New Divemaster intern and lots of PADI Courses

New times
This week was a nearly complete week of diving, yeeesss!! 
After a few weeks with just a couple of days or none, this week not diving on Monday and Tuesday with my teaching duties and then the rest of the week diving 

On Wendsday to begin the day Patrick, Alice and me went to the pool to do Patrick Scuba Tune Up and later Peter a London Instructor, Pete, Alice, Patrick and me went for a couple of dives to Yellow Mountain, nice and quiet dives where we could see trumpet fish, parrot fish, white breams,… as usual, as said nice and quiet.

On Thursday was my first time driving the jumpy to Abades for a couple of shore dives with Melissa and Frankie that stayed on the beach, Alice leading, Patrick, me and Cat that is English woman doing her Open Water Referals to finish her Open Water Diver (OWD), she already had done the theory and confined dives in England and came to finish her OWD. There was much visibility and so we could see some arrow crabs, a common octopus and usual fish on her OWD.

On the afternoon Patrick and me could see Alice with Derek Scuba Tune Up and the rest of the day just quiet day doing the daily jobs and at the finishing of the day Pete, Patrick, Melissa, Alice and Cat went for a Beer to Celebrate Cat’s OWD.

On Friday we had a couple of boat dives on Yellow Mountain to finish Cat’s OWD, doing her OWR3 and 4. The visibility was much better than the day before and we all had a nice dive enjoying to see octopus, trumpetfish, parrotfish, blue-fin Damselfish, ornate wrasse, golden sponges and loads of other fish.

On Saturday we began the day in the pool with Alison Scuba Diver and later Pete, Cat, Alice, Patrick and me went for a couple of nice dives on Yellow Mountain, in the first dive Pete lead the dive to Alien Rock and we where lucky to see loads of Barracuda near the surface, some octopus, close to the Garden Eel and some other fishes, I couldn’t completely enjoy that dive as my mask was terrible leaking more than half of the dive. The second Alice lead the dive and was Patrick Boat dive for his Advanced Diver and could see some arrow crabs, a black moray eel and an octopus.
Nice dives, some of those you won’t forget in a long time.

On Sunday we went to Yellow Mountain and did a couple of dives with Yim, William and Thomas, they where from England, Yim was a school headmaster and we enjoying going around and could see cuttlefish, octopus, some wide eyed flounders and the usual neighbours ;)

Really nice week with a new intern here. Just beginning to know Patrick but look like will make a good friendship along our internship. Still working on my rescue, but it goes too slowly, with the holydays, more things on the to be done list. So lets see how does next weeks go.

And I think this is it for now,

Take care and good luck,
Adal aka Gary aka Gary Pineapple ;)

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.

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.

Schotland komt naar Tenerife

Wat een week! We kregen een grote groep duikers hier die een week naar ons en Teide divers kwamen voor een duikvakantie. Helaas kon ik door mijn oorontsteking deze week niet duiken en belandde ik van maandag tot en met donderdag in de shop.

Scotland comes to Tenerife

What a week! We got a large group of divers for the next week, nicknamed The Strathclyde Posse.

Teide divers joined us so that we could split the 12 divers-group in two to have a more manageable-sized group. Unfortunately I was a bit unlucky with having an ear infection, and now I won’t be able to dive for a week. I’m on antibiotics and hope that my ear will be better very soon.

I don’t have a lot to tell you about Monday to Thursday, because I spend these days in the shop. For your own good, let’s just skip these days in the blog and carry on with my first next day I was diving again.

Marie, who came to us for her PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course, joined us on Friday. After what seemed like ages, I was delighted that I could finally start diving again! For these dives, we went to Yellow Mountain, where we started off with the PADI Navigation, adventure dive. After a brief practice on land, Marie gave navigation a shot underwater. After a few tips, she soon got the hang off it and was able to use natural navigation and an underwater compass for navigation.

For the next dive, the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy, adventure dive, we got our brand new hoops out to give Marie the opportunity to improve on her buoyancy control skills. The most hilarious moment of the day was when a White Bream, after hesitating for a few minutes and staring at the hoops, gracefully swam through the hoop.

The last dive of the day was the PADI Underwater Naturalist, adventure dive. I led this dive to Swim Through, where Marie identified Fireworms, Wide-eyed Flounders, Atlantic Lizardfish and Greater Weevers.

Saturday I was leading the lovely Carol and Monika on two dives, with the assistance of George. The first dive was to Nelson's Point, this was the first time for me to lead a dive on this dive site. Pete dropped us off from the boat, and during the dive we made our way to Yellow Mountain, where the boat was moored up. We swam into the bay, got to the boat and changed tanks for the next dive. During the dive we saw a large Octopus, a Cuttlefish, a huge Scorpionfish and I saw a school of Needle Fish for the very first time. The second dive was to Swim Through, where we spotted Nudibranch, Trumpetfish, Ornate Wrasse and Blue-fin Damselfish.

