Fantastic PADI courses and the start of a new IDC

A nice busy week running PADI Open Water PADI Advanced OpenWater Courses.

Monday was another great pool session day with Boy and Lynden, even Pete got in the pool to help Alice out.  They both did really well an Lynden was able to complete all of her confined water sessions, in just one more pool session, with Alice and Boy returning to the pool later that day.  Congratulations to Lynden for passing her Exam.

Melissa and Alice went to Abades with Boy and Lynden to complete Open Water dives 1-3 wisely Melissa used her 7mm, both Boy and Lyden did really well and it was lovely to see their faces underwater when they saw their first fish.

Boy was great fun waving at all the fish and other divers that we saw during our 3 dives.  It was great to see boy triumph over the mask skills as he had struggled in the pool.  Big high fives all round.  Both Boy and Lynden were amazed at the range of aquatic life they were able to see.

Next they went off to Yellow Mountain to complete their last open water dive.  Alice, Boy and Lynden they both did great and then boy only had the exam to pass.  We were all really proud of Boy that he scored a great score of 94 % as he has worked really hard.  So congratulations to Lynden and Boy for becoming PADI Open Water Divers.

Now Boy has started his Advanced Open Water Course his first dives were Boat and Fish Identification.  Boy was really pleased as he was able to identify over 20 species of aquatic life.  He was really happy that he saw a very small Black Moray Eel. Ryan also joined Boy on these recreational dives, Alien Rock and The Swim through at yellow Mountain are some of his favourite dives from when he was here as a Divemaster Intern nearly 4 years ago and every time he comes back for a visit that’s one of his must do dives.

On the second day of Boys advanced course he was off to complete his Deep, Digital Underwater Photography and Navigation dives.

The start of our second IDC with Paul from Ireland, starting his IDC.  Paul has recently completed his Divemaster certification and wanted to continue with his professional career starlight away and so has come over to Tenerife to join  us.

On the first day they had alot of presentations to listen to as well as sitting some theory exams to check how they were all doing on that side.  Paul seemed happy enough with his theory and so is looking forward to the rest of the course.

Melissa and Ryan headed off to El Puertito for some fun dives with the turtles.  They had a great morning and were really happy to see the turtles.  It was lovely to see a small group of Baracuda as well as shoals of Cow bream and lots of starfish. 

Sadly this was Ryans last dives for this holiday in Tenerife, but hopefully we will see him again same time same place next year!!  Hopefully he will have a successful season in Malta working as an Instructor.

day two of the PADI IDC and the candidates had another fun day learning all about how to teach when they become instructors in just 8 days!!

Pete was happy to be working on the boat annual maintenance time again, Anti Fouling and all those fun jobs!

The time for the start of another open water course Tristan joined us as a PADI E Learner, and so Alice headed straight off to the pool for their first confined sessions.  Tristan did really well and is looking forward to his Open Water dives next week.

PADI Certificate of Excellence Awarded

Best news so far this year as we were awarded a PADI Certificate of Excellence, presented to us by Christian Marret, PADI Regional Manager.

Windy weather makes a come back!! This week got off to a high for us here at Dive and Sea Tenerife, not only did we all get a lie in we also had two great afternoon dives.

We were off to see the Turtles at El Puertito with  Stephen, Dorian, and Spike on some fun recreational dives.  On the first dive within a few minutes, we had a fleeting meeting with a very small Turtle, but off it went on his happy travels through the water.  We were concerned that we would not see another turtle but then as we were searching amongst the rocks looking at some gorgeous Star fish along came another Turtles who decided to stay with us for the rest of the dive.  What more could you ask for.  On the dive we also saw a variety of Bream, Lizard Fish, Hermit Crabs and Blue fin damsels.

Stephen Dorian and Spike were amazed at this up close and personal experience with a wild animal.  It is always a pleasure to take divers for an experience at El Puertito as you can see the amazement in their eyes as they look into the soulful eyes of our lovely family of Green Turtles.

Alice was there to teach Najmus on his PADI Scuba Diver course.  Najmus had already completed all of his Open Water referral and was just here to complete his practical Open Water Dives.   How lucky for Najmus to see Turtles on his first ever open water dive.  He looked really comfortable under the water and we are sure he will do really well when he upgrades to complete his Open Water Diver course. 

Despite a late finish we were all really happy to have had a great afternoon out with the turtles.

A nice early start the following day and the wind is back!  We have had some really calm seas lately so it makes for a nice challenging morning out on the boat and a bumpy ride back.  I am sure for most divers this is a great end to a mornings diving its like being on a theme park ride.

Pete was happy to be staying nice and dry a boat cover as Alice was diving with Stephen, Dorian, Tomas, Spike and Karl.  On their first dive out to Alien Rock they were really happy to come across a large round Ray.  On the second dive out to the Swim through they saw cuttlefish and an Octopus.

Everyone had a really great morning Stephen, Dorian, Tomas and Karl were sad this was their last dives in Tenerife.  Spike was happy to be diving later in the week as well!!!

The arrival of Boy yes that’s really his name, this is Alice’s younger brother who has come over for a two week holiday in the sunshine….. so where is it!!!  Boy is planning on learning to dive while he is here so that will be great for him to be taught by his sister.

Ryan made his return this week, he was our first intern and has come back to visit us every year at least once a year, Ryan has since completed his Instructor Training and has now progressed to become a PADI Staff Instructor.  Its always lovely to have Ryan back diving with us and to see how he has changed year after year!!!

We all got together after work for a nice social drink (Melissa still not drinking Monday to Friday) with her cup of tea for a catch up and gossip with Ryan and a nice drink to find out some gossip about Alice from her brother boy! 

Off to Poco Naufragio and Starfish Bay with Ryan, Christian the PADI Regional manager and Spike.  They had two really great dives.  On the first dive they saw with Pete they were lucky to spot a couple of Common Rays, a Cuttlefish and even an Angel Shark! They all really enjoyed the dive and Alice took them to Starfish Bay for the second dive.

Friday and Melissa was off to Las Eras with Ryan and Niall, another fun filled morning of teasing poor Ryan, and Niall even joined in!  On the first dive they saw some glorious Anemones, and some great little cleaner shrimp as well as huge Trumpet fish, and shoals of bream.  On the second dive they were really happy to spot two brown Moray Eels, both very shy but a little inquisitive to see what we were doing, and then a tiny baby ray diving into one of the cracked holes in the pipeline.  Thankfully the guys helped Melissa out washing the kit as it’s a long job on your own after a shore dive.

Ryan was back again with Melissa at Abades, they had a really lovely dive at Abades beach eventually after Melissa finally got into her fabulous new wetsuit, to give Ryan his due he was helpful rather than rolling around on the floor laughing!   On their dive at Abades they were happy to have seen lots of  Anemones, and the tiny sexy shrimp that live in  them were great to see, they also sat and watched a cuttlefish for several minutes as it was happily changing colours and patterns in an attempt to scare a small fish away, obviously the small fish was more of a threat than two large divers.

Great end to the week with the start of the PADI Open Watercourse for Lynden and Boy (Alice’s brother)  they had a really productive day with two pool sessions where they completed confined sessions 1 – 3.  They both did really well on their skills like all new students they both struggled with certain areas but quickly over came any issues with some helpful advise form Alice.

To end the week we all had a lovely meal out Alice, Boy, Pete Melissa and Ryan all catching up on our various news from over the globe