hey deze week wordt ik een advens duiker

ik ben begonnen op maandag 17/11/2014 met de kennis making met hele team (jetsam,flo,chabou,dudley en mellisa) en een eerste zicht over hoe een gewone dag verloopt
daarna heb ik al mijn boeken gekregen voor mijn advens,rescue,en mijn divemaster een hel boterham maar dat schrikte mij niet af
en daarna heb ik al mijn duik spullen uitgepakt en klaar gezet voor de volgen de dag
dinsdag 18/11/2014 begon met het klaar maken van al het duikmateriaal voor de hele dag want ik zou in die dag 3 duiken doen waaronder een diepduik,wrakduik,en een nachtduik
om streeks 8 uur zijn we (flo,lee mijn instruktuur mij zelf chabou en zijn mam loize) vertrokken
naar onze eerste 2 duiksteks tabaiba het wrak was super cool met een hele boel vis rond en in het wrak waaronder een kleine rog een octopus en nog veel meer na deze 2 duiken zijn we naar onze laatste duikstek (abades beach) voor de dag waar ik mijn eerste nachtduik zou doen
het zee leven was er veel actiever dan over dag en daar heb ik mijn eerste engelhaai gezien
hij lag op de bodem te slapen en we waren er 1m van verwijdert dat was super
woensdag 19/11/2014 zijn we (flo,lee,mezelf,viki een klant jetsam en nick een divemaster) naar poco gehaan de eerste bootduik van de week daar heb ik mijn eerste kompasnavigatie moeten doen
daarna zijn we naar de andere duikers gezwommen ze waren op de bodem met een heel zwerm vis rondom hen was fantasties en daar een paar meter van daan zagen we een heel zwerm baracoudas
daarna zijn we naar pequeno vall gehaan
donderdag 20/11/2014 zijn we (flo,dudley,jetsam,viki,mezlf chabou en zijn mam) naar las galletas
gehaan waar ik jamer genoeg niet volledig heb kunnen genieten van mijn duik omdat ik zeeziek werd en heb ik de 2de duik moeten stalken
vrijdag 21/11/2014 zijn we (nick,jetsam,dudley,mezelf,chabou en zijn mam) met de boot op nieuw naar poco in de hoop om de grote roggen te zien meer helaas hebben ze zich niet willen tonnen maar ondanks dat hebben we een hele boel andere tropise vissen gezien daarna zijn we eldelfin gehaan op deze site is er een grote steen consentrati waar het zee leven zich kan verbergen dus is het voor iedere duik een nieuwe ontdekking daar hebben we de mureenen en een octopus en nog veel andere tropische vissen gezien

zondag 23/11/2014 zijn we (mezelf,jetsam,dudley,sara een nieuwe klant die gekomen was om haar rescue te doen en chabou en zijn mam voor zijn laatste duik) de eerste duikstek was las eras waar de duik niet echt is gehaan zo als we hadden verwacht omdat de zee ons haar ruwe kant geeft laten zien soms is het zo daarna zijn we naar el poris gehaan waar de zee een geel stuk milder was daar heb ik mijn eerste zwemmende octopus gezien die net voor mij aan het zwemmen was daar is ook een klein mariabeeld waar ik en dudley mooi fotos hebben gemaakt dat was mijn eerste week

More than half way..time is speeding by

Jeff’s left, and a new intern, Ludo starts he´s already advanced diver so he´ll soon be heads up Nemo former intern now an instructor joins us this week.

Monday: Sub site Pauls doing his last dives with us and first as advance. First dive we saw a big common ray and smaller one they are cool. Second dive at Pequno valle we saw three different rays Drift dive the current very strong quickly up the boat before we crash in to the rocks!

Tuesday: Pool session with Ludo and Vince training skills. Necessary if you want to improve. Now we training to teach them out so we also have to train to explain and always, always look at the student. Also did stamina practice 400m. My time was almost a minute closer then when I started. Have to start training!

Wednesday: Down To the marina and the beach just beside it Ludo, Percy, Nemo and Vince diving saw a stargazer hiding in the sand swam of finally, quite big.

Thursday: at the shop Ludos doing he´s rescue course and we doing the emergency first response training with Rescusi Anne , 30 compressions 2 breaths 30 compressions But First!
-Hello? My name is Blinky I am an emergency responder. May I help you? Good for anyone to learn this knowledge, maybe not the -Hello? My name… bit. Afternoon we train skills in the cold pool. But we are good we last an hour.

