Sunday, April 28, 2013

A week of Turtles simply amazing!

 A really nice busy week

First the arrival of new Divemaster intern, Stiven, from mainland Spain Galicia.  Stiven has arrived as a non certified diver, he has set himself the very hard task of not only learning to Dive and become a Divemaster within 8 weeks but also to learn English.  Thank goodness for Patrick who is helping Stiven with the Translation.

Dive and Sea Tenerife PADI Divemaster Intern ship Program

On the first day Stiven had his induction with Pete while Melissa headed off to Abades with Gary, Will, Jim, William and Thomas and Patrick.  A great morning diving, they all had two really great dives and were happy to see Octopus, Hermit Crabs and Cuttlefish.  Abades is simply an amazing dive site there is always so much life to see, and when you look amongst all of the rocky areas you fine more hidden treasures.
Diving at Abades Dive and Sea Tenerife

100% Project AWARE Dive and Sea TenerifeThe team headed out to Yellow Mountain with Izzy, Paul, Loew, Gary Will and Kevin.  They all had two great dives in the sunshine the first out to Alien Rock where they were happy to see red backed cleaner shrimp as well as Wide Eyed flounders and a cuttlefish, best of all was the Angel Shark that they all saw!!!  Amazing as this year sightings of these beautiful sharks have been rare.




Dive and Sea Tenerife Discover Scuba DivingAnother busy day, bright and early off to the Pool for Ella and new intern Stiven for the pool session of their Discover Scuba Diving session.  They both did really well and were both eager to head out to experience their first Open Water Dive.



Melissa, Alice, Patrick, Gary and Stiven headed to El Puertito with Ella, Izzy, Paul, Gary, Will and Alison.  The first dive was absolutely amazing and they all sat in awe as they were surrounded by three turtles at once,  All of the group were amazed at how close the turtles came to them.  As they all ascended after the first dive there were lots of cheers for the wonderful dive with the turtles.  On the second dive they were able to see Starfish, Bream, Damsels, Wrasse and much more and then the wonder of a single turtles for them all to sit and watch as it swam around inspecting each diver.
Dive and Sea Tenerife diving at El Puertito with the turtles

Lucky for Melissa, Patrick, and Stiven they were back at El Puertito the following day for more wonderful encounters with the turtles with William, Thomas and Jim. On the first dive as the group descended almost instantly there was a turtle amongst us coming over to say hi,

Dive and Sea Tenerife Recreational diving

Meanwhile off out on the boat with Gary, Will, Kevin and Pete went off to Poco Naufragio and Starfish Bay with Alice.  On the first dive they saw the Fangtooh Moray, who seems very keep to get out of his house to greet the divers in the morning possibly thinking we are bringing breakfast!  As well as seeing a common Ray so a great dive with lots of shoals of fish and a few large Barracuda   Then off to Starfish bay where they saw different species of Starfish as well as Anemones and lots of bream.






Back to the Pool for Stiven to start his Open Water Diver course with the confined sessions, Stiven did really well and Alice was very impressed with the standard of his pool skills, it was great for Patrick and Gary to watch and assist with the Open Water Course.

PADI Open Water Course Confined Skill Session


Then off the team went to Las Eras, Melissa was diving with Will and Patrick for more recreational dives.  They had two great dives, on the first dive they saw a small Common Ray hiding underneath a rocky ledge as well as several Nudi Branc an Octopus and large shoals of bream and a lone Barracuda circling for food!  On the second dive out to the pipeline they spent a long time looking amongst the rocks on the way and saw several large Scorpion fish, Annulated Brittle stars and Starfish.


Alice meanwhile was Teaching Stiven for the Open Water dives, Gary was as usual being a helpful translator and Stiven thoroughly enjoyed the Open  Water dives and was really happy seeing a small hermit crab crawling on Alice's hand.

Congratulations to Stiven for completing his PADI Open Water Course, Stiven completed his last two dives, before moving on to observe the PADI Advanced Open Water Course.

Dive and Sea Tenerife PADI Open Water Course


Big congratulations to Gary and Patrick for passing their PADI Advanced Open Water course with the final two dives, Navigation and Peak Performance Buoyancy.

Dive and Sea Tenerife PADI Divemaster Internship

The last early start of the week.... well it was sunday!! Interns Patrick, Stiven and Gary were off to the pool with Alice for a Skill session.  It was great to see that they are all improving with practice.  Then they went off to Abades for some dives.  The Interns were really happy to have the opportunity to practice their dive briefing and leading skills.  They all did really well and were very good monitoring their fellow divers.

PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Centre Dive and Sea Tenerife

A really good week, and has been great to welcome new intern Stiven into the group and he seems to be getting on really well with the team.

Dive and Sea Tenerife Divemaster Skill circuit

Great diving in the beautiful sunshine here in Tenerife

A sad start to the week as we had to say goodbye to Sam, its been amazing how quickly he fit back into the team after two years away and we are all sad to see him go but equally excited to see the videos that he is making for us!!


