La vuelta de Marruecos

Adal aka Gary aka Gary Pineapple

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sigo leyendo mi libro de rescate de buceo



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

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

The Return from Marroco, back to training as Divemaster

The Return from Marroco
Adal aka Gary aka Gary Pineapple

This was another short week as I arrived on Friday and only could go to work two days.

As I arrived to Tenerife on Friday from my holiday, back to the glorious sunshine and as some friends wanted to go for a short walk on the Anaga Mountains, after landing, just a moment to leave my luggage at home and them just gone for the walk from Restaurant Casa Carlos to Taborno and back to the Restaurant, in the North of the Island

Nice walk, nice views and relaxing time to go for the rest of the week and recover some strength to go back to the work.

So on Saturday we started with a pool session with Simon, Connor, Deborah and Lucy from Brighton doing their Discover Scuba Diving experience with Pete, Alice, Sam and I.  The guys did really well and are already avid snorkelers, the girls were happy with the pool session, but decided to just opt for a boat ride out.

Later on Simon, Connor, Alice and I dived at Yellow Mountain and they enjoyed their dive, and Deborah and Lucy enjoyed their trip in the boat so it was good. As usual it was plenty off fish, some funny trumpet fish received as, the little sharpnose puffers and bandtail puffers going around, pass close to the garden eel and they enjoyed the dives.

This was my first full DSD from the beginning to the end with the dives acting as an Assistant I am looking forward to being able to teach the Discover Scuba Diving experience myself .

On Sunday we have a couple of Dives one in Alien Rock and another in Crocodile Rock with Molly and Dan, from USA, but living in London, Jean Pierre from Belgium and Che from UK, Alice lead the dives and I was Sam’s buddy. The dives were really relaxing and you could see some of those reefs and quite a lot of fish including an octopus and a few red-backed cleaner shrimp and also was able to realise how does the black-long spined sea urchings destroys the environment for other species.

Later on just common things from a normal day, and also my second timing with 400 meters swim, which I really have to improve from here to the finishing of the internship.
It looks like I still messing with the rope of the boat, but at least I’m doing much better with the anchor.

It was a good experience to meet Sam, a Spanish Divemaster that did his internship two years ago and is working on London and return to enjoy the sunshine and diving feelings. Good talks and another hard worker.

Also to say good bye to Sam, Peter an I went for a beer, as Sam was leaving before Wednesday when I’ll return to the diving duties. Peter is a new intern that will began on Monday  from now on nicknamed Patrick that is young to just retire from his previous duties.

Still Reading the Rescue Diver book, hope I’ll finish soon so I can work with the First Response, swimming and other skills I have to improve in those weeks. Anyway, improving, but a long way to go ;).

And I think this is it for now,
 Take care and good luck,
Adal aka Gary aka Gary Pineapple ;)

" They think my name is Patrick"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"So what are you waiting for get out here"

Patrick

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

Second week: A really short one

Second week: A really short one
Adal aka Gary

This week have being really short as i worked on my teaching duties in La Laguna Monday, Tuesday and Friday and also didn’t have to go on Thursday.
At last I finished the chapters of my Adventure Book and on Wednesday we went to Pequeño Valle and Moon Pools with a Dutch couple Jan (instructor) and Eleonora and had two relaxed dives, the first one was special for Jan, as he made his 400 dives and we where able to see a round ray and also we saw Alice wake a sleeping sting ray that was covered with sand and so many things, because the visibility was really good and we enjoyed going around this great places.

Then we had 2 Irish guys Niall and Emmett going for their Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) and my first time with Alice in the pool giving the DSD.
After the pool session and as Emelyne was going to meet her uncle, Pete, Alice the Irish guys and I went to the Marina for their first dives on Yellow Mountain.

On Sunday first Alice, Emelyne and I went to the pool and practiced our skills for a while, I think it looked much better than the first time we went to the pool but still lot of work to be done, and there are so many things on my to do list to get to PADI Divemaster, but hopefully will get over there in sometime ;).

Afterwards Melissa drove us to Abades and when we where getting ready for the dives Alice found another nickname for me as Gary Pineapple because I decide to put my hair on top, instead on my back.

This day Emelyne and I walked around the parking for a while, looking at our compass in a strange and crazy manner, also trying don’t be hite by cars as it where going to be our navigation dive.