Friday: To Las Eras It´s me Vince, Ludo Randall and Nemo. Today it´s a lot of current, but I like Las Eras beautiful and today two big rays one very big in the open cave taking a rest from the current I guess. It´s always a lot of trumpertfish there. Me and Ludo Search and recovery with Vince. The two others a little bit tired. Wonder why?… So they rest the second dive. On the second dive we saw the rays again they are cool! At the end Ludo and I do rescue scenarios. – Diver, Diver are you okay!?

Saturday: Randall and I drive down to the beach by the Marina. Nice weather no wind. We do a long dive. See an octopus and a giant fire worm didn´t know that they could get so big!

Sunday: The day of, but I go diving with Tinman and Nemo to find some new dive sites. We got a tips from Melissa but we miss that and end up in what will be called, No hope bay . Hope for an easy access?- No. Hope for a deep dive?- No. Hope for something to see? – No. Hope for god visibility?- No and so on. The Jumpy manage to climb up again and we go to the second dive by the Marina Tajao. Slightly better but not much we see an octopus lots of led sinks from fisherman. It must be a lot of disappointed fisherman, because there´s no fish.

I´ve started to get use to take the Jumpy to Las Galletas even though it was in for repair a couple of days, me and Percy had a hard time of finding the workshop. Been out in San Blas a couple of times with the guys.

Still take my cortado leche y leche, and the boat still there
Next week…
Blinky

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!

Blinky only week two and already I answer to my new name :-)

Blinky it says on my new red t- shirt just below the logo of the dive center. The name sounds already familiar. It´s funny how quick you adapt, the name, setting up the kit, dive, washing the kit. I may not be as fast as Jeff and Ned the other Divemaster Interns but I may get there one day 

Vince and Daisy both finished his PADI instructor development course so the new instructors are celebrating and are with us this week, Melissa has a cold and can´t dive so she controls us from the shop.
Monday we take the boat (Jamie or Percy is the captain) and go to Poco Naufragio and do a deep dive and a drift dive. Deep, big rays!  One lays over Ned and covers him, then take a taste of my hair. They are used to be fed, hence their behavior. They are big and cool. I and Cloe do our advanced class. Her father Jeff, Ned, Vince and Tinman are also diving. A good day!

Tuesday Las Eras I do the fish identify… and I am a PADI Advanced Open Water diver! Cool colors and lot of fish, schools of fish (a new word I learned). I like the trumpet fish, the garden eels, the sharp nosed puffer, brand tail puffer and I can go  on and on. I like it!

Wednesday a day off, Jeff and me take the bus to Las Americas. It´s surf time(!)… for Jeff who takes wave after wave. I don´t have the confident this day I try a couple of time but to many people and one of them grumpy. It ends with me more laying on the board looking up at Teide. Ahh… but the sun is shining and Teide is beautiful. We finish of with a Mojito, a good day! Though we have to wait for the bus in 1 ½ hour.

Thursday El Puertito, where the saint Carmen watch over us while we dive with the turtles! The whole family from Switzerland are with us Cloe and her father, mother are diving with us and the sister snorkeling. The turtles they are cool it´s like being in space they just come floating towards us ( have I said that before?). We take a coffee afterwards, or I take cortado leche y leche. They are good, you should try! Nice dive and nice people.

Friday Abades, got my wetsuit, looking sharp… And it´s open in the front which is good it turns out because you (read I) tend to need to use the men’s room after a dive. In Abades it´s between the fishing boats… The dives are very nice, schools of fish and very good visability. The Swiss are doing there last dive with us. They invite us to eat calamares afterwards.

The evening Jeff comes over to Los Abrigos where I´m staying and we do the town… It´s a small village. But Jeff wins in pool and we get a free shot.

I also been with the guys and Melissa to San Blas country kitchen, very English. One of the waitresses have a tattoo with two eyes with mom and dad watching written under. Hmm… She´s seems like a nice girl though. You can play pool and dart there, I´m rubbish at both but it´s fun.

A nice week with many good days, and the boat still there…

Blinky 

A fabulous End to 2013 and a promising start to 2014

What a fantastic end to the year, and bringing of the new year all in one week.

Its great to have Ann, Richard and David back with us for some more dives, off we headed to Tabaiba, a glorious sunny day, with Daisy, Minnie, Melissa, an Phil.

