Surface swims and 800m Snorkels!

On our first day of the week we had a DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) customer, Nicola who was surprisingly calm and picked up the skills very quickly.The pool session was conducted by Aaron which allowed him to tick the last box in his PADI DSD leader qualification. 

We then went off to the ocean with Pete (Nicola’s husband)  and the first dive to Yellow Mountain. Nicola had a few problems equalizing but soon overcame these and started to relax. We then headed off towards Alien Rock where Nicola managed far better and really enjoyed herself.

The next day was spent doing our EFR course which we were not very good with the exams and needed some additional work on the theory. After resitting the exam all of the interns passed this time with Will by far the star pupil of the day with 100% in all three of the EFR exams (Bit too obvious who is writing this section of the blog?... thought so).

On Wednesday we had a two dives the most notable of which we noticed a Fangtooth Moray and an Octopus fighting over a spot within a rock. Pete (the customer) also joined us on these two dives and seemed to enjoy himself once again.  In the afternoon we started trying to come up with our interesting games for the Bubble maker course, we found it a lot harder than we thought it was going to be, the only inspirational idea that was made was a game named “Crappy Tappy” which by its name I am sure you can guess that it was appalling. 

It was Dive AWARE day and we headed to El Puertito with several bags to perform an underwater litter pick, some of the items that were found ranged from a glass, a full size table cloth, champagne bottles, huge water containers and even plenty of anchors without a chain which unfortunately would not fit in our bag. While picking up litter we did encounter the Turtles which occupy the site and got a pretty close look at them. Will was also certain that he had found something very rare or in hiding…but it turned it that it was a bit of coral which “looked as if it had eyes!”.

The sea had turned a bit choppy due to the high winds that we had on Friday, so much so that one of the interns had to stay on the boat for the second dive and hug the floor after an interesting dive to Poco Naufragio.  In the afternoon we found out how much harder the 800m snorkel is than it sounds and Pete heard a barrage of excuses as to why the times were so slow!

Jake managed to lose his SMB at the dive site nicknamed “Arise” because its Spanish name is too hard to spell for anyone who natively speaks English. This is perfect as it sets up a search and recovery dive of which we have been practicing (when Aaron doesn’t forget the lift bag and all of the other essential materials needed).

It was Jake and Will’s turn to lead dives on their own with no influence from Pete, Melissa or Alice. Abades was picked as the dive site because of how shallow it is which was perfect for a first dive lead as if anything happened an ascent would always be safe. Jake lead the first dive and it was fair to say that it was a right work out, Lewis Hamilton would have been jealous at the speed he navigated the dive site. After the dive Jake was slightly gutted that we had not managed to spot anything big such as an Octopus or a Moray. 

Will’s dive however was borderline perfect and the site was awash with interesting fish and finds (Still too obvious who is writing the blog?). We managed to spot two Octopuses on the second dive, one of which was a rare white spotted one. 

The most amusing part of the dive had to be the ascent, Will believed that we were reasonably close to shore, however we were probably closer to Dubai than the coast of Tenerife. This resulted in the world’s longest surface swim and Jamie almost drowning as her legs had given out, luckily the boys were on hand to tow her out.

More from us next time.

Time for some study, beer and a Vegemite sandwich

My first 2 weeks of being a dive intern in a nutshell…

So, flying in from Milan, Italy, after travelling Europe for 2 months, it was a relief to finally arrive in Tenerife, after months of emailing Pete and Melissa regarding planning, sorting problems, dates and visas etc etc…I was finally here!!

My first few days mostly involved observing the way everything works around here, and trying to remember who’s who and what’s what and which goes where…there’s a lot to remember! But I’m getting there, slowly but surely.

I have really enjoyed the dives we have been going on, seeing all the beautiful aquatic life, and breathing underwater feels amazing. After spending so much time on the surface surfing, seeing it from a totally different perspective is awesome.

We have been getting around quite a few dive sites; it’s fascinating to see the vast differences between different dive sites in the area.

You have Abades where you can follow the reef out, exploring all the cracks and crevices. Each dive I have had here, I have seen at least 2 Moray Eels, and huge amounts of fish also some Octopus, Cuttlefish and Cleaner Shrimp.

Next we have Yellow Mountain which I love for the huge rock reefs that are on otherwise flat sea bed, which you can swim up, over through and around.

Also Poco Naufragio which is on the marinawall, the main aspect of this site for me was the Stingrays, it is awesome to watch them gracefully swim around. I also found the depth and hugeness of the marina wall itself very interesting, seeing the huge cement cubes forming such a massive structure.

Then last but not least, there’s ElPuertitio…only one word for this place. Turtles. Amazing how close you can get to them, and how unfazed they are by you. Curiously swimming straight past your face, checking you out, and staring you straight in the eyes.

Getting to know Pete, Melissa, Alice and all the other interns has been really good (and funny!) There’s always some sort of joke going on between everyone which makes it all the more fun.

When we haven’t been diving or talking bout ‘outrageous’ things we are either reading our books and studying (or pretending to) cleaning, swimming, sunbathing, drinking beer and eating vegemite sandwiches.

So its not a bad life here on Tenerife… well if you can avoid doing stupid things and receiving ‘beer fines’ (which is a Melissa and Pete enforced rule which basically means if you make a ridiculous rookie mistake like forgetting a part of someone’s equipment, forgetting the boat keys when you’re going out on the boat, or leaving a tank standing up. You have to put 1 euro in a jar, and then we get to spend it all together).

I have also already had 4 splendid days off, which I have been using to discover the island. I have worked the bus system out, and have cruised around to Las Galletas, Los Christianos, Las Americas, El Medino and up to Santa Cruz, which has been really fun and exciting to explore the beaches and streets and to try and get away from the touristy areas and get a real taste of Spain!

So essentially that’s been my first couple of weeks as a Dive and Sea Tenerife Divemaster intern, and I’m really looking forward to the upcoming weeks, to learn some new skills, see some more amazing places and make some new friends.

Love Hayley

PADI Divemaster and more diving

This was my 7th week as an intern at Dive and Sea Tenerife.

One more week to go and then I will be jetting off back home on to my next adventure!

This week has been busy busy, I have become a PADI Divemaster, finally.

I am so pleased that I have achieved what I came here to do!

Melissa and I went with Matt to Abades we had two great dives, on the first dive we had really poor visability and so were tempted to call off the second dive, but then we were really happy that we did brave the second dive as we saw so many things on the second dive.

I am really proud to annouce that I spoteed a Fangtooth Moray eel and according to Melissa this is the first time that she has ever seen or heard of one being at Abades.

We also saw an Octopus and an amazing cuttle fish who looked like he wanted to fight with us his tentacles were wild!  Matt absolutley loves cuttlefish so he was in his element, at the moment he is hard pressed to decide which site is his favourite and as soon as we came out of the dive matt was raring to get back in.
I am sure Melissa won't object to another visit back out to Abades.

While we were out having a great time diving, the interns were being inducted by Pete and Alice, so when we came back it was really great to be able to meet all the new people, Jake, Will, Geoff, Jamie, and Thomas.  Its great for me to have some more young people to hang out with, and even better when i found out that some of the new interns are even staying on the same complex as I am!

After work we went for a nice welcome to Dive and Sea Tenerife drink, always fun to get to see people relaxing.

Thomas, Matt, Jamie Alice, Cam and I went to Starfish bay and to the Moon Pools. On the first dive Alice led us around the bay showing all of the fireworms and other invertabres. Then we got up onto the boat and set off for the moon pools. This dive was particularly amazing because we found three brilliant cuttle fish, another high on Matts diving exploits!