We did two dives over there in the first one Alice Lead half ot the way and then Emelyne took as back to the meeting point, and then was our Fish Identification Dive in which we where able to see loads of fish, like Parrotfish, Blue-fin Damselfish, Atlantic Damselfish, White Bream, Black Bream, Ornate Wrasse, Diamond Lizardfish, Atlantic Lizardfish, Sharpnose Puffer, Bandtail Puffer, Wide-eyed Flounder, Blue Starfish, Arrow Crab, Spiny Fan-mussel Cotton Spinner, Fire worms, Sea Urchins, and much more.

Also this day Emelyne’s and I did our first try at briefing, hopefully it will get to be briefings in some time, as this is something we will really need to work as this first time we had done with many gaps and not in a proper order, but anyway our first leading dives that we both did ok, not like our navigation dive in which because one of my mistakes was a bit chaotic, but anyway where 3 nice dives around there with lots seeing and also first time seeing a dive club or whatever with a quite crowded moment’s underwater in our second dive.

This was a really nice week where the clients where really nice and helpful and it also was a strange week as i will be away for nearly two weeks as next Monday and Tuesday I'm on my teaching duties and on Wednesday i begun my sort of holidays, with some days in Madrid and my first time to the Africa main land visiting Marroco.

Adal aka Gary aka Gary Pineapple ;)

Y la aventura comienza

Adalberto(Gary)

Buenas, soy de Tenerife y tras un montón de tiempo disfrutando de hacer snorkel, al fin, despué sde varios años intentando empezar a bucear, lo he conseguido!! Empecé mi Open Water Diver a principios de enero, pero me ha llevado casi 2 meses poder terminarlo con otra gente, al fin conseguí terminar este sábado, así que Heeeeeeyy, al fin soy un OWD!!!

Así que finalmente he podido empezar mis practices el lunes por la mañana con Dive & Sea Tenerife. La isla estaba en alerta naranja por cuestiones meteorológicas lo cual significó que me pude tomar el día libre, de manera que me pude tomar el día libre porque también soy profesor a tiempo parcial en el norte de la isla.

Cuando llegué a la tienda y me encontré con Pete, Melissa y Alice (anteriormente llamada Kim) y también otra interna de francia, Emelyne que poco después fue renombrada como Brian (el caracol del Tiovivo Mágico(Magic roundabout)) y también recibí un Nuevo combre como Gary (este es el caracol de Bob Esponja!!), aparentemente esta tradición de poner apodos, lleva un cierto tiempo y he de decir que Gary me parece mucho major que otros nombres que he oido hablar de la realización y dejarse ver.

En nuestro primer día nos dieron la información sobre las practicas y como realizar las actividades diarias.. Lo primero que hicimos por la mañana una sesión de piscina para practicar nuestras habilidades básicas de buceo con Alice. Mucho que mejorar, pero bueno, los comienzos a veces pueden ser algo caóticos ;)

Desafortunadamente la alerta naranja terminó, así que el martes por la mañana tocó dar clase, pero por la tarde me dirigí al Sur, a Dive and See Tenerife para ir a comprar los trajes de neopreno para Brian y yo, así como algunas otras cosas que necesitamos para las prácticas. Es como el cielo para los buceadores allí, me podría haber gastado una fortuna si la tuviera, haha.

Aparentemente hay otra tradición al llevar a los internos a ProSub que tiene que ver con probar sus trajes … Melissa y su amiga Ann se divirtieron mucho, mientras Brian y yo nos tostábamos probando los neoprenos!!! Afortunadamente después del segundo traje encontré el mio, Bufff!!!!

El miércoles comenzó la aventura realmente ya que fuimos a bucear. Brian y yo comenzamos nuestro curso PADI Avanzado ese día realizamos nuestros buceos profundo e inmersión desde barco. Ya en camino de completar el curso avanzado!!! Se agradece esto no llevará 2 meses como mi OW.

Me queda muchiiiisimo que aprender en nuestras inmersiones, así como también aprender como se realiza todo en Dive and Sea Tenerife. Parte del aprendizaje parece que tiene que ver con equivocarse e ir mejorando, ¡así que más vale ir mejorando rápido!

Realizamos 3 magnificas inmersiones, mi primera en Poco Naufragio con Pete, Emeline y Ann, realizando mi inmersión de aventura profunda y en la inmersión pudimos ver incluso un chucho, este sitio de inmersiones es bastante especial, me encantaría volver y afortunadamente pude volver posteriormente esa semana con Dan que estaba realizando su Curso Avanzado. Para nuestra segunda y tercera inmersión fuimos a Montaña Amarilla, a la Roca Alienígena, allí hay varios sitios de inmersión, pero en esta ocasión realizamos dos inmersiones profundas en la Roca Alienígena, allí hubo mucho en que pensar y que ver, de manera que me hubiera perdido si me hubieran pedido hacer navegación en este sitio!!