Phil was there to complete his final dive of his Advanced Open Water course, while Divemaster Interns Daisy and Minnie were there to observe

An amazing morning , great visibility, and a huge shoal of baracuda as well as lots of friendly octopus, and still back in time for a spot of lunch, before heading down to the pool with Daisy to complete her Divemaster skills.


Next up was Las Eras and despite only being able to complete 1 dive it was an amazing dive that we all enjoyed, we were jouined by Phil, Roy, Richard and David.  On the dive we were all lucky to see an Angel Shark, which daisy had spookily predicted that morning.

It was the first angle shark that we had seen here at Mermaid Diving for the current season so everyone came away with huge smiles.

A very welcome day off following New Years eve celebrations, and then back off to EL Puertito to go and see the turtles, on the dive we were joined by Tony, David, Richard, Ann and Lloyd.

Happily we all managed to see the turtles, as well as cuttlefish and octopus, there is always a great amount of life at El Puertito and looking amonst the rocky areas you will find, large starfish, hermit crabs, Annulated brittle stars and arrow crabs.

Daisy was really happy to get her Stamina assessments for her Divemaster course out of the way, she did really well depsite her poor ribs and was happy with all of her scores.  Well done Daisy only a few more items and you will soon be a Divemaster!!!

Another trip to tabaiba this week, with Lloyd, Tony, David and Richard, we had two amazing dives, calm waters and good visability were a bonus.  On the dives the Wreck was encircled by a large shoal of bream with a few baracuda looking for breakfast no doubt!

In the afternoon it was time for Ann and Marta to complete their Emergency Provider course.  They had a fun afternoon, getting used to the various options available for providing oxygen.

A bright and early start the next day as we headed off to Abades with Marta, Ann, Lloyd, Tony and Richard to Abades.  On the dives they saw two common rays sat happily eating while they hovered watching, as well as Moray Eels, and cuttlefish, a lovely bright morning.

Marta and Phil then joined us to complete their Rescue exercises, with Ann as the stooge it was great fun and they had a fun afternoon going through each of the scenarios, the best part as always is watching them bring the unresponsive victim back onto the boat :-)

A great busy week, with lots of fun clients we are looking forward to next week completing the Rescue Course for Phil and Marta and of course welcoming Tinman, new Instructor back into the dive centre, and New Intern Jack aka Jack to the Internship program.

First Angel Shark of the Season :-)

A great start to the week some sunshine!!!

We have just had a whole week of rain well ok I am exaggerating a little but that is how it has felt!!!
It was great to start the week on a high note.

Melissa headed off with Vic, Daniel, Claire Kevin and Lydia to Abades for two recreational dives, the sun shining down through the water makes Abades look gorgeous, well apart from for poor Kevin, whose mask was permanently flooding a testament to his recent training that he kept just clearing the mask over and over and at one point he even took the whole mask off to try and sort the problem…… now we have discovered that there is actually a hole in the mask!!!

At Abades we saw so much life, lots of different coloured Scorpion fish, some beautiful Red Backed Cleaner shrimp who came so far out of their little cave to see us on every visit!
It was such a welcome change to have such clear visibility after a week of grey skies.
Melissa enjoyed seeing new divers facial expressions when they discover something new hiding away.  

For Vic and Daniel the Visibility was amazing, as previously they have only dived in the quarries in England.
Claire a PADI Rescue diver was happy just to be back in the water and really enjoyed trying to help Dan with his buoyancy.

Pete meanwhile was off with the interns at Yellow Mountain on boat cover while Sam practiced his Leading skills, famously he managed to get lost on his way back on the second dive…. Not helpful to the interns who were trying to practice for their mapping dives!!!
Never mind plenty more time for that later.

It has been lovely to welcome back Nick and Linda regular customers of ours who have bought some members of their UK dive club out to dive with us this week, Marc, Eileen, and Tony.

Their first dives were at Las Eras and with the sun shining they all descended, almost instantly you can see shoals of fish and large Trumpet fish so close, as we explored the site in search of the small nativity scene we stumbled over a large glowing pinky blue Anemones, so gorgeous, as well as a small Black Moray hiding away.


A chance glance towards the surface had us all mesmerized by a shoal of Barracuda circling the Bream and Trumpet fish…… breakfast was clearly all that was on their minds.
On the second dive to the Pipeline there was a small round Ray with a lovely black spotted nose hiding away as well as the Brown Moray who takes such exception to being photographed.  Its such a great dive and each time you visit you are able to see new things hiding away.