Divemaster Sam Diving at Abades

With the sad departure of Sam came the happy arrival of Frankie, Petes Daughter, she’s fantastic fun and a welcome additional back to the team as a Junior Advanced Open Water Diver with 4 or 5 specialties!!! Unfortunately due to the snow and general cold in the UK she has arrived with a cold so just has to look on as we all dive at the moment.

We also had the arrival of New Intern Patrick, (Peter) he has fast arisen to the honoured ranking of favourite intern as he bought Melissa and Alice a Cadburys creme egg!!!

Divemaster Internship Dive and Sea Tenerife



So first day and Induction and then straight on with the internship and diving. Peter and Patrick were  happy to head off with Melissa and Pete diving on the RIB.

Dive and Sea Tenerife diving at Poco Naufragio




They were out with Peter an Instructor from the UK  on the first dive they went to Poco Naufragio to complete Patricks Deep Dive of his PADI Advanced Open Water Course as well as a fun Recreational dive for Peter.  They had a great dive and Saw a Large Pregnant Stingray, as well as being startled by the Fangtooth Moray who always comes out of his home to see the divers looking for Breakfast! 

Dive and Sea Tenerife PADI 5 Star Dive Centre


On the second dive Melissa took them to Starfish Bay, where they came across two large Octopus as well as a Common Ray, Nudi Branc and Thousands of Black Urchins…… definitely time to be doing a Project AWARE urchin Cull!!!  Two great dives on a lovely sunny morning.

Time for Gary Pineapple to Meet Patrick Starfish, they had a great morning practicing skills in the Pool with Alice, its nice to see that Gary’s skills are improving as well as working with Patrick on his first session, after some help from Alice, Patrick was really pleased to have overcome the problem of mask clearing! Then after a quick tea break it was off to collect Peter for two more fun dives, today they went to Yellow Mountain, they had two amazing dives and saw so much aquatic life they were all really happy with their mornings dive.  Patrick is really happy to be getting in the water and diving and its great to have Gary back again after his Teaching days!!


Dive and Sea Tenerife PADI Divemaster Interns




Gary, Patrick Alice and Cat, headed off bright and early to Abades, its was a really beautiful morning with sunny blue skies.  Cat is here to complete her PADI Open Water referral, she completed the Theory and pool skills about a month ago and now is out in the sun for the Open water section. On the first dive they went out to Abades beach, it’s a great dive for the first open water dive as there is so much to see but its nice and shallow.  On the second dive where there are skills to complete they dived from Abades Bay.  Cat did really well and was eager to move onto her dives three and four which were boat dives at Yellow Mountain, assisted again by Gary and Patrick Alice and Pete went out on the boat.

Dive and Sea Tenerife Diving at Abades



Cat has completed her Open Water diver course so huge congratulations to her, she did really well and is now looking forward to completing recreational dives.

A busy day as they headed straight off to the Pool with Derek for his Scuba Tune Up.  Derek learned to dive with us two years ago and due to work has not been able to get back since. 

PADI Scuba Tune Up


Derek did really well in his pool session, and was happy to find that the skills can flooding back to him, also another great practice for Gary and Patrick for more skill practice.  Patrick was really pleased top tackle the mask skills without any problem!!!

A little windy early in the morning but a great mornings dives out at Yellow Mountain with Cat for her first two recreational dives, she was joined by Interns Gary and Patrick, leading the dives was Alice they were really happy to see a great selection of aquatic life including, Moray, Ocotpus and Red backed cleaner shrimp. 

A busy finished to the week we met the Mclucas Family, Alison completed her Discover Scuba Diving session , and Dad Jim and William and Thomas…. Already Open Water divers were here to join in and dive!!! 

Dive and Sea Tenerife Recreational Dive Packs



Her family were also eager to get back into the water and were really happy to finally have the whole family together diving!!  On their Dives at Yellow Mountain they saw Octopus, Nudi Branc and Cuttlefish

Another great week here at Dive and Sea Tenerife with fantastic customers and Interns.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013


Another fabulous week of calm seas and blue skies….. life in the canary islands who can complain when you wake you seeing the sea every day!!



Pete has bought a new fish tank for the plec as it was getting way too big for the other tank, I suppose we will wait and see what else he put in it!!  Its being filled slowly day by day will post photos when its actually go the fish in it!




Poor Melissa has been off with a bad back for a few days… but still working form home….. lots of admin to catch up on as per usual, hopefully she will be fully recovered next week… and Emelyne is off with an Ear infection no diving for one while week. Lets hope everything is sorted on her next visit to the Drs!!

Sam and Alice took Celia for a gorgeous morning snorkelling trip at Abades, they were all really happy to see the clear blue waters and they could easily see the life on the reef including wrasse, Bream, Damsels, and Parrot fish all nice and colourful.

They were reluctant to leave to come back to the dive centre after such a nice calm morning snorkelling.

Finally Gary is back, with his pineapple intact!  After a very relaxing holiday it is back to the Challenge of the  internship, poor Gary appears to have forgotten everything he learnt two weeks ago, so back to the beginning again no problems, Gary has plenty of time as he is not restricted to eight weeks as he lives here in Tenerife.