Otro comienzo muy temprano y fuimos para 2 inmersiones desde barco con los clientes Ann y Dan y fueron unas buenas inmersiones. Estuvo bien trabajar con mi buyoancy realizando mi tercer curso avanzado, …., dos más y seré un buceador Avanzado!!! La segunda inmersión fue en Swim Through o nada a través, otro sitio en la bahía precioso y que también pude disfrutar.

El viernes tocó inmersión desde la playa de El Puertito, por culpa de la tormenta que tuvimos al principio de la semana, las condiciones no eran ideales porque la tormenta se había llevado la arena de la playa y habían olas algo fuertes a la entrada y a la salida lo cual dificultó especialmente la inmersión a Dan, pero entramos y a excepción de la visibilidad, fue una buena inmersión en la que vi por primera vez a la tortuga amorosa que parecía como si nos abrazara .

Finalmente el sábado un día agradable y soleado con el mar calmado, así que estaba emocionado por poder realizar más inmersiones. Realizamos 2 inmersiones desde el barco con Dan realizando sus inmersiones profunda y desde barco para su curso avanzado, lo cual nos dio la posibilidad de observar como se imparte el curso.
La primera inmersión en Poco Naufragio, nos encontramos un chucho que iba alrededor de nosotros, justamente como un perrito dando vueltas alrededor de un grupo de personas y aparte pudimos ver un grupito de 3 morenas 2 negras y una
On the first dive to Poco Naufragio,  we met a ray who was going around us like a dog and then three morays, two black and One fangtooth. Amazing.  Our Second dive after dropping Melissa back at the Marina was to Yellow Mountain, this is such an amazing site and very popular with all our divers.  On this dive we were able to see

El domingo nos preparamos para hacer inmersiones desde la playa de Abades, donde realizamos 2 inmersiones con Jake (realizando su Discover Scuba Diving), Dan (realizando su curso Avanzado), Jake (instructor, Melissa, Alice y yo, disfruté de ambas inmersiones, en el primero acompañando a Dan y ayudandole y viendo como se gestiona y sucede eso de la experiencia de Discover Scuba Diving y para la segunda inmersión acompañé a Jan y pude comprobar la gran diferencia que da la experiencia en este mundo submarino.

La semana fue realmente larga, creo que nunca me había sentido tan cansado física y mentalmente en toda mi vida y estoy seguro que después de las prácticas estaré mucho más fuerte y también de que aprenderé bastantes cosas. La verdad es que estoy deseando que llegue la próxima semana con mucho más aprendizaje y con un poco de suerte más inmersiones .
Y creo que esto es todo de momento,
Salu2 y mucha suerte
   Adal(Gary)

Second week of my Internship........ Must get an alarm clock!

Monday…. A new week of hard work is waiting for me!

Basically 7 o’clock:

 Grab the keys and clipboard which indicates all the informations that I need to prepare the diver’s kits.

 Prepare all the kits, bring back it to the shop for Alice to check.

 Take all the tanks (now is not so hard that he was as the first time…)

 Take them to the super jumpy, go back the oxygen kit and the tools box to Super Jumpy again…

7H30 must be done…! No stress you can do it…

Hard work done… now the fun begins…

This week we went to swim through; STUNNING place ahahah!!! (Melissa teach me this word to replace the famous SUPER that I use all the single time!!!)

The diving here in Tenerife is STUNNING, so much to see and so many fish to look at.

Friday I observed Alice for the scuba tuned up of Matija he was pretty good! Well done!

Again i was late, i find it hard to be on time everyday!

The day after, we went to the swimming pool with Alice, Emmet and Nialls. They did the discover scuba diving and they do it pretty good! They seem to be very impatient to go to real diving!

The  next day Gary and me did the ID Fish adventure dive in Abades, I have seen new fishes i am not seeing before and many types of plants, just so exciting. Always we saw new marine life!
Abades  is a shore dive and i have to be carrying all my kit to the entry point it is not far but perhaps i am not as fit as everyone else!

This dive site is very shallow, 7m bottom. We go there for all types of diver, discover scuba divers and new open water divers and everyone.