So amazingly this week I also started my Discover Scuba Diver leader internship,  this is great news for me as I am really looking forward to encouraging some of my friends to start diving back home, and who better to help them out!!

I taught my first DSD pool session this week . Until I had to organise the whole morning of the Discover Scuba Diving Experience I hadn't realised how stressed I would be about getting everything just right.

The night before I spent the evening with Jamie and Jake who were going to be my assistants the next day in the pool, with Pete keeping a watchful eye out for us of course!

But in the end everything went really well and my Discover Scuba diver had a fantastic time. It went very well and we went out to Yellow Mountain to take the DSD’s on their first open water dive.  A big thanks to Jamie and Jake for all thir help and assistance.

Thursday we took the group into the pool to see their skills. It was reassuring to see that their skills were like mine seven weeks ago..... Rusty!  Then we went down to the marina with all of the interns for their SMB Specialty dives. They all were trying to get the hang of it but on their second dive was a lot better.

Lucky me I got a couple of days off to relax and see some of Tenerife, but then  back to work again with Jake on Sunday to Alien Rock, so that they could start their mapping dives.  I was leading the dives, and was pleased to be able top navigate my way around Alien Rock.

Great dives, Fab Customers and cleaning a RIB !

This is now my fifth week here with Dive and Sea Tenerife. 

Time has gone bye so fast that it feels like I have just arrived.   Just three more weeks to go, and still so much to do!!.

This week we have had Belazs here who has started doing a 10 dive pack.  Belazs is an Advanced Open water diver so he is a joy to dive with. 

The first dives of the week were at the new deep site and at Pequeno Valle. 

At the new site we found a rock structure that looked like an underwater mountain we are thinking of a name for this new site and I really like the idea of Deep Blue Mountain, Melissa and Pete are a little unsure of this name so we are still thinking on that one.   

On the first dive we found a couple very nice black moray eels. On the second site we found two stingrays, one that was sleeping and the other which swam away from us very very fast.  Fantastic dive sites and we all had a great time.

This week I have also given my first brief and led my first dives. Very scary and have to say need a lot more work on the briefing! And like all fist time leaders I went a little fast!  

Must learn to slow down and show the customers all the exciting things there are to see. Belazs and I were diving at Yellow Mountain. The first dive I lead was to Alien Rock, on this site we saw a Pearly Razorfish that followed us for a while. 

For the second dive I took Belazs to the swim-through and around Crocodile Rock. We found one black moray eel and a very cool lobster. After we got back to the dock Belazs thanked me for two amazing dives, which made me feel like I lead the dives very well.   

This week has also seen the return of Alice a previous intern, who has now joined the working team of Pete and Melissa at Dive and Sea. 

Alice plans to sit her Assistant Instructor course in July when she will have been diving for a whole 6 months!  With already over 100 dives Alice is really happy to be back. 

Its great for me to have another person around the centre, especially as Alice has already completed her internship here with Pete and Melissa so she can give me handy hints!

We set out that morning for two dives with Belazs. The first site was called Poco Naufragio which is located just outside the marina.  I was boat cover today so Pete, Alice and Belazs went out for the first dive and when they surfaced they told me Alice had hand feed a stingray so that's was cool. 

For the second dive we headed out to a site I had never been to called Black Cove. Alice led the dive and I buddied up with Belazs. We found many octopus including some little babies that were so small. 

Overall it was a great week and it was alot of fun meeting Alice.

At the end of the week we had a run of DSD’s which was great fun, Alice Pete and I went with the three students who did brilliantly at their pool skills, off to Abades for their open water dive, the three of them had a fantastic dive, and were able to see lots at Abades including Melissa and Belzas.  

Then on Saturday I helped Alice at Abades for DSD’s with Chris and Theresa who did 2 dives they had a great time, and are raring to go out on Monday to see the Turtles with Melissa.

Also this week we faced the monumental task of getting the boat out of the water de slimed and anti fouled, it took us a lot of time! 

I cannot believe how much my body ached after the first day!  

Looking forward to the boat being back in the water next week!

New month........... New Internship at Dive and Sea Tenerife

So we have all arrived in Golf Del Sur for our 8 week PADI Divemaster internship, once we had met Pete, Melissa, Alice and the other interns we spent a day getting to know each other and going over the basics of what we can expect over the next few months with Dive and Sea Tenerife. 

On Tuesday we got our first taste of the diving when we went for a shore dive at the dive site known as Abades, this was a really great first dive, after a short swim we were surrounded with all types of aquatic life including Blue Fin Damsel fish, Red Back Cleaner Shrimp and many other species of fish which we are all becoming more familiar with after each dive.  For many of us after diving in UK waters it was really good to be out of our dry suits to experience the freedom you get with a wetsuit. One of our Scottish interns, who wont be named,  decided not to follow the rest of the group and get out of the water after the dive on the rockiest part of the beach lossing his snorkel and dignity in the process much to the amusement of a very unsympathetic Melissa.

Wednesday began with the news that one of the interns would be leaving due to asthma problems, this was a upsetting for the group to be loosing one of the real characters so soon into the internship. After a PADI Discover Scuba pool session,  Pete took us out on the boat, to “Yellow Mountain” another popular dive site in the area, on this dive we were accompanied by Matt and Emma from England also Carlos and Elana from Italy, this was Emma’s first experience of the underwater world and we were all impressed at how quickly she took to the water even if Matt got himself in trouble by not holding his girlfriends hand to begin with.
Carlos especially was very confident in the water and was a pleasure to dive with.

Thursday ~  We began the day by running a Divemaster skill circuit which was a good chance to see how much work we would need to do, although this turned into more of an opportunity to entertain Pete, Alice and Aaron. Our skills were a little rusty to say the least. Once our instructors had stopped laughing and picked themselves up off the floor we went out on the boat to work on our SMB speciality, this is a really essential skill to have when diving from a boat in rough seas, although a couple of the interns had to miss out on the training as they had not brought an SMB on an SMB Specialty course!
Remember all the kit all the time!

Friday some of us were given the day off and we used this to have a good look around Golf Del Sur and explore the area. We also caught up on some much needed sleep and Divemaster theory work.

Saturday we were joined by Matt who is a regular customer. Matt is a really experienced diver and a really easy going guy who’s a pleasure to dive with. We dived on a small wreck outside of the Marina which sits at around 27 Meters and is a haven for all types of aquatic life, the real highpoint of the dive was seeing a Sting Ray as we descended made only better by seeing an Eagle Ray on the ascent. Those left on the boat got a chance to see Dolphins while topping up their tans.

Sunday we returned to Abades with two customers, father and son, Peter and James.
We were also joined by also everyones favorite diver Matt. The sea had quite a current due to being inshore and at a shallow depth but James did really well with his buoyancy for such a new diver, by the end of the second dive he was really mastering the bouyancy control and looked very comfortable and safe in the water.

It was easy to feel comfortable letting him be more independent in the water and give him a chance to explore, and sea some of the aquatic life Tenerife has to offer such as Blue Fin Damsel fish, Fangtooth Moray Eels and Cuttle Fish.

The day started slowly due to a puncture on route to the dive site which intern Jake with the help of Peter repaired (never a dull moment with Dive and Sea), despite this James must have enjoyed the dive as he joined us for another two dives the following day. 

Sunday afternoon we did another two boat dives including one Search and Recovery and one mapping dive at Yellow Mountain.

