Dive Against Debris in Tenerife

I logged my dive number 53 today. Which means that I am now only 7 dives away from achieving fame and fortune. That shiny title of "PADI Divemaster" is coming ever closer week by week - and what a week this has been!

We went to Yellow Mountain this week and did a Santa theme dive. Pete, Melissa, Alice and all the interns complete with red Santa suits, hats and beards - spreading a jolly good mood at the dive site! 
We did a total of two dives that day. The first one, was led by Alice, and we did some wacky underwater pictures in our costumes. I did a kit removal at the bottom, in order for us to get some cool pictures of a Santa just floating around. It went fine.

I had the honour of leading the second dive and I had a crystal clear agenda for the dive to meet some other divers at random and blowing their minds when they would see a bunch of weirdo's dressed as Santa Claus himself!

We actually did swim by some other divers eventually, but to my HUUUGE disappointment  they didnt really seem flabbergasted or amused to be met by the Santa squad!

Upon our return to the marina, Pete announced that we might as well do our 100 meters tow and 800 meter swim (Sod's law applied, because this was the one day I didnt have breakfast)

So I threw off my jolly old Santa suit and did my 100 meters tow in 2.50 minutes I believe (not that bad really)

Next up was the 800 meters swim, wearing wetsuit, mask, snorkel, weight belt and fins. Side by side with Andreas and Moomim I lined up, waiting for the call to go.

Needless to say, I finished way faster than that lot. (Moomin didn't complete to to a very unfortunate fin related problem)

Thus week we also did our PADI Divemaster skill circuit (a number of exercises at in the pool, such as regulator recovery, kit removal etc.)

This went very well too, so as previously mentioned, now I only have to complete my last few dives, and I am home free!

I think I mentioned in one of my older blogs that Lydia is now a PADI Divemaster and Alice is now and PADI instructor, so therefore it was decided that the team needed to go celebrate the two of them - which we did!

We all did our fair share of consuming alcohol  but drunk as I was, a few things still stands crystal clear in my memory from that evening.

Lydia, a self-proclaimed lightweight in the world of alcohol ended up being so drunk that even Andreas and I (due to our Danish inheritance we obviously consider ourself experts in being drunk) had to see ourself outshone by this crazy little being from Holland!

In mid week, Pete and Melissa went of to have a few days of well earned vacation on a top secret part of the Island, leaving Alice in charge of running both the shop and us interns. 

So for the last few days, we have been going on shore dives and just having a good time!

Our first day without Mr. and Mrs. Boss, we went to Abades to do 3 dives. I have been to Abades a few times, and always enjoyed it, but this time I decided that it was time for a change, so instead of taking the usual route along a ridge, I choose to go in a whole other direction to see what was cooking there. Not much can be said about that dive really, the route i chose wasn't as adventurous and breathtaking as I was hoping it would be, but we did see an octopus and a few cuttlefish, so it wasnt all bad.

Second dive was led by Moomin, and he choose the safe more conservative route, and actually managed to get a bit lost, but he got right back on track again in the end.

Third dive, was just Lydia, Moomin, Andreas and me. So, as Im sure Pete would say it; "we just puddled around for 40 minutes, had a few giggles" and returned back right on time.

The next day, we loaded up our rental minibus and headed for Las Eras. I had only been there once before, so I was looking forward to revisiting this cool dive site,

While hoping that the currents wouldn't be as strong as they was last time I was there. They was.

During our second dive, when time came to start swimming back towards shore, we found ourself in a strong current, so we decided to ascend and do a surface swim

back to the shore, before loading up for our third dive at the site.

The third dive, took us to the pipeline that runs right outside of the bay of Las Eras. its a truly amazing place, packed with Moray's, Opctupusses and a few Rays
.

Yesterday we went to El Puertito, to do a Project AWARE dive. The theme of this dive, was to collect all the rubbish we could get our hands on underwater (and to play with the turtles obviously).

Despite the crappy visibility, we had three great dives at the site. We collected loads and loads of rubbish from the bottom, and had our share of attention from the turtles and I also led the one of the dives. 
On the dive that I was leading, we saw a baby turtle, so what more can you ask for?

Moomin, that wonderful little brown man, said some beautiful things at the following debrief that day.

He something in the likes of: That he was so proud just to be a part of these Project AWARE dives, and helping nature by removing just a little bit of bad stuff from the sea was a really rewarding experience. 
When we returned after our first two dives, with our bags full of rubbish, people were gathering along the pier to see what we were doing.

And I am quite sure that we made a pretty big impact into the minds of some of them. 
Seeing a bunch of divers gladly doing their part in protecting the environment, surely has inspired a few of them, to be more considerate with their own waste in the future and who knows, maybe some of them will go on to inspire other people in the future.

Just like rings in the water.

It must be something in the water down here thats making me so sentimental!

Hasta luego 

- Kevinito

PADI Instructors, PADI Divemaster's and Cava!

Welcome back to Tenerife!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Divemaster Exams and climbing Mountains

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"We all happy bunnies?"

-Dennis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, that was my awesome week

New Dive sites in Tenerife...... well for me anyway :-)

I was surprised when we went on a different path on our second dive in yellow mountain. We went west instead of east to a place called Swim Through. It is actually called swim through because we swam through a cave like structure only very shallow and wide open so that you can swim through it to the other side. It was the first time I have ever done anything like that and I really liked it so much. This time I was buddy with Dennis. We were following the group from behind making sure everything is ok and everyone is close to Alice as she leads the dive from the front.