I should be practising my swimming in the pool more, but am so tired at end of day that i haven't  The others have more energy than me!

My ear has an ache after the last diving and i will go to Doctor soon, as they keep telling me too!

I have also been surfing here in Tenerife and have made many new friends, the island is very beautiful and has so much to offer. So far the internship is teaching me lots and i fun having.

Emelyne

Note to self...... Dont be late..... again!

The Teide volcano was looking at us, wearing this beautiful immaculate white hat...

The water was so clear and turquoise waiting to offer this nature treasure.

The last time I went diving it was 2 years ago in calpe 5 (méditeranéa) for my OWDcourse.

For me, it was just amazing to dive again. Such a good feeling off freedom when you take your first breath underwater...

So the first day started early and I met Adalberto, who is Spanish and is going to be completing the internship at the same time as me.  Now he has a new name Gary and my new name is Brian, we are snails from cartoon shows because we are so slow…….

We started off with some reminder exercises in the swimming pool called a scuba tune up. it was easy to remember for me.   Then we started our Induction day with Alice telling us all about the Divemaster internship and what we would be doing.

The next day very early !!! we put all the diving equipment in the super Jumpy and we went to the marina for real diving !!! 
It  was the deep adventure dive. We went to Poco Naufragio, 28m deep. During the dive we saw a friendly ray, she came very close to us several times, swimming around. I imagined that she was waiting for some food! Maybe I was a ray in other life .... always looking for some food, love food!

After that we went for two other dives, the first was my boat diver adventure one. 

The second day start at 7 o'clock. Kim our beautiful Instructor for the Divemaster; show to Gary and I how to properly assemble the diving kits,  and everything we must know to be able to do it by ourself the day after.

She is very calm and patient and she explain everything very well. All the details were very important we cant forget anything so always double or triple check!!!

After that you have to carry the right number of tanks from the shop to the car. The super jumpy is park very close but with the weight off the tanks it looks further ! Lots of information at 7 o clock!!!

Everything is all right we were a bit longer than we should be but we are learning... last checking and rechecking in case! and off we go for diving again, we went to a new place known as yellow mountain for a Peak Performance Buoyancy course.  
It was a bit windy and the boat was rolling enough to make me sea sick... I do not miss this feeling at all! 

After we went to  another place named Swim through. i let you imagine why... a big cave with a big hole in it to swim through all in it; so beautiful ...

We came back to the marina and we start to learn how to clean all of the kit after the dive.

We have to hurry up all the time it is very intensive. Carrying kit and tanks  again and again, washing, storing, daily jobs , weekly job...... In the afternoons we usually study swim or playing Mcgyver fixing all we can fix.

I  like to do that very much. the working day finish by a short debrief.  You sleep very well after a day like that but the night is very short...

I finally arrived on time at 6.45 and I started to prepare the kit by myself with Alice’s supervision. It was perfect diving conditions.  the sea was glassy very clear, no wind and sunny. 
We make 2 dives one off them was a deep one at Poco Naufragio with the rays and Moray eels so we could see them very clearly they were so close to us.

Another early morning and we started in the swimming pool for a Discover Scuba Diving session and then off we went shore diving in  Abades, I was helping  Jake our friendly customer for his first dive in  the ocean.  It was pretty good and I enjoyed it a lot diving with my new "one day" buddy! 

He looked like he was very happy in the nemo world! 
So welcome Jake to the diving addiction club!

Why are you waiting to join us friendly blog lecturer? !!!

Emelyne (Brian)

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

And the adventure starts

Adalberto (Gary)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And I think this is it for now,

Take care and good luck,

   Adal (Gary)

PADI Divemaster.... at last :)

Finally! The very thing I have been waiting for, was achieved this week. I can now call myself a PADI Divemaster!

I logged my 60th dive and that shiny red Divemaster t-shirt, and all that comes with it, is now mine!

We get up early, go to the shop, make a few mistakes with the kits, go diving, make some more mistakes, clean the kits, make some more mistakes, return to the shop -where we then make some more mistakes. Just the way we like it! :)

Alices dive number 300 was at Poco Naufragio

We just swam around, with the Morays and saw a huge Ray.
That was the very same day I did my 60th dive. I was leading the dive, along with Andreas, Lydia and Mahmoud. I had the huge honor of being in charge of the camera and did a few pictures.

Next day we went to Las Eras with a Russian costumer. The guy was a free diver with little experience in actual scuba diving, but all in all, he did well.
What I remember most from these dives at Las Eras, was trying to keep up with him (he was my buddy) which was a hard job, since he was wearing these amazingly long fins used in free diving.