After a perfect demonstration from Aaron on how to tie a bowline knot, days before, he unsuccessfully spent 35 minutes trying to tie the same bowline underwater, a certain very cold intern resisted the urge to tie him up and fortunately for Aaron we all kept our dive knives away. Regardless of this small hiccup Aaron completed the search element of his Search and Recovery by locating Ducky (A small yellow bath duck which for reasons we do not know or understand Pete is extreamley fond of) the punishment for losing ducky is usually a long surface swim home!

Most of us have survived our first week a Dive and Sea Tenerife and we are all getting into the routine of life in Tenerife. We’ve bravely tasted Aaron’s cooking, tried our hand at keeping the Urchin population under control, annoyed local residents with our attempts to speak Spanish, and drank enough Dorada to sink a small dive boat. The weathers hot, the waters clear and the beers are cold (and cheap) bring on the next 7 weeks.

More from us next week.............

Certified PADI Divemaster

I have just finished my fourth week as a Divemaster intern for Dive and Sea Tenerife with Pete and Melissa.

I can't believe I am already half way through my internship.

It has been an exciting week for me since I finished everything needed to become a Divemaster. Now I can focus on getting some experience as a certified Divemaster.

We started the week with a fun trip to Yellow Mountain with Graham. We took him on two great dives, the first was to Alien Rock and the second to the swimthrough. As always there was so much life to see, we saw Bream, Damsels and one of my favourite fish the Wide Eyed Flounder. 

Crocodile Rock that we went to on our second dive always has so much aqualtic life hiding in the rocks so its always a fun dive for everyone.

The next day Melissa, Rodders, Graham, and I went to Abades. This was the first time I had been to that site and I absolutely loved it.  

The first dive we followed the coast line out to the right and we spent so much time looking in little crevices at the hidden life, we saw Scorpian fish, Cuttlefish, Annulated Brittle Stars, Fire worms and I found a fantastic Purple Star fish, it was so bright. 

The second dive was out across the beach and around the rocky reef, there was so much colour to see I thoght the dive was amazing, I can certinly see why this is one of Melissa favourite dive sites. 

Its well worth the walk down the beach. We saw a baby Black Moray Eel it was so tiny I have no idea how Melissa managed to spot it!

Another bright and sunny day and back off to Yellow mountain with Jane, Pete, Rodders, and Myself. 

Jane is a regular customer that did a discover scuba diving experience and hasn't yet managed to find the time to do her Open Water so she came back to do her DSD again. She was a blast to take out diving and she had two good dives her love of the ocean has not faded since her first dip.

The next day we took Jane and Balazs off to El Puertito to see the Turtles. We found three of the regular Turtles including a baby Turtle that was so interested in my hair. The Turtles were amazing to see as usual and we also saw some amazing fish and invertebrate.

On our second dive we headed off to the left hand side of the bay which was an area I have not seen on previous visits to the turtles, so despite Melissa saying it was unlikely we would see the Turtles over that side of the bay we still were joined by two friendly Turtles, we saw a huge Anemone, as well as Cuttlefish, and a shoal of Cow Bream, a really interesting alternative dive at El Puertito.

Teide divers have also been down for another visit this time for laurens Divemaster Skill cicuit. We all went down to the pool and started our skills thankfully this time I passed all of my skills. 

Then we took a quick trip down to the marina where we swam and did our deep water entry. Once we got back everyone went down to the Aberdene for a English breakfast which tasted amazing.

The week ended with two great dives with Pete, Balazs, and myself. We went out to the new site which we have not named yet where we saw a huge black moray Eel Petes said this was the largest one he had ever seen and a fangtooth moray both in the same small space. then we headed off to Pequeno Valle. We stumbled across two awesome Stingrays, a Round Stingray and an Eagle Ray. 

This has been a fun week and I cant wait to see what next week has in-store for me.

Pete was right............ as always !

Well another great week here at Dive and Sea Tenerife, found a new Deep Dive site with loads of nice marine life.  Fang Toothed Moray Eels, Black Moray Eels, large Common Ray, big Painted Comber and a grumpy Angel Shark that didn’t  like been woken up by Pete, as it swam away it’s left side pectoral fins wasn’t  moving so understand why is was grumpy.

Aaron has done two PADI Specialty deep dives, Pete had him doing a bit of math and kid’s shape puzzle to show how Nitrogen affects us at depth, 8 minute safety stop on my alterenate air source which is great practice, learnt that it’s best if only one of you control buoyancy as we both was putting air in and out of our BCD’s going up and down like yo-yo’s.

We also did two of Aarons PADI Specialty navigation dives one to work out his kick cycles, navigate a square and triangle which went well and the second to navigate around Alien Rock.
All in all good dives and good refresher for me good to keep skills up to date and as they say use them or lose them.
Also this week Aaron has been completing More of his speciality dives he’s really charging through them all for his PADI Master Scuba Diver, Fish ID was great spent all my time looking under rocks, loved this dive one of the best dives I’ve ever done found loads of interesting invertebrates like Feather Star Fish, Squat Lobster, Gun Fighter Shrimp (Pistol Shrimp), Brown Cowries and File Shell’s (Flame Scallop’s) to name a few that you don’t normally see when just swimming around.

I would of loved to have stayed down all day, when I surfaced I was really excited, and couldn’t wait to get back to the shop to look at my pictures.
Adel and Karina had their last dive of their holiday with us and we took them to El Puertito to see the Turtle’s.  Was Great dive, the Turtles must have stayed with us for 20 minutes.  Adel and Karina will be back in September to dive with Dive and Sea but sadly I will be long gone.

We had Teide Divers down to do skills circuit Kepa and Aaron did well in the water and on their Predive Safety Check and kit assembly.  Then we were off to do more 800 Meters snorkel and got better score to my stamina is still getting better even though I smoke like a chimney, Kepa and Aaron did there 100 meter tired diver tow and both got good scores too.
Went for a nice breakfast at the Aberdeen was looking forward to it all morning.

Went over physics with Pete and now it is as clear as mud! Think I’ve got it now though, will find out soon enough as I’m sitting the old Divemaster exam so find out my week knowledge areas to brush up on for my Assistant Instructor exam which I will be sitting soon.
Passed it all except for RDP should know better to busy worrying about physics, which I was really pleased with.

End of a great week we had a Discover Scuba Diver a Scuba Tune Up and a snorkeler in, well to say I had a bad day in a bit of an understatement !
Every think that could have gone wrong did.  Pete said we would have a day like this and did.
Learned a lot from it though and will never have a day like that again (hopefully).

Divemaster exams passed..... Hurrah !!!

Its hard to believe that just 3 weeks ago I was a open water diver. 

This week I have completed my PADI Deep Diver, Boat Diver, and Fish ID specialties. Now I have only a few more dives to do and one more speciality before I can apply for my Master Scuba Diver certificaiton! 

On my deep dive I managed to take twice as long on a childs toy than it took me to complete on the surface, which was funny for Pete and Rodders to watch. The site we went to for my deep dive, we had never been to before, so we are still trying to name it, but there were many amazing animals such as Angel Sharks, Stingrays, Moray Eels, and many awesome fish. 

My second fish ID dive was the best dive I have done since I came to Tenerife, there were so many different invertebrates and fish that I had never noticed before.

I have also got a new nickname Whinney, and you have to say it in a silly American accent. They gave me this nickname is since they all believe I whine to much. 

