Your best American accent at the ready

This week has been busy and varied. On Monday we had two new PADI Divemaster interns arrive from the USA and who were quickly renamed Alan and Steve.

I went through the induction period with them both from the introduction presentation to kit set up. In the afternoon I took them both into the swimming pool for a scuba tune up and both of them did very well for having not been in the water for some time. Alan and Steve both quickly fit in with the group and we are all looking forward to diving loads in the coming months.

On Tuesday we went to El Puertito with Rhiannon who was a rescue diver from the UK and we had a great dive with the turtles. She returned and dived again on Wednesday at Tabaiba for a fantastic couple of dives at the wreck. After the dives we all decided to jump into the sea from the jeti (without scuba gear) as the tide was so far in. We went for a swim out to the surface buoys and it was a great end to the days diving.

On Thursday the team went down to the marina to give the new interns (and Ned) some practice at the 800m snorkel and the 100m tow. The best part of this day was the fact I didn’t have to go in and my only job was to give some encouraging words from the warmth of the sun soaked jeti!!

 On Friday night Buzz, Alan, Steve and I decided to head out into Las Americas to welcome the new interns to Tenerife. We all had an amazing time and we made the most of having the next day off!

Time is moving so fast; but the experience is getting better and better!

I cannot believe I have already enjoyed three weeks of my Divemaster internship! 

I have become so comfortable with all the employees and the great weather; I only wish I could slow down time so I can enjoy this opportunity longer. 

After attaining my Advanced Open Water certification last week, the hard work has not let up and I am proud to now own the title of a PADI certified Rescue Diver! 

All week I practiced my skills on how to safely and effectively rescue another diver in the water. It was great fun performing all the dive exercises in the Marina which entailed search and recovery, in-water rescue breaths, and my favourite, panicked diver scenarios. 

Most of the rest of the week was spent enjoying the beautiful reef dive at Abades. This site has quickly become one of my favorite and most popular dive sites because of the magnificent variety of fish we always encounter. 

It has been so rewarding to continually progress my PADI certification levels and next week I will be prepared to take the PADI Divemaster exam! If all goes well, I can continue to accumulate my number of dives and sooner than I know it I will reach Divemaster status!

Great fun on the dives and then came The Tenerife Carnival :-)

This week is Jeff’s last week leaving me alone, but Percys (the boat captain) brother starting next week. Percy’s nice so I sure it will be fine, but no I´ll be the intern that been here the longest. The time flies away even though I spend a lot of it under water…

Monday: to Abades with the couple from S t Louis and Paul. I had my first dive briefing. Didn´t know in before so it could have gone better, but we all survived. I was leading for the first time. Nice dives with nice people and schools of fish.

Tuesday: Yellow Mountain open water students two guys from England. As always a”little” bit cold the octopus was gone. But we managed, Vince teaching his first Open Water Course, I was really happy for him.

Wednesday: First Poco naufragio with the open water students. Big waves! Hard to do surface skills, and easy to get seasick as one of the students experienced. Vince did get some of the fluids from the student on him. But it´s easy to wash away we are not only close to the sea, we are in it! We saw a common ray during the dive.  Because of the weather and the evil wind we went to El Puertito for the second dive. Always nice to dive with the turtles! Saw a turtle and common ray.

Thursday: We dive at Tabaiba only my second time here, Paul the american are doing his advanced deep so we are going down to the wreck. Nice wreck and some fish. Randall and old intern has come he takes care of a quite couple from Goningen Holland.

Friday: New dive site, Radazul sounds some something from a Tintin magazine. Paul doing his navigation and search and recovery. It´s easy to go in here stairs and toilets no sand (good when you are going to wash kits afterwards). We saw a big octopus, Vince with the Go Pro went after it when it left he managed to get some good footage. Cool!

Saturday Rescue dive scenarios at the marina Jeff are the victim he patiently puts up with all the attempts of me trying to rescue him. Rescue dive scenario 7, hard to get him up the boat… Have to train on that skill. But fun and good experience. I did the written test afterwards. It went well.

The evening we all go up north to Santa Cruz. It´s carnival! We all supposed to dress up like something from the cartoon Aladdin movie. I´ll try to be the parrot. I end up as the Featherman… Good time a lot of dancing a lot of people and a lot of Ron meile… My memory is a little bit blurry after a while. Stupid as I am I fall asleep outside the bus station. If I just have walked 50m in to the bus station… Instead I loosed my wallet. That´s life!
Sunday zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

Blinky,
- Yes, the boat still there!