Alice headed out with Louise for her Discover Scuba Diving open water dives, Louise was really excited but nervous about her first dives, and so was really happy with a very helpful Lydia and Alice by her side, new interns Moomin, Andreas, & Dennis joined Alice on these dives.

Another bright and sunny day dawned and off to Yellow Mountain, Sam practiced his dive brief and leading skills and was really happy that he not only got back to the boat with all of his group but that they had all had a great dive where they saw A Fangtooth Moray Eel, a Black Moray as well as a few small Octopus.
On the second dive to the swim through they had a great time and loved watching the Garden eels disappear from sight as you glide over them.

Lots of lovely exams this week for the interns, congratulations to Kevin and Perry for passing their Open Water Diver course!!!
They have done excellently in the few days that they have been here and so now they move onto their PADI Advanced course….. more reading!!!
Congratulations to Moomin and Angela for passing their Rescue Diver Exams.  They are all looking forward to starting their practical course with Lydia as well.

Not so great news for the EFR exams, each intern managed to fail at least one part of the exam…. More study for them before resitting.

A few quiet days for Melissa and the interns in the shop catching up with reading, watching the DVD’s and for Melissa lots of admin catch up time……  Next week Kevin and Perry will be starting their Advanced Open Water Course and Angela, Moomin and Lydia will start their PADI Rescue Diver course.

Alice, Moomin and Lydia with Linda, Nick, Mark, Eileen and Tony went off to Poco Naufragio where they had an amazing experience with a large Stingray who they all thought was around 4 meters wide, it came and hugged every one of the divers, and Tony was really happy with the video he took.

Poor Melissa out on the boat…… however best day this week to be out the sea was so calm and the skies were blue!!
Another new dive site to Nick and Linda was El Delfin where a small statue of a Dolphin sits at 40 meters, everyone loved this site where they saw they not only a Common Ray but also a  Duckbill ray, several Brown Moray Eels and Red Backed Cleaner Shrimp plus a huge Octopus.
Then they all headed off to Pequeno Valle, this was also an amazing dive with Brown / Black and Fangtooth Morays, and a fabulous Butterfly ray at the end of the dive who did not want to wake up.

Saturday dawned bright and clear and Alice headed out to Poco Naufragio due to popular demand from Tony, Eileen, Nick and Linda.  They had an amazing first dive, where they saw a Duckbill Ray, Two Large Atlantic Rays, Common Ray and the first Angel Shark of the season.
They all enjoyed it so much that Tony and Eileen chose not to do the second dive as they felt that nothing could live up to the last dive, and wanted to end their diving holiday on the best dive ever!!!
Nick and Linda had such a great time they chose to go back to the same site for the second dive, where once again they were surround by a group of Rays.  It the most amazing experience the Rays are so large yet so graceful in the water.

Melissa meanwhile gave up her day off so that new interns Kevin, Perry, Moomin and Angela and Lydia could go for some recreational dives.  Lydia completed her first dive brief which was excellent , clear concise.
Then Lydia was off to lead her very first dive.  She did really well and Melissa was really pleased with her performance so much so that due to sinus issues she even let Lydia lead the gang all by herself on the second dive!
They headed out to Abades, completing 2 dives on the reef.  Amazing dives where they saw, an Octopus, A Black Moray Eel, lovely Feathered Star Fish as well as all the usual aquatic life at Abades, Wrasse, Bream, Damsels, Parrot Fish.

A blissfully quiet day on Sunday for Pete, Melissa, Sam and Lydia who were all off .

Alice, Moomim, Kevin and Perry were at the shop.  Their day dawned bright and clear and then headed off to the pool for skill practice, learning to demonstrate a skill is completely different to being able to perform a skill!!!

Then a day cleaning and tidying the shop after yet another very busy week.

Who cares about the rain when your diving......

A great week, with the arrival of new interns, a fantastic Halloween team night out and more great diving with great people............ the down side was lots and lots of rain!!!!!

Another bright and Early start off to Los Cristianos to collect the lovely Suzy and George.
Alun wimped out with his “Man Flu”  so off they headed out to Yellow Mountain with Alice, Alison, Stuart, Frank and Sam.