Phil from Teide Divers came down with their intern, Kepa.
I managed to pass all of mine except for two, pretty good going after just two weeks. After a quick break we headed off down to San Miguel marina where Rodders, Kepa, and I did two of our stamina assessments. I am really happy I managed to score a three on the 800 M and a four on my 100 M. All that swimming has definately payed off.

Friday was another fun day since we took Karina and Adel to El Puertito to see the family of Turtles who live in the small spanish bay, its such a beautiful site with so much to see and really easy entrance, despite the poor visability we still managed to find three Turtles. 
Karina and Adel were very happy that they got to see the Turtles before they left back to Scotland. 
What a fantastic relief to me I passed my Divemaster exams with a 95% on the first half and a 85% on the second half. Its great to see that when I study hard the results are good! 

So at the end of the week we had our day from hell! 
On the first day of my internship Pete told us that we would have one day that literally every thing we will mess up, and he was right. 
We were taking out a DSD, scuba review diver, and a snorkeler. I wont go into detail but to be short Rodders and I did not do one thing right, Pete was very disappointed in us but then after we went over the debrief he was very nice about it all. 
I am happy that I am so close to becoming a Divemaster, with only a few more skills in the pool to finish and a few more dives to log. 
Hurrah!!!

EFR, SMB and in love with the French girl

Well the start of week two, time fly’s by so quick here and hopefully I will pass my PADI Divemaster this week!

We started off the week with the Emergency First Response course for Aaron and refresher course for me.  Always great fun and loads of laughs doing CPR and rescue breaths on  Resussie Annie (or Canadian  Dave as he is known in the DC)  and general first Aid, followed by the EFR exam.

I joined the hall of shame, with Chris and George, for failing part 1 of the exam but passed the second time. Must actually read the whole question and each part of the answer!

I have been doing lots of swimming this week, with Aaron, as I’ve been struggling to get a good enough time for my 400m swim, so doing it twice a day on the advice of Pete, at least now I can manage to complete the 400m without stopping! Fantastic improvement on my first week where I could not complete the laps without stopping.

Today Pete, Aaron and I were taking Rafal for two boat dives at Yellow Mountain.  I was on boat support topping up on my tan, making sure the tanks had the right fitting for them for the next dive all good stuff!

Rafal seemed to enjoy the dives even though he hadn’t dived for a while , followed by equipment cleaning which is getting faster all the time as Aaron and I have begun to get in to a routine.

This week I have been concentrating on the skill circuit with Aaron, which is really helping me as I am  seeing what Aaron is doing and correcting him, they are looking a lot better .
Pete said they were good but just needs to slow down which is good for me as I’ve been showing and going through them with him, I also was scored on  my pre dive safety check for Divemaster all good there another tick it the box.

Confined Water Rescue in the afternoon me playing the dead victim (nothing new there!) Aaron did well; he got a bit of a shock when I climbed all over him after bringing me to the surface!

Then on to the open water rescue scenarios, I disconnected my low pressure inflator which took Aaron a while to work out but he got there in the end the funniest bit was playing a lifeless body while Aaron tried to drag me into the boat… he claims I need to lose some weight cheecky!!! .

In the afternoon we did our Surface Buoy Marker (SMB) Distinctive Speciality.

Fabulous new purchases  at Prosub new fins, and ended up getting new mask and gloves too (like a kid in a sweet shop), Melissa said look I look like Batman in it so decided to but bat ears on my hood for the next day .

Last thing of the day Pete said kit assembly, Preparation and disassembly for my Dive Master and if you get it right you’re a DM (no pressure then!) well fluffed it up, so at least another day to wait.

Discover Scuba Diving in the pool with Severine, renamed Eight (much to my frustration I cannot explain her new name to her so she understands why we think its funny our French English chats are rather funny!)

She was a bit nervous to say the least with a little time and loads of encouragement all went well she was swimming around happily by the end.  Then out to Yellow Mountain Where I gave a much more acceptable dive brief, Adel and Karina joined us all.
Everyone seemed to like the Bat man look as it got a few laughs.  Today I found out just how hard work it is dragging someone around even with my new sling shot fins which are very nice if I say so myself.

Finished up at the marina then on to the dreaded Kit Assembly Preparation and disassembly which went very well I’m pleased to say (final tick in the box). Aaron was told he had passed his PADI Rescue Diver Course big congratulations to him as he as been here only two weeks.

And finally was told I had passed my PADI Divemaster with swimming twice a day all week it really does pay off.  Big thanks to Pete and Melissa for putting up with me all these weeks through the good, the bad and ugly.

Only four weeks left and Assistant Instructor still to do.

PADI Rescue Diver

This has been my second week in Tenerife and it has been an intensive time. I have been working on my stamina my skill circuit as well as theory!! I am happy to report that I have managed to reduce my time on my 400 m swim proving that swiming everyday is paying off!

This week I took my Emergency First Response course (first aid) which was good fun.

I have also passed my Rescue Exam and the practical part of the course and so I am pleased to annouce I am now a fully certified PADI Rescue Diver. 

I managed not to lose Ducky during my rescue course, so thats a big relief as the story is that other interns have nearly lost ducky and it has dire consequences... probably for me I would get 100 beer fines!! 

Melissa got a good laugh at me trying to get Carl back to the boat and into the boat since she believes that I had drowned poor little Rodders, he was sooo heavy for such a little person.

I have started working towards my PADI Master Scuba Diver certification. 

One of the great things that I found out when I arrived was that as part of the internship we were being offered the chance to get the SMB Distinctive Specialty for free! 

I obviously jumped at the chance, and this week, in just two dives (but with lots of practice) I passed this Speciality. 

Now every dive I use my SMB, practice makes perfect after all!! 

Not only that but I also started my Fish ID course...Melissa has made me write a minimum of 10 species of fish on every dive I have logged since I arrived so this has been great practice for this course. There are so many species of fish hidden around the dive sites we visit I had great fun searching for aqualtic life!

After much practice with Rodder in the afternoons going through our Divemaster skill circuit I felt ready to show Pete how I was doing, he was really pleased with my progress but just said I needed to slow right done and exagerate my movements.

Severine, Carls girlfriend, tried out the Discover Scuba Diving experience so we took her out to Yellow Mountain with our good friends Karina and Adel. They all had great dives and I am looking forward to diving with the girls again next week.

I had 2 days off in which I read my Divemaster book and completed knowledge reviews only taking a break to swim in the pool. 

Overall it was a good week and I feel that I accomplished a lot, hope next week can be even better. The time I have been here has flown by, It feels like only yesterday I was just an open water student striving for a higher certification and now I have so many things to tell my jealous friends who are stuck at home in California.

Our first American PADI Divemaster Intern.......

This is my first week in Tenerife and day one started with a great introduction to my PADI Divemaster internship and the Dive centre, I met Carl who will be with me for the first 6 weeks of my 8 week internship.

I arrived in Tenerife on Saturday after over 24 hours travel time from my home town of Calabasas in California, although I did tell everyone I was going to be in "TenerLife" not Tenerife easy mistake to make I thought but, Melissa has found this very amusing and has been telling everyone about it!

I am 19 years old and this is the first time I have travelled to Europe, I am really excited about my adventure!
I am here on an eight week internship where not only will I be studying for the PADI Divemaster certification 

I am also going to complete 5 specialities so that I can complete my PADI Master Scuba diver certification, and the plan is that I will become a PADI Assistant Instructor once all that is completed!

Seems along way off now, so watch this space.

On the first day I had my first two dive's of my internship. It was great to be diving on my first day a definitive bonus! I was very excited and nervous but it all turned out perfect.