We had fun with Discover Scuba divers Deborah, Connor, Lucy and Simon, they all completed the pool session and really enjoyed the experience and then headed off out to the ocean for their open water dive.  Simon, Connor, Sam, Gary and Alice had a great dive at Yellow Mountain and Simon was very impressed with the trumpet fish which are amazing!!!

The only thing that but a black mark against this otherwise perfect morning was the discover of a dead dolphin which had a plastic bag wrapped around its mouth.  It was such a sad sight and really upset everyone here at Dive and Sea Tenerife

.



After a traumatic time with the clocks moving forward…… we were all here bright and early to head out to yellow Mountain, with Jp, Che, Molly and Dan.  Sam was back again filming the outing

They had a great mornings diving, and on the dives they were out looking amongst the cracks and crevices searching for Annulated Brittle Stars Anmeones and morays!  Fantastic



We are all prepared for our new intern Peter starting .. new name Patrick!!  We can’t have two Pete’s at the same time too confusing.






Saturday, April 6, 2013

A mamouth journey to the north.......;-)) and fabulous blue sunny skies

A great relaxing week enjoying some fun diving with great people!

So Gary Pineapple has gone off on holiday abandoning us all  Happy Holidays Gary Pineapple!!   We all look forward to welcoming him back for Easter.
Dive and Sea Tenerife Divemaster Internship


So we all arrived bright and early at the Dive centre Monday morning and off Emelyne, Alice and Pete went to El Delfin and the pipeline.

Dive and Sea Tenerife PADI 5 Star IDC Centre


El Delfin is such a wonderful site and they were really happy that they saw a massive Black Moray as well as a fangtooth moray, Common Rays and Anemones.  Then back to the boat before heading out to the pipeline where they saw they saw shoals of Breams, Arrow Crabs and loads of Fire Rollers and a streaked Gurnard much to Emelyne delight as this was a species of fish that she had not previously come across.

Red Backed Cleaner Shrimp Diving at El Delfin Tenerife



Sam is back!  It’s a real treat to have one of our old divemaster Interns return for some more fun.  Sam was one of our divemaster Interns from 2 years ago, he joined us as a non diver and took to it as the saying goes like a duck to water!  Unfortunately Sam has not been able to dive for the last 2 years so we started off with a tune up in the pool, even Pete went in for a giggle!  Sam did really well… Quality training and all that!

PADI Divemaster Internship Tenerife


It was great to see that Emelynes skills are improving, lots more practice needed though. As soon as Gary is back they will be able to head to the pool for daily skill sessions.

Dive and Sea Tenerife PADI Divemaster Skill Circuit


Off they headed with Melissa to Abades for some recreational dives, they had two great dives and saw, two fangtooth Moray eels…. Hiding away but you could see their tails slithering around in the crevices, we also saw a Black Moray, Red backed Cleaner shrimps and Anemones with Tiny Sexy Shrimp dancing away.



An amazing relaxing morning in the sunshine!!  Sam is taking underwater videos of the dive sites and us all diving so we are all really looking forward to seeing the end result.

Another fabulously bright sunny day and off we headed to the north of the island leaving poor Pete in the shop alone.  (More like a welcome relief I think!! ) We met up with Jackie and Phil from Teide divers our friends from the north, to go and try a new dive site Punta Teno with instructor Isidro, it’s a very long drive, but the dive site was lovely.



You enter the water in a small bay and then we headed out on the surface to the edge of the bay before descending, as soon as we descended there was a ball of Roncadores, always a great sight to see such a large shoal of fish together.  On the dive there were also lots of Wrasse, Bream, Damsels, and Parrot fish.  The dive site is made up of lots of rocky areas and large deep valleys, a wonderful site to explore.  On our return towards the shore we stumbled over a large black stingray, it must have had a 2 meter wing span it was a great surprise at the end of the dive.





Then off we headed to Garachico after a nice picnic lunch in the sunshine. Melissa had dived previously at Garachico Los Archos a beautiful Site, Emelyne, Sam and Alice thought it was a great site.  For Sam and Emelyne it was only the second time they had completed a Giant stride into the water so that was great practice for them.



After our long drive back to the south we all slept like logs!

At last Emelynes birthday and the long awaited chocolate cake, it looked amazing and was simply delicious!!  So after cake and a restful afternoon we all had a few celebratory beers after work!

Dive and Sea Tenerife PADI Divemaster Internship


We were joined by Gerhard and Julie two scuba divers who were keen to try out some recreational dives, so along with Alice, Sam and Emelyne they headed off to Yellow mountain on the boat.  They had two great dives and saw, Trumpetfish, Scorpionfish, Parrotfish and an Octopus

All this was followed by a well deserved rest day for Melissa, Sam, Emelyne and Alice while Pete was hard at work at the shop (ha ha )

Melissa headed off to Las Eras with Sam and Emelyne, this is a relatively new dive site so Sam had not been here previously

Dive and Sea Tenerife diving at Las Eras


Sam was really impressed with the site and was happy to be able to record our dives as well as the aquatic life that we were able to see.  On the dive we saw Anemones, Large trumpet fish and shoals of Bream, as well as several Nudi Branc.

Dive and Sea Tenerife Aquatic Life Nudi Branc


A wonderful end to a fabulous week of diving.