival.




Melissa, the Boss, picked me up from the airport at Tenerife, and just 10 minutes later we arrived at the Dive Centre, where I met Pete, our PADI Instructor, as well. After relaxing a little bit, and sorting out my luggage, the next day it was time for the induction day.


During the induction, I met Harry, the other Divemaster intern who is doing his internship at the same time as me. Pete and Melissa talked us though the most important things and gave us an idea of what the internship was going to be like. We also received our PADI materials and diving equipment, half of which, I didn’t know what it was!

Next day, it was time to really get started. I did my PADI Discover Scuba Diving session in the pool, immediately followed by my first two dives in the ocean.

We went to Yellow Mountain, and from the boat we saw a Sea Turtle taking a breath, but it disappeared as quickly as it came up. We got into the water, and once on the bottom, my first thought was; Wow!

The visibility was great, and there were so many fish to see. We didn’t have to chase the fish at all, to be able to see them properly, because they just follow you around. We saw a Snake Cucumber, Garden Eel, Trumpet fish, Fangtooth Moray Eel, Red Sea Star, Wide-eyed flounder and hundreds of long-spined black Sea Urchin’s. I also got a manicure from a Red-Back Cleaner Shrimp.

Pete and Melissa are super friendly, funny and very British. They quickly decided that my name couldn’t be Kim, and therefore, they started to come up with lots of other names. Due to several different reasons (trust me, you don’t even want me to get started), eventually my new name turned out to be Alice (or Allie), which everyone now uses :-)

I have a busy schedule ahead of me, starting with getting certified as a PADI Open Water Diver, and doing lots of diving and studying. I’ll keep you updated, you keep reading!

See you later!

Love, Kim aka Alice

Harry ~ PADI Rescue Diver to PADI Divemaster

My name is Harry, a 24 year old PADI Divemaster in training.

This is a little about how I got introduced into the dive world and what I am planning on doing.

I have always had an interest in diving since the age of 15 when I went on my first dive in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

University did not appeal to me so after one year on an "Architectural Engineering" degree, I decided to go travelling.

This is where the underwater realm was fully opened up to me, completing the PADI Open Water course, followed directly with an PADI Advanced Open Water course in 2007.

Returning to Northern Ireland briefly, I was not content with my Advanced Diver status, so in 2009 I completed my Emergency First Response  and PADI Rescue Courses.

Since then I have become a Father (to a boy who is coming up to the age of 3 now)

Continually wishing to progress my diving, this year I decided to bring my girlfriend and son along whilst joining the Divemaster internship at Dive and Sea Tenerife.

If all goes to plan after completion of my PADI Divemaster internship, I wish to further my education within the professional side of diving by becoming a PADI Instructor.


Blog to you all soon


Harry