The first dive Chris was my buddy on was my navigation dive, he explained how to use the compass to me, that was fun!!
I also learnt my first lesson about beer fines, I dropped my integrated weights down to the bottom of the sea when I was getting back to the boat DOH! ( last time I will use them).

My second dive was my first night dive which I was very excited about and it was amazing. I saw so many amazing fish and invertebrates.

It has been a little difficult getting past the 8 hour time change but eventually I got past it on day four thank goodness I finally feel alive again! Melissa has been teasing me this week as I have been alittle sleepy to say the least.

I have been really impressed with the dive sites I have visted this week and I was really happy to go to El Puertito to meet the Turtles that can mostly be found there. Nick, Josh, Elizabeth, Bungle, Melissa and I all had a great time watching the Turtle which followed us for the majority of our dive, can't wait to see the photos.

I also got to visit Tabaiba, which is in the north of the island, this was another shore dive, I went out with Pete, Carl and Nick and Josh, we completed the deep dive and wreck dive of my PADI Advanced Open Water course, only one more dive to go and then I will be an advanced diver and all in just a few days of arriving.which was very cool to see. We went about 30m deep and then found a sunken tugboat which we swam around checking all the windows into the ship.

To top my first week off, I got to see my first angel shark on a dive with Melissa, Karina, Adel, Aiden, Carl, and I at starfish bay. There were some very cool octopus that we got to see while we swam along the rocky shore. After that dive Carl and I went off to Yellow mountain.
I managed to fail my 800m and my 100m diver tow because I have some very bad split fins, hint to self, don't buy split fins.

I have been swimming twice a day every day, I am sure I must be getting better, I am going to continue with my swimming as next week I will do my timed assessment. Its been a great first week, but over so quickly. I cannot wait to see what the rest of my internship brings.

New intern........... New name

Hi everyone my name is Carl or now better known as Rodders .

I am currently on a year out from university where I am a mature student studying marine Biology.  I have had a number of careers during my working life, I joined the army and then moved onto being a carpenter and finally have settled on a career in Diving.

I learnt to dive in 2007, in the UK, and since then I have become obsessed with marine life and diving in general. I have a 500 Litre marine fish tank and a tropical fish tank with 200 Litres, I have approximately 13 breeds of fish and 40 different species of coral.

I have joined Dive and Sea as a PADI Rescue Diver and I have over 100 logged dives, I have already studied for the old PADI Divemaster course but unfortunately I was unable to finish the course.

It will be very interesting to me to see the differences not only in the Divemaster courses but also in working within a dive centre in the nice warm waters of Tenerife.

This week was a fresh start for me and I had the pleasure of meeting Aaron AKA (Juan well once we had finally settled on his name Canadian Dave was a favourite for a while but then we decided it was too long).

We started with an induction to Dive and Sea Tenerife with many useful tips about the dive school the do’s and don’ts and surrounding area, Juan and I had to give a 5 minute presentation on our self’s which went well except for the 36 eerrmm’s need to slow down and breath!

Later we did two dives the last dive for Zippy as he was flying home the following day. I was too busy kiting up Nick and Josh so forgot my own weights so missed the first dive must switch my brain on.  Second dive was night dive and had to go back to the marina to pick up Louise who was also joining us on the night dive, really good saw more of the predatory species out in the open.

We went diving in the north of the island at Tabaiba, we were there to complete the PADI Advanced Open water dives deep and wreck for Aarons and Nick.  This was two fantastic dives we saw Common Stingrays along with the rest of the many species we have out here. The wreck was called El Raton and is laying in 30 meters of water with bow up and tilting to starboard (Right), Dolphins were about but didn’t come over.

Saw my first (hope fully one of many) Angle Shark at Starfish Bay with Melissa, Aaron, Louise it was only about a foot away from us but way too sleepy to wake up and see us.  Also saw nice Cuttlefish, and Anemones.

My diving leadership skills are improving I am paying more attention to other students and customers in the water.  Aaron and I took bearings during the dive for when we are leading dives unaccompanied!

As part of our mapping project that Aaron and I are doing at Yellow Mountain, I tried to navigate but ended up getting lost not good!! Especially as I already have my navigation speciality. I don’t even know where I went wrong either to sort it out, however my second attempt was much better must remember to take my bearings with me (all the gear all the time).

My swimming stamina is coming on nice and I managed to pass my 800m snorkel bonus don’t have to do it again.  Can just about smell my Dive Master nearly there then on to PADI Assistant Instructor.

Good week all in all learned loads finding the more you put in the more you get out.
Been swimming twice a day all week so hopefully my 400 Meter swim will be ok worked really hard trying to sort my stamina out.

Wah wah wah :-(

Friday morning we packed some kit together and headed up to the North of the Island, to see our friends at Teide Divers.

We met Phil, Jackie, Lauren and Kepa, ready to go out for a dive in a different part of the island. Jackie put the kettle on and made us all a nice cup of tea, which is the standard recipe for a good start to the day.

We headed down to the local marina soon after, where we would meet the boat that was taking us out for our morning of fun in the sea. There were quite a few people on the boat, one of whom took a special interest in sitting incredibly close to Melissa, much to Melissa’s disapproval (photos to follow).

Leaving paradise behind.

Eight weeks later and it is time to pack up and head back to the U.K, leaving paradise behind.

Starting where I left off with Friday, Pete, Melissa, Bungle and I headed up to Puerto de le Cruz in the north of the island to dive with Tiede Divers.

After our road trip we arrived at the Teide dive shop and after a much needed brew we headed off to the harbor to meet our boat taxi to the dive site.

Dolphins and PADI Assistant Instructors

This week consisted on continuing with our PADI Assistant Instructor and much more tea drinking.

The start of another Friday in paradise, which began at a refreshing 7.15am. First on the agenda was to assemble and pack the kit so Bungle, I and Melissa could head off to Las Eras for some more fantastic diving.

Las Eras is officially one of my favourite dive sites in Tenerife and we managed to see a whole host of aquatic life including Fangtooth Moray Eel, Black Moray Ell, Common Ray, Canarian lobster and Octopus.

On the way back from Las Eras we decided it was a good idea to stop for a quick donut to reward our efforts this morning. Mmm Donut’s.

Once refuelled and recharged we headed to the marina to wash the kit where we met Tiede Divers, who were completing the PADI Rescue Course for Lauren and Kepa.

When we returned to the shop we were met by Bungle’s friends from the U.K Anna and Pete on holiday. After a spot of lunch it was time for some more ‘exciting’ presentations from Pete for our PADI AI course followed by mock exams and preparing our presentation for tomorrow.

The weekend and time for some more diving, or boat duty in my case. At the shop for 7.15 to prepare for Anna and Pete’s PADI Discover Scuba Diving. Both of them where fantastic and could not wait to try some diving in the sea. So we headed off to the marina to board the boat and headed off to Yellow Mountain where Pete, Bungle, Anna and other Pete went off to see the underwater world leaving me to admire the above-water scenery.

Anna and Pete both thoroughly enjoyed their first taste of diving and left wanting to see more. After bit of lunch, we met up with Tiede Divers once again to continue our Assistant Instructor course’s, we also had the nerve racking pleasure of completing our first Knowledge Development Presentations in which my fantastic presentation included one piece of false information, scoring me a big fat 1 out of 5. The day concluded with some more slide shows and tea drinking.

Sunday ‘the day of rest’ or not, who needs days off when you have the best job in the world??