Sunday we didn’t get the chance to take the day off , because we were so far behind with some tasks.
We spent the morning cleaning all of the shop’s diving boots and regulators, followed by cleaning the shop as well. The next day would be the first day of a new intern, so we wanted to have everything clean before his arrival.

Despite the days without diving, and the fact that I had barely seen The Strathclyde Posse, I had a nice week and I hope I’ll do a lot more diving during my last few weeks in Tenerife. At the end of this week, I suddenly realised that I have done 87 dives now, quickly getting closer to the magic number of 100 logged dives!

More next week, keep reading!
Love, Alice

My first week in Tenerife

The first day of something completely new for me. I had been diving before but i was about to take in a whole load more information.

The PADI Divemaster internship got going with a really warming introduction from the guys at Dive and Sea Tenerife. Finding out the content of the course and the general operations of the Dive Centre was a lot to take in, but interesting at the same time.

I had met my room mate and fellow intern 'George' the previous day and he and I were now busy learning what the next 8 weeks would bring. An informative DVD and some Q&A topped off the intro nicely. It was then time for us to get some kit together and head out for a dive to see how good we were (or weren’t).

My first dive in a few months was a bit of a nightmare to say the least! Being a bit nervous and a bit panicky didn't help with the buoyancy trouble I was having, I also lost my fin strap twice which didn't make things any better either.
Pete (the instructor), Alice (Another intern who has just passed her Divemaster certification), George and I then headed back down for a second dive, where the nerves had calmed a bit but buoyancy was still an issue. I was however, here to learn, so realising where I was going wrong and discussing it was very helpful. We de-briefed and discussed what was happening the following day, which concluded the first day.

George and I also ended the day with the new names 'Zippy and Bungle'. I am now Bungle.

Friday was an earlier start, we had the kit set up and were down to the boat by 08.30. We headed off to Juigarro Arrecife for 2 dives, which were Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation Training Adventure dives.
The buoyancy training was a needed practice area for me, so when a couple of hoops were set up at different heights, it was good to learn how to use buoyancy skills to swim through them. Alice kindly held them still for me and I managed to kick her in the face as I swam through.... (Sorry Alice).

The Navigation training went a lot smoother, I was managing to control myself underwater a bit better now and relaxing into the dives. Finding my way to a point and back using a compass was a skill that I remembered from my PADI Open Water course last year. It only went wrong when I was asked to navigate back to the boat when I hadn't been keeping track of where we were.
Note to self; PAY ATTENTION.


Saturday morning we were scheduled for going on a night dive. Waking up at 04.30 so we could have everything ready and be in the water while it was still dark was hard work, but worth every second. I loved it! We were joined by Sofie who was doing her PADI Advanced Open Water course, as well as a very tired and cold Melissa who got out of bed for boat duties so we could go diving.

Pete, Alice, George, Sofie and I descended into a different world! A dive site is a fantastic place when you can hardly see anything, but what you can see is brilliant. My buoyancy was getting there, Zippy and I had good buddy communications, we saw an Octopus and it was still before 06.30!

There were 2 more Adventure dives planned for the day but weather conditions didn’t allow. Some hot tea and some swimming stamina training was the replacement for a deep water dive and a drift dive.

A nice relaxing weekend consisted of reading, swimming, reading, swimming, reading and some more swimming! Ploughing through information on EFR (Emergency First Response) and CPR, as well as the PADI Rescue Diver manual would help prepare me for the next weeks exams.

Monday soon arrived with 2 dives to Yellow Mountain. The dives were lead by Alice who is now a PADI Divemaster, after completing her 60th dive in the dark on Saturday morning. Being led around Alien Rock, I was taking notes and trying to remember points so I was familiar with the site. I had a temporary moment of confusion half way round and from that point on my notes made no sense and I was none the wiser... My second set of notes that I took as we navigated the Swim Through site made more sense, which was much better.

I am by now more relaxed in the dives which allows more time to pay attention to some of the life that swims around you. Checking out all of the little fishies was cool, There are some amazing creatures that live underwater. I was however slightly cautious, as was Zippy, when Alice offered us a harmless Arrow Crab to hold for a photo. Its tiny but it has pincers!

Note to self; DON'T BE SUCH A WIMP.

We welcomed Matt along on Tuesday morning for dives 1&2 of his PADI Open Water Diver referral. Pete was teaching, with Zippy and Bungle on the sidelines, watching and learning how its done. I think I learnt as much as Matt did while watching what was going on. Over the course of the 2 dives we explored some more of Yellow Mountain while Matt completed all of his required skills and seemed to enjoy himself. On one of the dives, I became fascinated when I saw a Blue Starfish, but seeing new and fascinating things is regular on dives. A good days diving!

Zippy and I sat our EFR and CPR exams in the afternoon, as well as some more swim stamina training, ready for the 400mswim part of the course.