A new name….. but I am celebrating I am now an Open Water Diver :-)

My name is Blinky…… I didn´t know it before but now I know…  It turns out that every intern get a nickname. I must admit it the first reaction to the name is not positive, but maybe I will get use to it. So I start my Divemaster Internship.. eight weeks.

Leaving that, in the shop:  Melissa the owner, the boss the staff instructor,  Vince training to be an instructor. Tinman the newly baked instructor. Jeff and Ned Divemaster interns, and me… who don´t know much about diving. I dived 24 years ago, almost a lifetime for most of the people in the shop.

I´m a beginner, so what to do? I get to do the PADI Discover Scuba Diving Experience,  In to the pool(!) with Tinman, Jeff, Ned and a Discover Scuba Diver, a young woman from the Netherlands. But first down to the dungeon to get the kit (all the scuba gear) Jeff and Ned shows me how to do.  It´s a special way to assemble the kit, very handy actually (you will see if you come here)

Training skills in the pool, Tinman teach. The girl is a better diver than me, but I have weeks too learn… But it´s cool a new world! Off to the beach! Abades (an old leper colony that actually newer got used because the medicine got better). We make two dives along the reef. I must say it´s Amazing! I like the diving world, nice people and diving is fun! Is it not PADI who says that(?)…

Then back to reality, cleaning kit in the San Miguel Marina and the rib boat. We clean the kit while Tinman  takes the Jumpy to leave the tanks for refilling and get new ones.  It´s not that hard, we are three people a good number of people if you want to clean scuba gear. We have to wait a while until Tinman is back.

The sun is shining and the wind is blowing, and I am in love… Opposite our rib boat she lays, a rusty sailboat in bad condition, but she gets to me somehow.  What a first day! Finished around  4: pm  Back home read some in the open water manual.  Tired.

Tuesday: Up at 6:am, the shop at 7:am Pool sessions skills for the PADI Open Water Course.  It was all great fun, some of the skills we did yesterday for the Discover Scuba Diving experience.

Wednesday: Diving El Puertito doing my PADI Open Water dives 1 and 2, skills and a fun dive. It´s Tinman, Jeff, Ned, me and the Dutch girl. The second dive we see the turtle cool! It´like being in space (though I never been there…)  the turtles  just quietly floating (like a space ship) towards us. You don´t see them and then suddenly they are there.

Cleaning kit while Tinman leaves for the tanks. read a little when I come home, tired…. so much to read I am getting there though 

Thursday: Abades and the open water dives 3 and 4, getting close… I am so close just the exam to go.  Today on the dives we did more skills, nice and fun then went exploring around abades.

Friday: To Tabaiba and diving because I´m not an openwater diver Jeff has to stay with me while the others go deeper.  But diving is fun!

Saturday: day off, taking it easy so much to do as I have to do the PADI Open Water test tommorrow.

Sunday: 7:am the open water test. The others assemble the kit while I do the test. Luckily I pass so now I can start the PADI Advanced Open Water course  Afterwards down to the marina while Mike, now it´s time for the PADI Advanced Open Water course, Cleo a french/Swiss girl will do that with me. Her father is diving  with us also like Tinman Jeff and Ned. Search and recovery  and the second dive we do navigation she´s a good diver. Nice people  the Swiss.

Then… cleaning the kit.

My dream boatis still there , the week is finished and I´m a PADI Open Water Diver!

Per…hmm… Blinky

Celebrations all round Divemasters, Advanced Courses and best of all New Boat Captain :-)

This week has been a whirlwind of activity with Divemaster Intern Jeff who is doing really well, and completed his Advanced course this week

Daisy and Vince are working well together studying and practising their skills in the pool, each day some progress is made, not long now till the start of the Instructor Development course on the 30th January.

We were joined at abades by Rami and Juhani, for two fun recreational dives, they had an amazing time and saw Octopus, Cuttlefish and a small Ray.  Unfortunately Juhanni is back off home but Rami is going to join us next week to start his PADI Advanced Open Water course.

Daisy has finally become a PADI Divemaster so a huge congratulations to her, she completed her kit exchange with Vince and they both performed the problem solving activity in a very controlled manner, so well done guys.