More fun for Sam having to brief and lead the dives, amazingly his briefs are getting worse with practice… maybe his parents are piling on the pressure!!!  They had two great dives, and everyone really enjoyed the dive sites.  After Sam's thorough "debrief" the night before with his parents, Ali and Stuart, were much better behaved!!!

An enjoyable day for Alice, as she was joined by her Dutch friends Roger and Renate.  Roger was completing his PADI Discover Scuba Diving Experience and Renate was off for some snorkelling fun with Sam.  Roger did really well in the pool, great practice for Alice to speak about diving in Dutch!!  And then they headed off to the ocean for some fun diving, joined by Jane, a new diver, out for some practice.

They had two really nice relaxed dives, and they were all happy with the abundance of aquatic life that you can see at Yellow Mountain.

Mean while Melissa was off at Abades with Frank and Lydia.  They had two great dives and saw a Fangtooth Moray eel, Cleaner Shrimp as well as the famous Sexy Shrimp dancing on a glowing green Anemones, this was Lydias first sighting and she was really happy to have finally seen these beautiful shrimps.  There is always so much life to see at Abades just siting watching the fish swim around is wonderful.

Disappointingly due to a Red weather alert we had to cancel our Halloween dive, we will do it soon though!!  It would be a shame to miss out of all our fab costumes.  However the rain did not put us off our Halloween night out.
It was really nice to meet the new interns, Moomin, Kevin and Perry and Angela.    Of course we all looked excellent, Popeye was a very convincing sailor and was mad enough to let Alice draw an Anchor on his face in permanent marker pen!!!  Lots of scrubbing the next day!!

A busy induction day the next day with hangovers not a good combination!!!   Interns Dennis, Andreas, Angela and Mahmoud had a great first day learning all they needed to know about Dive and Sea Tenerife….. and exactly how much fun and hard work its going to be.

Shell shocked I think is the best definition of their faces!!!
They had a good afternoon session, with Andreas and Dennis completing their PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience whilst Advanced divers Angela and Mahmoud completed a scuba tune up.

Kevin (Dennis) and Perry (Andreas) from Denmark  are both non certified divers so are looking forward to completing their Open Water course. After their DSD Pool sessions they were both raring to go.

They joined John in his PADI Open Water course and then they were all joined by Brad on their second day who was taking the upgrade from PADI Scuba Diver to PADI Open Water diver.  Kevin and Perry are both naturals under the water and it has been a pleasure to see them both enjoying their underwater experiences, looking forward to the rest of their internship.

Whilst the newbies were off on their open water course, Melissa headed off with Moomin (Mahmoud) and Angela with Sam, Frank and Julia for two dives at Las Eras.  Despite a very strong current they had two wonderful dives, Angela was really impressed with the amount of aquatic life that they was to see on these dives, as usual we saw shoals of White Bream, and Cow bream

After the first dive Melissa was amazed to find that Moomin (23 years old!!!) was exhausted after just one dive………….  And even needed to take the afternoon to recuperate!!!
Luckily he came back batteries fully charged after his day off!!!

Swirling sand equals seasickness!!! Ergh…….. poor Melissa headed off with Daniel, Vic, Julia, Suzy Alun and George to El Puertito everyone was on a high heading off to see the Turtles……….

Unfortunately the visibility was shocking with less than 1 meter, determined not to disappoint  Melissa valiantly carried on through the swirling sand in search of the Turtles and miraculously they found 3 Turtles!!!
Everyone was overjoyed to have seen them and this made up for the poor visibility.

Everyone was mightily pleased to enjoy a well deserved day off on Sunday!!!!

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!!!!

Dolphins, Moray Eel's and divers in Tenerife

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

The week started off well, with the return of Annaliza completing her PADI Open Water course.

Another pool session and her final two open water dives, and then the fun part...... the exam!!!
She did really well on the exam so congratulations to her for passing for PADI Open Water Diver course.

Melissa and Matt headed off to one of their favourite dives at El Puertito to see the Turtles, they had two fantastic dives, despite poor vis they still saw the Turtles, Cuttlefish and Octopus… however beer fine for Pete for failing to mention that Anemones burn you!!!

Poor Melissa had a burn and Matt (who even knew about the burn got 5!!!) all of this was in aid of searching for the elusive "Sexy Shrimp"……. Matt has waxed lyrical about the Sexy Shrimp and none of us had managed to find any here, however we finally did manage to fin 5 or 6 of the seriously Sexy Shrimp!