Next day we went to a place called Tabaiba, which is home of a wreck.

We came there so Lydia could do her wreck diver speciality. For the first time ever I experience vertigo. The tugboat was laying a bit slanted on the bottom, and I automatically line myself up so I had the same angle as the ship when I looked at it - which apparently didn’t suited my stomach.
Luckily I got myself straightened out before the vertigo overwhelmed me completely.

We completed the dives at Tabaiba with a cup of coffee at a local bar, just talking and laughing for the better of an hour, before returning to the marina to wash the kits.

Next day we had a Dutch customer's and we did two dives at the dive sites called "El Delfin and "Pequeña Valle".
Going to these two sites, was a first time experience for me - so I obviously enjoyed my self.

At the dive we did at Pequeña Valle, we came across some rusty old cages at the bottom, left behind by some fisherman long time ago In one of the cages we came across, a Trumpet fish and a few Atlantic Damselfish had got themselves trapped.
I don’t know why seeing those poor beings trapped in there left such a huge impression on me. The cruelty of some individuals cannot be describe by words (well, yes they can, but I'm not sure that my blog will pass through the censor if I try) Naturally we freed the fish, and continued our dive.

Lydia started doing her DSD leader, and I had the honour of assisting her and the two customers in the pool supervised by Alice.  All in all, we did a pretty decent job with the two customers, but I must admit that keeping an eye on both of them and catching them every time they were about to fall over, wasn’t as easy as I thought.

In the evening all of us went out together to a place called showtime.
A bar-restaurant with a musical theme. They put up a great show for us, performing the highlights from some of the most famous musicals in time.

The thing I liked best with that place though, was that the waiters kept refilling your glass as soon as you had drunk around one third of your beer (In my mind I only drank half a beer that night, but since I ended up with Pete on my back, running up and down the parking lot and screaming like a madman, I must have had the equivalent to at least two beers).

More from me next time

Wreck Diving and Sting Rays in Tenerife

Back with my blog again.

Today I have a day off. I think it is better this way because I've got somewhat of a hangover from last night. Yesterday we all went out for dinner and a musical. We had a really good time with everybody from the shop and a couple of Pete and Melissa’s friends. so today I am just relaxing trying to get my head straight for tomorrow’s dives.

This has been a truly amazing week. This week I finally became a fully certified PADI Divemaster, Wohoo! It feels great to wear my Divemaster t-shirt down in the shop.

The dives this week has been fantastic. We've been to completely new places for me and I finally went diving at Tabaiba after being there twice without diving.

The first dive I had this week was with Alice, Lydia, Mahmoud and Dennis, just outside the marina. We've only been there once before during last week, so we really enjoyed seeing some new stuff.

The next dive was the famous Tabaiba.
I've been really excited to go diving here, because it is a really nice place, so I could only imagine that it must be nice under water as well. Besides that, there is of course the wreck.

Having never seen a wreck before I was looking forward to see it. We went there so that Lydia could do her wreck speciality and the dive went so well. I loved the site so much.
It is the deepest dive I have had, I think about 31 meters, and the wreck was so cool.
Besides it is always going to be a great day when you can stand on a beach where you are going diving and just of the coast you see Dolphins jumping out of the water. truly a nice view.

Next day we had a new dive site for me as well.
We were going to El Delphin, which is actually in the middle of nowhere between the marina and Yellow Mountain.
At first we went down at a really deep place. I think there might have been about 40 meters of water, but we just had a fairly long swim in midwater, trying to spot some Angel sharks.

I saw a huge Ray lying on the bottom. It must have been 3 meters across the wings. When we got to the dive site it was really good.
Out there all the regular fish are bigger and we get to see some new species that I haven't seen before. For example a saw two very big Canarian Lobsters and loads of other cool stuff.

This week I also went to Las Eras. 
I like the rock formations and of course the pipeline where there is always a huge diversity in life and it is kinda funny to just drift along the pipeline looking into every crack wondering what you're going to see.
We found some Morays, which is always nice to see, but unfortunately no Rays or Octopus.

That's it for this week. Now I'm going to return to my duties of sunbathing and drinking coke.

Talk to ya after christmas.

Dive Against Debris in Tenerife

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just like rings in the water.

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

Hasta luego 

- Kevinito

PADI Instructors, PADI Divemaster's and Cava!

Welcome back to Tenerife!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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