Isobelle intern wannabe joined us for her Advanced Open Water course, on the first day they headed off to Abades, where Isobelle completed her Navigation and Search and Recovery exercises, she did really well, as well as enjoying being back in the water.

Another returning intern Gus has arrived back, its a pleasure to have the old divemaster interns come back to the centre, its always great to see their smiley faces, and Gus has fitted right back in as if he never left!

The next day they all headed off to at the crack of dawn off to complete Izi's Night dive for her PADI Advanced Open Water Course, they had a great dive, and enjoyed seeing all the sleeping fish.  Vince was gutted not to see an Angel shark but loved it anyway.

Then the team headed off to Tabaiba after a nice hot drink with Kenneth, Ryan Vince and Gus.  This time to complete Izi's Deep and Wreck dives.  They had a great time on the dives, lots of barracuda and bream circling the wreck , and they also went off to see the small dog statue.

Congratulations to Izi for passing her Advanced Open Water diver course, we all hope to see Izi back later this year to join us for her PADI Divemaster Internship.

Then amazing news, we found a new boat Captain Marta, shes Spanish and also a PADI Instructor so good news for Dive and Sea Tenerife all round!

So off we went to Poco Naufragio, we were joined by Ryan, Gus, and Vince, where they had an amazing time with a large round ray, who was very interested in the divers, as well as a large shoal of barracuda, and a small black moray all in all a very impressive dive.

Then the team headed off to Pequeno Valle, to complete the navigation exercises for Jeff, all completed really well.  Finally Jeff has completed his Advanced Open Water Diver course.  Well done Jeff!

Jeff, Daisy Vince and Tinman headed down to the pool to complete their skill circuits always good practice for the trainee Instructors to help a new intern with their skills.

Tinman then took them all for some fun dives at Abades where Jeff was mapping the site, we are all looking forward to the finished result!

And another week has flown by here at Mermaid Diving, lots of fun with our customers and interns.

Gorgeous Diving, Interns Stamina Practice and sunshine!!

What gorgeous weather we have had for the majority of the week rather let down by alittle on Sunday!!

Monday was a great day for Melissa and the Interns Stiven and Patrick because they had the day off, so off they went to El Medano for a lazy day in the sunshine on the beach after a lazy morning sunbathing and swimming they managed to get some tapas lunch followed by the most delicious homemade ice cream

After a full lunch they decided it was a great idea to practice timed swims on the pool ha ha !! And since then each day they have been practising and each day making good improvements, only a another few weeks practice and maybe they will achieve the highest scores!!

We were joined by customers Lynn and Paul for two dives at Yellow Mountain accompanied by Stiven and Patrick.  Stiven completed his Fish Identification Adventure Dive as well as his Boat Adventure dive which is great he is now well on his way to completing the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course.

On the dive they saw Large trumpet fish, Anemones, a Black Moray eel as well as lots of Wrasse Bream and a couple of Octopus.  Two great dives a very nice way to spend a morning relaxing dives in the sunshine

Patrick and Alice headed off to the hotel pool in the afternoon for the free try dive sessions and had a wonderful busy afternoon meeting lots of people interested in trying scuba diving.

Discover Scuba Diving always great fun, we were joined by Hollie, Emily and Naomi for a mornings DSD experience  they all did really well Emily decided to stick with her pool experience but Naomi and Hollie were eager to get out to the ocean and meet the fish.

On their Dives at Yellow Mountain they had a great time and saw an octopus, Trumpet Fish and Bluefin damsels to name a few.  Hollie is addicted and cannot wait to get back in the water.

Melissa, Gary, Stiven and Patrick and Lynn and Paul went to have a morning with the Turtles at  Puertito, Interns Stiven and Patrick quite simply can not get enough of the Turtles and every day we hear the same Turtles today?!?

It was a fantastic morning and on the first dive we were spoilt by almost immediately seeing a turtles and several times during the dive seeing the adult turtles swimming around and coming over to inspect us, then as we were heading back to shore there were two adult turtles as well as a baby turtles just in front of us and we all sat awestruck seeing them  right in front of us, almost as if they are putting on a  show for us to see.  Whilst the group was distracted by the ever friendly Turtles Melissa and Patrick were sat watching a gorgeous Cuttlefish just at the side of us, changing colours and patterns so quickly its simply fantastic.