Olive oil has joined in with Tom this week to complete their PADI Advanced Open Water Course, the fun of the hoops on the Peak performance Buoyancy option should not be missed.
Congratulations to Tom and Lydia for passing their PADI Advanced open water diver course.

Matt, was out with Pete, Alice, Olive Oil, Popeye Jannine, Rod and Tom for dives at Pequeno Valle where they saw a Stingray, as well as some beautiful Anemones with more Sexy Shrimp!!

They then went diving at one of our new sites El Delfin where they had a fabulous dive and saw 2 common Rays and an Eagle Ray, and then the third dive of the day was at Starfish bay with lots of cleaner shrimp,  a Moray Eel and some lovely Starfish.

Olive Oil has also started some of her PADI Specialty dives and is working hard towards achieving her PADI Master Scuba Diver.  This week she has completed her Boat Speciality, Fish ID Specialty and started her Deep and Navigation dives.

It was really nice to see Annaliza enjoying some recreational dives with Tom and they are already planning their next adventure.
They plan to spend the rest of their time here on holiday in Tenerife relaxing in the sun!!!

We were also happy to see Rod and Janine back for more diving with us this is the third year in a row they have been to see us and have become BSAC Sports divers since their last visit,

This week they joined us for some diving at El Puertito, EL Defin and Starfish Bay.  They have had a great week and can’t wait to join us for some more diving the next time they are here.

Another old friend of Melissa’s arrived this week Kristian, who learnt to dive with us 2 years ago.
It was great to see him again and meet his girlfriend Lucy.  They are hoping to join in some diving next week after they have recovered from their colds!!

Melissa headed off to Abades with Matt, Lydia and Sam.  Sam had volunteered to give the dive brief and lead the dive.

He was surprised at how difficult it actually was to give brief, and is looking forward to practising more.

On the dives they had a great time and Saw a Black Moray, a Fangtooth Moray as well as an elusive Frog Fish the first spotting by any of the Dive and Sea Team ever!!!

At first they all thought that Matt was a little crazy but then you saw what looked like a lump of rock move it was fabulous!!!
As well as more sexy shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp and Anemones….. they had learnt their lesson not to touch them though.

Melissa and Matt were happy amusing themselves pretending they were wearing a watch on their ankle!! So were repeatedly asking the time!!!  Small things and all that!!…………

To top off such a fab mornings diving, the team headed down to the Aberdeen for breakfast, Another scrumptious feast  made all the tastier by a very generous Matt paying for us all! (Thanks Matt, your welcome back anytime)

And then Melissa and Matt headed off to the "toy shop"… where Matt was like the proverbial child in a sweetie shop he managed to restrain himself and ONLY bought a Lava Core (very expensive rash vest),     a new mask, springs for his fins and some new boots!!!
It’s a very persuasive shop with all the shiny and sparking new dive toys!!!

Ryan from the Netherlands joined us this week for some recreational dives.  His first two dives with Alice were off to Yellow Mountain and Alien Rock, he was really pleased to see an Octopus, and thought the underwater topography was really interesting.

Matt was back again, with Ryan, off to Poco Naufragio and Starfish Bay.

They had a great time with a Common Ray and were very happy when they spotted 2 Black Moray Eels and a Fangtooth close to each other.
At starfish bay they had fun cutting Urchins up and saw some gorgeous Anemones and more Sexy Shrimp, now that we have seen then they seem to be everywhere its very bizarre!!!

Another great trip to Las Eras on Sunday but boy was the current strong, I am sure we could have ended up in Gran Canaria, but despite this we still manage to see a Small round Ray, A Black Moray Eel, Some gorgeous Cleaner Shrimp and Anemones and a family of 5 cuttlefish.

On the second dive it was amusing for Melissa to watch Matt and Alice struggle for grip on top of the pipeline when they could just have idled by the side out of the current.

In the pipeline we spotted a Fangtooh Moray Eel, a large Brown Moray and a Black Moray, a great mornings diving just very tiring!

Its been great fun this week meeting new divers and welcoming back familiar faces.

However Matt has made it his mission this week to cause damage to poor Melissa, if he is not hitting her with a swinging tank, he is head butting her underwater, getting her burnt on Anemones or knocking her over whilst diving!!!!

If it wasn’t for the fact that Matt is such a lovely guy I think he might of gotten banned from diving with Melissa this time!!

More from us next week.