The next day we took Gee to Abades where Melissa was leading the dive. It was the first time we go to the shore from the right side instead of the normal left side from the coast. It was such a beautiful dive where we saw a family of cuttle fish and some morays.

The second dive on the other hand was definitely a very significant dive in my life. I had never seen so many creatures in one dive and was the first time I ever saw an Angel Shark. I thought it was a big one but Melissa told me it was still very young, in any case it was very fast and ran away from us contradicting my expectations as  I thought they were very curious creatures. We also saw Black Moray, Fangtooth Moray, an Octopus, a few Cuttle fish and a lot of different fish.



Then comes the thing I enjoy the most in diving. Night diving is amazing I love the nocturnal creatures they are just so beautiful and all the creatures become less shy in the night. I also never knew cuttlefish can glow in the dark after you point the light to them. And you gotta love the planktons!

We ended our week with a very productive day in the shop. Pete made our skill assessment in the pool, I will have to repeat the CESA and the hovering and we also did the kit exchange which I never thought would be such a beautiful experience.
Gives you much confidence and trust with your buddy. We had to change the scuba unit in addition to the mask and fins all underwater with only one functioning regulator while not allowing anything to touch the water. After doing the normal daily jobs in the shop there was still some time left and Pete allowed us to go snorkelling for an hour.

We spent 45 minutes snorkeling, free diving and doing some fish ID which was  the highlight of my closing day.

Avery productive and enjoyable week.

Warning - Diving is hard work!

The second week just started, but I can tell, that to be a customer at a dive center isn't comparable at all with working in one. 
I'm physically soooooooo exhausted. I'm a sporty person and three month before I started the Divemaster internship, i went at least two times a week in a gym to extend my condition, but we are swimming 400 metres, carrying a lot of heavy equipment around to the car, out of the car, in the boat, out of the boat in the car..................... 
I go to bed at around 8 pm with the sandman and fall asleep like a stone, but it's 100% worth the fun and experience!!!!!!

I stayed at the shop together with Sam and the rest of the interns went on a dive. I swam 400 metres in the morning what is definitely more fun than after two dives and lunch. I swim 400 metres in around 8 to 9 minutes, so can be pretty sure to pass the final swim test.

On the next day I went with Pete, Alice, Sam and the English customers, that were already on a couple of other dives with us, on a deep dive to a new dive site called El Delfin. 
We didn't set the anchor there, just rolled in the water and got picked up later by giving sign with a surface marker buoy, what I have never seen so far. 

This buoy is rolled together, so small and comfortable to carry around under water and as well attached to a reel so that you don't loose it. Pete filled the buoy with air of his regulator and it floated to the surface where it sticks out of the water, so that the boat guard can see it and other boat driver can also recognize that there are divers in the water. 

The second dive led us to the dive spot Pequene Valle, which was beautiful because of a huge fish school of approximately around 50 fishes that were sliding over the bottom of the ocean and rocks like in a beautiful studied performance. Apart from that I was still tired and exhausted.

A little bit more rested I started the next day. It is nice to see that all the interns are getting faster and faster with the daily duties like preparing the kit in the morning. Now we can more focus on things that have to do with actual diving practice.
I went on a shore dive this day with Melissa, Lydia who was leading her first dive and Dennis and Andreas. I brought my camera, what always makes me really excited because I love it to make photos and it is actually the second time that I practice with my underwaterbox. I made a couple of pictures that are really nice. 
My biggest problem under water is to stay steady when I want make a picture, because their is always a little bit of a drift that is moving you around, except when you are lying on a sand pool, but that might bring the problem that your visibility gets crappy because you stir up the sand. I am looking forward for more chances to bring my camera!

Lydia was leading both of the dives we did there. The second one even without Melissa and she did well and can be very proud of herself.
Without the guarding eyes of Melissa we even did a couple of fun pictures underwater..... "HELLO MELISSA :))))) " maybe shown on this page later :).

FINALLLLLLY a day off. But no time for actual rest, because I am still behind with my homework. I started reading the Open Water Manual and AdvancedManual as well, because my first two certifications are so long ago, that I have to refresh my knowledge. In combination with the ongoing education for the Rescue Diver and Divemaster it is so much more work, but on the other hand everything makes so much more sense as well and because of that more fun to learn and practice and experience!

Pete and Alice took me and Mahmoud on a navigation dive to Alien rock. We dived there before, but I have to admit that I have never spend actual thoughts about my orientation of this dive site so far, because I am still so busy with myself under water. So that was the dive we actually had to spend attention. 

Mahmoud and me separated our jobs under water. If you want make a map of a new dive site, you have to measure the different depth you are diving through, the brezels of your directions ( one of a divers standard equipments is a compass for orientation ) and the distances that you measure with your fin kicks. We shared the informations, but were drawing the maps both by ourselves and the results were.... quite surprising :). 
I am sorry that I couldn't make a picture *hihihi*.

On Tuesday Mahmoud and me had a day off again and catched up in the morning for the homeworks, that we got the evening before from Pete. We had to write down an emergency action plan for a special dive site, that includes the fastest way to get a dive victim to medical professionals, numbers to reach them and other medical centres that are more specialist in dive accidents and so on. I am looking forward to actually lead a dive on this site!!!

Back again and we were all together in the shop to practice our first response skills, including rescue breath and CPR on a unconscious victim and how to care for a person with bleeding injuries. 
We had a lot of fun simulating the different situations in role plays. I am still asking myself how Sandra alias Sam :) could actually appear in the dive shop with multiple bleedings after "hesheit" went water skiing in the marina ???????????

Today I felt so sick in the morning *sobsob* that I didn't go to the shop. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!!!