The next day celebrations for Stiven who completed his Advanced Open Water course with the Deep and Navigation dives.  Stiven was very excited to see his first ever Fangtooth Moray eel, and is keen to see the photos of his dives.

Following this Alice started her first rescue Diver training session with Gary and Patrick they had a great time, apart from all appearing very red faced  ...note to self must remember suncream!



Geert, Daphne, Lynn  and Paul joined the team at Poco Naufragio and the moon Pools, Melissa, Paul    and Patrick stayed on the shelf and were really lucky to see two rays a stingray hiding in the rocks we believe to be pregnant as well as a common ray gliding past us.  Moving on we were by us looking at some gorgeous anemones and nearly missed a cuttlefish asleep in the sand, when it awoke it stayed hovering close as if watching us.  Paul was most impressed by the Fangtooth Moray eels who came out to say hello as he was busy taking photos.  Along with a grouper, barracuda and shoals of break and roncadors made this dive amazing.

Alice was with Geert, Daphne, Stiven, Gary and Lynn for the deeper dive, where they saw two small common rays and on their safety stop had one of the large Stingrays come over for a look.  The group were raving about the dive as they came back to the boat, another wonderful start on a very sunny day.

Then the group headed off to the Moon pools, always an amazing site and always great to take the interns to another site, the light shining through the moon pools was amazing, and with trumpet Fish and cuttlefish it just makes for a great dive.

The end of yet another week, and another busy day for the team here at Dive and Sea, first thing they had the Discover Scuba Diving experiences with Jessica, Glen  and Trish, they all had an amazing experience and were really happy that they had managed to see the aquatic life on their dive at Abades.  When Jessica growns a little she will be back to try more diving!!

In the afternoon Alice, Patrick and Stiven headed back off to Abades with Chris and Samantha,
for recreational dives.  they had a great afternoon and are looking forward to the rest of their week diving with us.

Another fun filled week for us all here at Dive and Sea Tenerife.

Calm seas Blue Skies and even better Dolphins!!!

Diving, Dolphins, Calm seas and Sunshine what more could we ask for?

We have had another week of flat calm seas absolutely wonderful.  Its been so calm Melissa has even been out on the boat and even Pete has been diving whatever next?

This week we were joined by Maggie and Richard, Master Scuba Divers, for their Surface Marker Buoy Speciality and some fun recreational dives.

We have had a great week with Maggie and Richard they are great divers and its been lots of fun meeting them and we have all enjoyed their company whilst out diving on the boat.  So on their first days diving, Alice and Pete took them to Girano arecife for their SMB speciality, they both did really well and have continued all week practicing putting their SMB’s up, as they say practice makes perfect.

Richard and Maggie joined us with Terry, Matthew, and Paul and we headed off to Yellow Mountain.  The two dives were really great and on the second dive they saw 5 large octopus which was incredible, as well as Anemones, Cleaner Shrimp and Annulated brittlestars.

In the afternoon Melissa and Alice went off for a nice warm bath in a private pool, with Darren and David.  David was completing his Bubblemaker experience and they all had amazing fun playing games in the pool including tag!  Darren meanwhile was completing his Discover Scuba Diving pool experience.  They both did incredibly well and are all back soon and even mum will be trying first snorkelling and then diving, and David will be able to join in diving as he will be 10.

Melissa and Alice were reluctant to leave the warm bath like swimming pool but headed back to the shop for more administration duties.

Maggie and Richard were back and joined by James for their dives at Poco Naufragio and The Moon pools.  A bright early start clear blue skies, vey calm sea, and two great dives. 

On the first dive Melissa and James explored the shelf as James is an open water divers, they had a great dive and saw several gorgeous anemones as well as two Wahoo sprint past, there is always so much life to see on the shelf, with Red back cleaner Shrimp, Barracuda, Groupers and then as Maggie and Richard went deeper with Alice they saw a Large Stingray plus black and fangtooth Moray eels.

The best part of the morning was the dolphins who surfaced near the boat as we were moving off to our next dive, a pod of 4 dolphins put on a nice display for us all, and it was also funny to see the seagulls actually getting some of the fish the dolphins were chasing.  Its so amazing seeing the dolphins, and as we were all leaning over the sides you could see the dolphin just underneath the water appearing to be looking up at us watching to see what we were doing

.

For their second dive of the day they headed off to The Moon Pools, where Pete joined Alice so that she could learn this dive site.  They had an amazing dive with the sun shining through the pools, gorgeous Octopus and Cuttlefish at this dive site.  A fabulous morning out on the boat for all.