Matt was back Wednesday morning, bright and early for the final 2 dives of his course. Dave joined us on the boat as well, ready to be led on 2 dives (including his 100th) led by Alice. I joined Pete and Matt underneath for some more observational learning. We were treated to a little, tiny, baby Angel Shark, which was, buried in the sand (good spot Pete), which we had photos taken with.
Finding a nice spot on each dive, Matt completed the rest of his required skills with no problem, which now qualifies him as a PADI Open Water Diver (congratulations Matt). A good day on the boat and some good dives meant smiles all round!

The afternoon brought the PADI Rescue Diver exam paper (94%, not bad), a trip to get some tanks filled and a session of mopping the shop floor.

Thursday morning and we were getting set up to head out for some more Yellow Mountain action. More training for us new interns was on the cards! We were practising how to use Surface Marker Buoys or SMB's. Deploying an inflatable plastic sausage from down below, to mark our positions on the surface. It went well, I was pleased with my efforts!

The next dives were some more mapping dives to Alien Rock and Crocodile Rock. Mapping the sites in a little more detail while still learning how to get round them both. Alice led while Zippy and I tagged along, taking more notes and mental pictures that 'should' direct us around the sites.

We stopped for another Arrow crab and this time when it was offered to me I was a bit braver and held him for a photo. He was harmless so I don’t know what all the previous fuss was about!

Note to self; STILL DONT BE SUCH A WIMP.

More from me next week about my adventures in Tenerife.

Chris (AKA Bungle)

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

Week 4 – PADI Rescue Diver by Kim

Yet another week has passed, time flies and to my regret, my PADI Divemaster  internship in Tenerife is already halfway now!

At the start of the week I led my first dive. We were back at El Puertito, where we did two dives and had a fantastic Turtle encounter on both dives. Harry even got head banged by a Turtle. The first dive it was my turn, as a Divemaster intern, to lead the dive, the second dive it was Harry's turn.

Week 2 of my PADI Divemaster Internship

I've been busy busy busy so the second blog is a bit delayed, and I don’t even know where to start, There is so much to tell..

Let’s start with the most important thing then; I’ve got my first certification! I am now a PADI Open Water Diver. I didn’t have any problems with the skills, and the diving seems to be going very well. Although I wasn't too sure about my ability to read English, but I managed to score 94% on my theory Exam. Next is my PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, I can’t wait to get started.

Meanwhile, I have already got 15 logged dives including a deep dive to 30 meters, as part of my PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course. I was a bit nervous for this dive, just because of the idea of going deeper. But as we were descending, my nerves were replaced by fascination and I really enjoyed the dive. The dive wasn’t much different than any other dive, although a bit more chilly and darker. We also saw a couple of larger fish I hadn’t seen before, and lots of the more familiar species.

Directly after the first dive, we were off to a second dive at a shallower depth, where we found some Arrow Crabs, Red Back Cleaner shrimp, Cuttlefish and a baby Angel Shark, of approximately 1.20m. At the end of the dive, we had a small invasion of Jellyfish, which was less fun.

Back at the shop, when I was hanging the wetsuits up to let them dry, I found (or to be more precise; it was clinging on to my hand brrr) a huge cockroach! Yuck!

Sunday I got on the bus and headed for the market in Playa de las Americas, where I bought some short’s for work and took some lovely pictures at the beach.

Later this week, Melissa and I did a little bit of shopping, because I was just feeling too cold on every dive. We decided it would be best if I’d buy an ice vest to wear on top of my normal wetsuit. I ended up with a very nice 5mm Mares ice vest with integrated hood, a pair of gloves and a pair of neoprene socks. My new gear makes a huge difference; I am no longer freezing while diving, which makes it much more enjoyable and comfortable.

Furthermore, I’ve seen the first cyclers here. Back in Holland you’ll see many more bicycles then cars. Here in Tenerife, there are almost no bikes, because the road pretty much almost goes up, or down.

Just for those who’d like to read some more maybe boring (or not!) details;
Most days are more or less scheduled as follows:
Every ones favorite moment of the day, alarm clock waking me up at 6.30am, breakfast and shower.
Then go to the Dive Center where we prepare the dive kits and everything we need to take with us on the boat.
1 or 2 dives starting at 8.30am , back at the Dive Centre by between 11 or 12.
Lunch (13.00), then the afternoon is always different, but activities can be studying my books, marketing, any additional assignments or skills in the pool, and some swimming.

We close the Dive Centre at 17.00, a little bit of relaxing or studying and then dinner at 19.00.
The rest of the evening I usually spend on some more studying, but mainly watching TV and then to go to bed, usually too late because Pete and Melissa are far too cozy (K)(love you guys). (22.00-23.00)

Until now, all of my dives have been boat dives, but very soon we will be off for my first shore dive.

We are planning to go to El Puertito, which is a shallow shore dive in a bay, where a family of Green Sea Turtles lives. Let’s hope we’ll see them!

Lots of kisses,
Xxxxxxxxxx
Alice