Yet another 7.15 start, meeting Tiede Divers bright and early so we could perform our Confined Water Presentations. I managed to score a 5/5 for my brief of the skill and only a 4.2/5 for performing the skill due to being a plonker and forgetting my slates on the side of the pool. Durhhh. We left the pool relatively happy with our efforts and had to complete the de-brief section of the Confined Water Skill in which I again managed to score a good 5/5. All in all, a good morning and a few more boxes ticked to account towards our Assistant Instructor Certification. After some much needed lunch on our so called ‘day off’ we watched a few more slide shows and received our new Presentation topics for our next assessed presentation. A nice early finish around 3pm.

On to Monday, I can’t really remember a whole lot from Monday so here’s my best guess. Today following yet another lovely start at 7.15 Bungle, Melissa, I, other Pete and Anna headed off to El Puertito to try and find the Turtles. Two Fantastic dives and managed to find the turtles on both occasions, on the first of the two dives Mr Turtle loved us so much that he followed us all the way into shore when we were finishing our dive.

On the second dive we managed to spot three different Turtles including a tiny turt who quickly swam away from the scary divers. As always upon surfacing from the dives, lots of smiling faces form seeing the Turtles.

We headed back to the marina and washed all of the kit down where Melissa was very restraint and didn’t even spray either myself or Bungle with the hose. Must have been feeling unwell. A quite afternoon followed in which we caught up with paper work and generally chilled out, the day concluded with a de-brief and a delicious Big Al’s Mixed Grill. I have never enjoyed a plate of food so much as when I am eating the life changing meal that is a Big Al’s Mixed Grill.

Tuesday turned out to be a fantastic day for me and Bungle. Like any other day we started at 7.15 where we met up with Tiede Divers for some more Assistant Instructor ‘stuff’. The day began with briefing our second Confined Water Skill, which I thought I completely ‘fluffed up’ however I would later find out I actually passed with a reasonable score. Then it was off to the pool to complete the skill.
After a brief cup of tea it was off to the marina to complete our Open Water Skill’s. My skills went well and I had even more enjoyment making Phil’s skill/s nearly impossible under the hilarious instruction of Pete.

Upon returning to the shop after an ‘eventful’ Open Water session we proceeded to de-brief both our confined and open water skills. Yet another cup of hot beverage, to carry us through the next part of our day, which was performing our second knowledge development presentation which I managed to score 4.7/5. Good but not 5/5. Shortly after Tiede divers left us to head back up north. Bungle and I being the fantastic students we are decided to attempt the exam, in which I passed.

That was it.............. ASSISTANT INSTRUCTOR/S....... WOOOO...... with great power comes great responsibility.

What a fantastic way to end the day, we celebrated with a spot of lovely dinner and some beverages round Pete and Melissa’s.

If you thought Tuesday was good I think Wednesday was the best day of my life.

The day was like any other day, eating breakfast, having a shower and in the shop for 7.30. First on the agenda was a Project Aware Debris Dive which was a good experience cleaning the Pequeno Valle dive site, collecting various debris off the bottom.
However during our dive we were greeted by a pod of around 4 DOLPHINS ahhhh.

After the initial brown pants moment it was amazing and by far one of the most amazing experiences ever. The dolphins proceeded to swim around inches from us, seeing what these strange neoprene covered fish were. When we eventually got back on the boat very excited. The dolphins proceeded to follow us all the way to the next dive site, swimming alongside the boat in touching distance.

Dolphins are sweeeeett. We decided that we should probably do some more diving opposed to watching the Dolphins and headed over to starfish bay where we set about killing every urchin in sight.

It’s not mindless violence, basicly urchins kill fish we like so we kill urchins, simpleess. Although during our cull, one urchin managed to leave two of its spines in my hand, not best pleased. When we returned to the shop to finish the best morning ever in the only way we know.... a breakfast at the Aberdeen. The day concluded with some more reading and cleaning. Such a fantastic day.

Onto today and yet another day closer to going back to the U.K. After the excitement of the past two days, today was a relatively calm day. An early start so Bungle and I could get in the pool and film some more videos for our fantastic skill video.

After a semi-successful morning, filming us messing around in a pool we headed back to the shop for a cup of tea and some blog writing.  After completing a Su doku on Melissa’a behalf and cleaning the cars a spot of lunch was in order. More blog writing followed lunch as well as a trip to pro sub to see Dave (Ian). On route to Pro Sub we picked up Bungle and I’s fantastic new Assistant Instructor polo shirts ... never has so much pride been taken in an item of clothing. On return to the shop it was time for a photo shoot in our new shirts followed by some more tea.

All in all a brilliant week, found out Dolphins are my new best friend, passed Assistant Instructor Course and picked up the shirt with Assistant Instructor written on. Fantastic.

Over 7 weeks have passed since my first blog and only 5 days remain of my internship.

It’s gone so quickly and I wish I could stay here longer, well considering Pete now has a ‘Tea bell’ for whenever he needs tea leaving maybe a good idea.


Adios for another few days.

Note to self.................

Friday morning Melissa, Zippy and I popped down to Las Eras for a couple of fun dives.

The pipe line that has recently been discovered there is home to lots of interesting things and is always a great dive. We explored a new route to it, then spent around half an hour swimming along it, coming across Stingrays, Octopus, Scorpion Fish and a massive Fang Tooth Moray Eel, that was about the size of a very big Eel!
The exit from this dive was hilarious! We tried a new point on the beach which we soon realised was a bit steep, which meant that Melissa and I spent more time falling over than we did getting out!

Note to self; Think about personal safety before helping others out of the water.

On the second dive it was just Zippy and I as Melissa had decided to stay out of the water and warm up a bit. We went to the other side of the site and found more Rays and also a big Canarian Lobster. I found an Octopus and tried to point it out to Zippy, but he didn’t have his eyes turned on properly and it took him about half an hour to see what I was pointing at.

In the afternoon, we were joined by Anna and Pete. Anna is my friends mum from England and Pete is her husband. They had decided to come over and say hello, while seeing what all this diving fuss was about. I was leading their PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience the next morning so I stuck the DVD on for them and gave them a quick brief on what to expect.

By the time this was done, Phil, Jackie, Lauren and Kepa had turned up and we spent the rest of the afternoon going through some more bits and pieces for our PADI Assistant Instructor course.

Saturday morning Anna and Pete arrived for their introduction into diving. Zippy and I were in the pool with them, I led the session and Zippy was in assistance, still under thw watch of Pete!

I knew that they had wanted to try diving for ages and it was good for me to be the one to introduce them to it. The pool session was followed by a trip to Yellow Mountain with Pete leading, where they enjoyed themselves a lot. A well deserved fry up capped off the morning nicely!

Following tradition, the afternoon was filled with more of the PADI Assistant Instructor course. It was our turn to give a presentation and mine was a knowledge development about ‘procedures for a missing diver’. I managed 4.5 out of 5, which I can’t moan about for a first attempt!

We were also given assignments for teaching a confined water skill, which we would be presenting the next morning, so some evening revision consumed the rest of the day.

Sunday morning we were down in the pool first thing to test our confined water presentations. I had to teach Phil and Jackie (who were pretending to be students) how to breathe from a free-flowing regulator, with Zippy as my Divemaster for the purpose of the exercise. It was good fun getting a little insight into what it will be like when I am a PADI Instructor at some point in the future.
Phil and Jackie were assigned problems to present for me when I was teaching them, which was a good way to learn and also quite funny at times. I unfortunately managed to break Phil’s planning slate that he has had since 1750, much to the amusement of myself and Pete who saw me do it. The afternoon brought with it some more slides and information about teaching diving!