Sexy Shrimp get the hearts racing whilst Diving!

A very dark early morning, but gorgeous and sunny by the time we headed off to Abades, with Matt and Ryan.  The first dive at Abades bay was fantastic and at the end we were circled  by a very large Barracuda who looked like it was sizing us all up for breakfast!

Then just as we were getting ready to head back off for the next dive we bumped into our friend Phil from Teide divers who decided to join us for our second dive.  Another gorgeous dive, with a large Fangtooth Moray bearing his teeth at us, some gorgeous cleaner shrimp, and the sexy shrimp on all of the Anemones we saw.

It was Matt’s last dives with us on this visit to Tenerife so we said a sad farewell , secretly I think Melissa is pleased she will no longer have to fear for her life underwater………..  No matter what he thinks he is not getting a dive knife!!!  Its been a real pleasure having Matt back diving with us as not only has he helped us discover Sexy Shrimp he has also showed us a frog fish!!!    Matt is every dive centres dream customer, he is happy on all dives and just loves looking for all the small life that others pass on by, not only that when he is here its like we gain an extra member of the team!
We will hopefully welcome Matt back very soon.

We have been joined this week by Frank from Germany who has come to complete his PADI Assistant Instructor course, so 4 hard days work ahead of him.  Alice and Phil have both been joining in as preparation for their IDC and Staff Instructor course in just under 1 months time.  They have all worked really hard this week, and have already begun to see the improvements in their presentations.

Hannah has been back to complete her final PADI Discover Scuba Diving session to get her DSD Leader certification with Rory and Abbie who were joined in the pool by their parents Chris and Sandra who were completing their Scuba Tune up with Alice.

All of them did really well in the pool and then it was off to the ocean for their open water dives.  They had two really great dives and it was great to see the family diving together.

Congratulations to Frank who has successfully completed his PADI Assistant Instructor Course and passed his General Standards exam with 100%  a fantastic score.  Frank will be joining us for the rest of the week for some recreational dives so he can relax now the pressure has gone!!!

One of the best parts of my week so far was getting to meet Popeye's parents, Ali and Stuart, they were both great, it was great to learn some fun stories about Sam as a child!!  Much to Sam’s discomfort!!!
I think we were more excited to meet his parents than he was to see them again other than a chance for free food all week!


More discussion ensued this week about the present “from” the Christmas tree and although they didn't deny they do get present's they did think it was specific to their family unlike Sam who believes we are all weird for not receiving presents from the Christmas tree.

It was great to welcome back Suzy and Alun from Wales this weekend a lovely surprise to meet their son George a PADI Junior Open Water Diver.  Unfortunately this time Alun had not bought his Popa Smurf wetsuit so we had to make do with teasing him about …. Well anything we could think of  frankly!!!

Their first dives were at Poco Naufragio and Starfish Bay, they were also joined by Ali and Stuart  and Velzo (pronounced Velux like the blinds!!)   Melissa was really happy to dive at Poco Naufragio for the first time in about 6 months, it was a wonderful experience to see a Common Ray as soon as everyone had descended as well as a fleeting glimpse of a large Atlantic Ray and a Duckbill.
On the shelf at Poco Naufragio there is so much life to see, gorgeous colourful Anemones with Sexy Shrimp as well as lovely Red Backed Cleaner Shrimp.

The favourite however is the three Moray eels hiding just over the shelf at about 20 meters, who all come out to greet you when you glance down. There are two black and one fangtooth, which had taken a dislike to sharing his home with the Black Moray closest and was busy biting him as we watched on in awe.

Then off to Starfish bay, a wonderful site where you see a lot of different coloured and sized Starfish as well as Cleaner Shrimp and Octopus, this site is woefully covered with Urchins…… note to self (reminiscent of  bungle) must sort out our project aware Urchin culling dive soon to try and get this site back under control!

A grey morning but fantastic dives at El Puertito with Alison, Frank, Stuart, Sam and Melissa.
Despite limited visibility the divers were met at every turn by another Turtle, in total it was agreed there were 5 different Turtles, and its always amazing to see more than one at once.  

It was great to be able to show everyone the Sexy Shrimp this is now Sam and Melissa favourite activity since Matt has abandoned us in favour of returning to the UK !!
Its up to us to carry the flame!!!!