Monday morning Anna and Pete had decided to do a couple more dives while they were here, so Melissa, Zippy and I took them out at El Puertito. We were off in search of Turtles and were not disappointed. 2 dives there gave us chance to swim with the amazing animals, which is always a fantastic experience.

In the afternoon I went to see Dave at Pro-Sub with Melissa. Walking into that shop is like going to Toys’R’Us when you are a child! Resisting the urge to buy everything in sight is without a doubt one of the most difficult challenges known to man! I did well and only left with an ‘Enriched Air Diver’ manual, for the speciality I would be doing later in the week.

Later on we met up with Anna and Pete at Big Al’s for a couple of pints to celebrate some successful diving. We ended up having some dinner and mine arrived at the table in the form of the ‘Big Al’s Mixed Grill’, as you may have heard mentioned in previous blogs. They would be off back to England the next day, ready to plan their next diving adventure!

Tuesday morning Phil and Jackie came back down and we got in the pool to present some more skills, each playing the roles of instructors and students. We each taught 1 skill in the pool, then headed down to the marina to present our 2 open water skills. In the marina the highlight of the day was when Phil was teaching us a controlled descent.
Pete was giving us problems to present to Phil, in the form of inflating our BCD’s instead of deflating them for the descent. This went on for a few minutes and by the end of it we were all just floating in the water and laughing! I presented my 2 assigned skills and was quite pleased with how they went.

In the afternoon we completed the rest of the presentations that we needed for the Assistant Instructor certification, Then Phil and Jackie left Zippy and I to sit the final exam..... This would determine whether we had passed the course first time round or not.......

WE BOTH PASSED!! Zippy and I were now officially PADI ASSISTANT INSTRUCTORS!

Note to self; One step closer to having the best job in the world.

Wednesday morning, a relatively normal morning to start with. Little did I know that it would turn out to be the best day I have ever had, ever!
We started off by heading out to Pequeno Valle for a ‘Project Aware, Dive For Debris’ day. The goal was to clean up any litter or things that shouldn’t be polluting the dive sites that we enjoy visiting so much.

Melissa, Zippy and I started the clean up and it went really well.
Then we were joined in the water by a pod of wild Dolphins.
Such an unbelievable experience!
To be under the water and watching these animals in their natural habitat was fantastic!
Even when we got back on the boat and headed to our next dive site, they followed us most of the way, swimming alongside the boat and jumping around in front of us, which was so much fun.
We eventually made it to Starfish Bay, where we spent about half an hour culling Sea Urchins.

In the afternoon, over a cheeky breakfast, we mostly basked in the amazingness of the morning. We spent the rest of the day tidying a few bits round the shop, with a little bit of reading thrown in for good measure.

Note to self; WOW!!!!

Thursday we spent tidying and cleaning and doing a few bits around the shop. Getting tanks filled and little shopping trips meant everything was organised nicely. Another trip to Pro-Sub happened, which inevitably meant I would have to refrain from buying things. Even my best efforts today were unsuccessful as I walked away with a nice new Oceanic weight belt!

On the trip we also stopped by the T-shirt mans shop, to collect our nice new Assistant Instructor attire… Team that with the PADI backpack that I received a few weeks ago and I’m starting to look professional!
I bought Pete a present today that I strongly believe every future intern here will hate me for.

As we all know by now, Pete is a huge fan of a nice cup of tea. Rather than having him ask for his regular cuppa, I decided that a little bell sitting on the corner of his desk that he could ‘ding’ when he is ready for one, would be a better option.
Melissa is not overly fond of the idea, but I am adamant that it is funny.


Note to self; DING!!!

The last week of Alice in Tenerife :-(

O nee o nee mijn laatste week alweer! Hoewel ik graag mijn familie en vrienden weer wil zien, zou ik ook ontzettend graag hier blijven. Ik heb echt mijn hart verloren aan Tenerife…

The last thought's of Alice's (Kim's) Internship

Oh dear oh dear it’s my last week already! Although I’d love to see my family and friends again, I would also really like to stay here. I truly lost my heart to Tenerife ...

My week began in the North of Tenerife, where was going to do my two dives with Teide divers! Along with Jackie, Phil and a customer; Huachin, we headed to our first dive site. After a brief wake-up drive to the site, we arrived and got into our kits. Before we went in, Jackie took the opportunity to practice her demonstration of the Predive Safety Check, and I performed a demonstration of the Deep Water Entry. The first dive was to Tabaiba, a shore dive to a wreck that has been sunk specifically for divers.

It was a beautiful and impressive dive, and we spotted a baby Octopus, Blenny’s and a large number of tiny purple Nudibranch (Flabellina affinis). After our first dive we enjoyed a cup of tea to warm up again before we were off to our second dive.
This second dive was to Radazul, also a shore dive, along a wall of rocks, with various aquatic life that lives between the cracks in the rocks. Throughout this dive we were followed by a Dentex, an imposing, large predator fish. There were dozens of Anemones to see, lots of Blue-fin Damselfish, Ornate Wrasse and a Snake cucumber.
Again, a great dive, thank you Jackie and Phil! After getting out of the water I realized that I really needed the bathroom! Man, I regretted that cup of tea after the first dive... Letting it go in the wetsuit is not an option, that’s just gross.. But I wasn’t too sure about how much longer I could hold it up, I felt like a little child! Frustratingly enough, there were toilets about 20 meters away, but they were closed! Thanks then..

Eventually, I realized that I probably really wouldn’t make it to the toilet of Teide divers’ dive resort, so Jackie and I walked to a restaurant on the other side of the harbor. What a relief that was! Anyway, enough about my post-dive adventure. That evening I had an enjoyable evening with Jackie, and went to bed, due to the very early start the next day. ;-)

Yawn sleep yawn.. On Tuesday morning we were up very early, around 5 a.m., to be able to get to the South in time, for a pool session with Dive and Sea Tenerife. After a drowsy car ride, we arrived at Golf Del Sur, still feeling very sleepy, and I stayed in the shop that morning. Interns Chris, George and Carl completed a large number of their Divemaster skills, and Jackie has now completed almost all of her skills, and with good results!

That afternoon, Chris, George, Carl, Pete and I went to the Marina, to complete the last skills of Chris and George, and to give Carl a chance to practice his 800m snorkel. Chris began with his second last skill: the Deep Water Entry, which he successfully completed. Then it was time for their last skill: the 15 minute float, which, funnily enough, they failed on last time due to swallowing large amounts of water :-)
Under the watchful eye of Pete, they completed their last skill without any problems, which means that they now are PADI Divemasters!
Meanwhile, Carl practiced the 800m snorkel for the first time, which was tougher than he had expected, and on top of that, he also had the misfortune to get a cramp in his leg during the swim. But in the end, he did succeed, and that evening we raised our glasses for Chris and George, for completing their PADI Divemaster course, congratulations guys! Well done!

Wednesday morning Chris, George, Carl and I got the opportunity to start off with our next project; making our own Divemaster skills DVD, from Dive and Sea Tenerife! Unfortunately, Carl was sick that morning, and he decided that it was better to get some rest before getting back into the water. So the three of us went to the pool, armed with two cameras, where we made a start with the recordings. We really enjoyed and had a lot of fun, but also learned a lot.
We spent the Wednesday afternoon studying and making various exams as a good practice for the PADI Assistant Instructor course. All in all it didn’t go too bad, but a few mistakes still means there’s some room for improvement!

Thursday morning began with the exciting kit exchange! This was the last skill that Jackie still had to do for her PADI Divemaster course. I was honored with the chance to do it again. The first attempt started really well, but about halfway through, Jackie had some difficulty with getting her BCD on, and she had a moment of panic and went to the surface for a few good mouthfuls of breath.
After a short break, she was ready for a second attempt, which went perfect. She was absolutely delighted!

Congratulations on your PADI Divemaster certificate Jackie, you deserved it!

After Jackie it was Carl’s turn to do the kit exchange with George, which also went fine, well done Carl!

At lunch, we celebrated Jackie's new achievement, while enjoying another English breakfast.

Friday was a tiring but interesting day full of studying and exams. The results are not bad at all, it's going in the right direction now, I would even have passed all of them! However, not a 100%, so there’s room for improvement... So now I’ll try to finally finish my book, it’s just taking so much time, because I get stuck on words I don’t know. Too late to switch to Dutch now though, because I don’t know any of the diving-related world in Dutch!
On the one hand, it is great to have 4 months to read the book, waiting to be certified for 6 months and then do my PADI Assistant Instructor course. On the other hand, I am afraid I will have just forgotten everything by then...

Saturday morning we were joined by the lovely Ann, who came to us for her PADI Open Water Referral.

For her first two Open Water dives, we went to Playa Negra, a shore dive. Because it was a diving course, it was inevitable that this time Pete had to do two shore dives, which aren’t exactly his favorite.. We couldn’t do boat dives that day, because the boat is currently out of the water to have the motor serviced. Ann was a fun, spontaneous girl and her dives went very well. All of her skills went fine as well, even the Partial Mask Flood, where Ann was a bit nervous for. During the dive we saw a Cuttlefish, Fireworms, Pufferfish, a Sea Hare and Lightfoot Crabs. Back in the shop, we warmed up enjoying a delicious cup of tea (with milk of course!).

Maybe my last Sunday should have been a busy day, doing all the things on my ‘to do’ list while being in Tenerife, but it just didn’t happen. The weather wasn’t great, and I was too tired and decided to spend part of the day in the shop to catch up with some of my work. The rest of the day I studied some more and relaxed.

My final few days :-(

Monday... Now the end is very near, because this week I will go back to Holland again. Sniff,
I miss Tenerife already!
Today we had the company of Ann again, who was back for her next two dives that were part of her PADI Open Water course. Now we had the boat back, the choice wasn’t hard; we were going to do boat dives.

We went to Gijarro Arrecife, one of our newest dive sites. Before we got on the boat, After a quick dive brief about the skills to perform during the next two dives, we were on our way to the next two dives. Ann, Pete and I got into the water while George stayed on the boat during the first dive. Ann did very well again, she is improving very quickly and doesn’t have any problems with the skills.
During this dive we saw Arrow Crabs and some funny Red-Backed Cleaner Shrimps. During the second dive I stayed on the boat, and George got into the water. I had just done my 99th dive!
Before Ann got into the water again, it appeared that she was getting very nervous for one of her last skills: the Full Mask Flood. After some reassuring words of us, she agreed to get in the water, and about 40 minutes later, the divers surfaced with cheerful faces, which meant that Ann had succeeded, as expected of course! :-)
After a total of four Open Water dives with us, and performing all the skills correctly, Ann is now a PADI Open Water Diver, congratulations!

Tuesday was the first day of the PADI Assistant Instructor course, that Chris, George and Jackie are doing.

Teide divers Phil and Jackie drove to the South that morning, together with their intern Lauren. I got the day off, and Lauren as well, and we had a really nice relaxing day together. We relaxed by the pool first, until the sun disappeared behind the clouds. That afternoon we went to San Blas, a small shopping center near here, where we went in some shops and had a cocktail on the terrace. I had a very nice afternoon with Lauren, and once we got back we went with Melissa to ProSub to buy my own BCD and regs, if they would have the right ones in stock.

To my delight, they did indeed have a suitable BCD and regulators in stock! I also purchased a new mask and diving bag, since my old mask never really fitted, and I must be able to carry my diving equipment with me. So obviously with me feeling very happy, we went back to the shop, and from there straight on to my goodbye drink.. Sniff!
We went together with the whole loyal pack, consisting of Jackie, Lauren, Phil, Melissa, Chris, George, Pete and me.
We returned to San Blas and had a very nice evening. Then unfortunately, I really had to say goodbye to Teide divers Jackie, Lauren and Phil, and I’ll be very honest, I had to sweep a tear away.. Miss you guys!

Wednesday arrived, sniff.. My last day! Sniff..
My next dive, the first dive with my own equipment, was my 100th dive! For this special occasion, I got to choose where we went, and I chose Alien Rock, the dive location where it all started for me, where I could find my way on a dive site for the first time, where I led my first dive, where I first recognized the animals and what is still one of the finest dive sites here!

With my new diving gear, my favorite dive buddy and instructor Pete, one of my favorite customers and interns Ann and Chris all by my side, I plunged into the water for the 100th time. It was a beautiful dive and Pete immediately spotted a stingray in the first minutes of the dive, and later we also saw a Common Eagle Ray.
Ann dived as a true diver and Chris as a true PADI Divemaster. My new scuba gear was great. What a dive! After a change of tanks on the boat, Chris wasn’t feeling good, and decided not to do the second dive.

Ann, Pete and I went into the water for my last dive for a long time with Dive and Sea Tenerife.. Sniff!

This dive was to the beautiful Swim Through and Crocodile Rock, aka Croc Rock. During this dive, we saw the stingray again, plus a large Octopus, a Cuttlefish and the largest Hermit Crab I've seen so far.

When the  emotional moment came to do my last safety stop, I realized for the first time, it really almost was over.. The dive went past way too quickly. With that in mind, I swam the last few meters to the surface very slowly, but sadly I couldn’t make the time stop. Sniff Sniff..

That afternoon I spent packing my stuff and cleaning my room. For dinner, Melissa, Pete and I went to the Chinese. The Last Meal! Sniff. Of course the rest of the evening past even quicker and my last day was coming to an end.

Thursday arrived.. SNIF! After saying goodbye to Melissa, Chris and George it was soon time to leave. Pete took me to the airport, where we had to say goodbye which wasn’t easy.
Emotional as I was (am) I had another half an hour waiting for my plane. At the airport, when it was almost time to get on the plane, I lost my boarding pass, (panic!!) which I thankfully found back soon on the floor. Donut that I am.
After that, all the power at the airport was cut off for a moment and the plane had a delay. Finally, when getting on board the plane, I found out that I was standing in the wrong queue, apparently the one for passengers with priority, and I had to go all the way to back end of the other queue. What a disaster!

Fortunately, the flight itself went well, and after 4.5 very long hours, and a moment at the German airport that they suddenly (in German..) wanted to check my passport and luggage, I could finally see my family again, who made and brought a wonderful span board for me.

I want to thank everyone I have worked and dived with so very much!

Harry, for all our diving skills and jokes together. Louise and family, for the lovely chatting and super fun trips. Jackie, Lauren and Phil, for our dives, working together and all the very enjoyable moments together.

Chris and George, for all our dives together and your great humor. Melissa, for your hospitality, our shopping trips and chatty moments.

And last but not least, Pete, for all your support, diving, fun, wonderful humor and much more!

I have had the time of my life and learned so much at Dive and Sea Tenerife.

It was a life changing experience and I will cherish it forever.

As mentioned before, I lost my heart to the beautiful island of Tenerife.

Thank you all for everything, Love You! (K)

SNIFF.