PADI Courses and the PADI Instructor Course

Everything is going well on the IDC for Paul so we are sure he will do well on his Instructor Examination.  The first few days have been focused on teaching the candidates how to teach a PADI Course in the Classroom, Pool and Ocean, and giving presentations all of which is to help with the Instructor Examination.  He is enjoying working with the other applicants, and Course Director David to improve on all his skills and theoretical Knowledge. 

Alice and Tristan had a great two days completing the rest of his Open water course.  For his first Open water dives they headed out to Abades with Boy and Melissa. Tristan performed really well on his dive and was happy to have seen a small common ray as well as Cuttlefish and lots of damsels and breams.

Boy was just happy to be in the water again with no skills to perform just having fun waving at the fish again.  He is still over whelmed by how amazing the experience of being under water is.

Then onto dives 2, 3 and 4 for Tristan they headed out to Yellow Mountain, better viz and calmer conditions and Tristan was having lots of fun, they were also accompanied by Boy his last dives for this visit in Tenerife.  Congratulations to Tristan for completing his PADI Open Water course.  He is looking forward to joining us next week for some recreational dives.

Finally we managed to get the boat out of the water, as always lots of fun getting the guys at the Marina to lift the boat, annual maintenance for a few days before it will be back in the water.

We were joined by Kelly and John for their afternoon Discover Scuba Diving session in the pool, they both did realty well and enjoyed the experience with Alice, and were very excited about their early morning trip out to Abades with Alice, Melissa, Cyril, Dallas and Grace.

The sun was shining thankfully for our outing bright and early up to Abades, and the dives were excellent, Melissa headed off with Cyril, Dallas and Grace for some fun dives, they saw some fantastic aquatic life including a shy Black Moray Eel, Gorgeous Anemones with Sexy Shrimp as well as Red Backed Cleaner Shrimp. 

Kelly and John both did really well for their dives in the Sea and both had two wonderful dives with Alice.  They were really happy underwater and are looking forward to moving on to a PADI Open Water Course.

Melissa and Cyril headed off to Las Eras for a wonderful dive a tough current to fight but a great dive where they were able to see lots of Anemones, Hermit Crabs large Baracuda and Trumpet fish as well as a really beautiful cuttlefish.

Bright and early the next day Ana headed down to the pool with Alice to Start her PADI Open Water Course.  Ana was excellent under the water in the pool on her confined sessions.  Ana spent the rest of the first day watching the DVD, and finally sat her exam,

Ana then moved on the next day for her PADI Open Water dives at Girjano Arrecife with Alice and Cyril they had two great dives and were really happy with Ana´s skills

Alice was back off to the pool in the afternoon on the return from  the open water dives with Gary for his Scuba Tune Up.  Gary hadn’t dived for a few years and so brushed up his skills with Alice.  He is really looking forward to heading off to El Puertito to see the Turtles next week.

A great week of diving and lots of fun with great customers. 

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

A relaxing week and fun with the Rays!!

A welcome relief for the team here at Dive and Sea Tenerife days off at the start of the week.  We all get so caught up diving planning etc and forget we have been working for two weeks flat out.  So much to do and so little time!

Melissa had a fun day at the shop on her own at the beginning of the week, peaceful and busy catching up more blogs, facebook and newsletters to catch up on while Pete and Alice both enjoyed very lazy days off.

Melissa had a great day off joining the gym, and walking her two dogs Sapphie and Ruby.  Then flopping on the sofa the rest of the day!!!  Unfortunately for Melissa having been away from the gym for over 4 years now she paid with very very achy muscles for the rest of the week.

A chilly but bright start on Wednesday, Chris and Martin were back joining us for two dives at Poco Naufragio and Starfish bay we were also joined by Darren aka Spike who is over for a nice holiday with lots of diving.   Now that both Martin and Chris are PADI Advanced Open Water divers they can now explore more challenging deeper dives. On their first dive they had a great time with the Rays and were also lucky enough to see two moray eels, a really great dive.  On the second dive out at Starfish bay they saw Nudi Branc lots of starfish and Wrasse, Bream and Damsels.

Unfortunately this was the last dives for Chris and Martin but we hope to see them back again next time they are here in Tenerife.

Melissa and Spike headed off to Abades, they had two great dives the first dive to Abades Bay was great, they saw Cuttlefish, Nudi Branch and two small groupers as well as a very brave Octopus.  On the second dive off of Abades beach they saw a large Black Moray, Red Backed Cleaner shrimp cleaning a red reef lobster  as well as lots of gorgeous anemones.  A great mornings dive followed by a lovely cup of hot chocolate.

Its that time of year again when we are all busy advertising the Divemaster Internships for 2013.  Its always great to see a huge response from interested candidates quickly filling the slots over the summer months. If anyone is interested in receiving the information pack about our Divemaster Internships or professional courses please don’t hesitate to let us know.

We are all looking forward to a busy week next week with the Open Water courses as well as the return of Ryan our first every divemaster Intern who has since trained to be an Instructor, and Aidan one of our fabulous repeat customers.

PADI Diver courses and lots of fun!!!

A new week and surprisingly bright hot and sunny weather for the entire week.  Its always great to get out of the dive into the sunshine.

A quiet start to the week with plenty of time for us all to start catching up on all of the jobs that don’t get done when we are all rushing around.  Its great when you have an empty in tray after a few days of administration work!!  As everyone knows though it doesn’t mean that Melissa desk is tidy its still a  tip just the way she likes it!!

This week we have been joined by Martin and Chris.  Martin was here to complete his PADI Advanced Open Water Course.  On his first days diving he chose to complete the Digital Underwater photography, Boat and Navigation dives.  He did really well and  was happy with his underwater photos.  Chris has joined Martin on all his Advanced dives, despite already being an Advanced diver its good practice for him.

On the second day of Martins Advanced course they headed off to Tabaiba to complete the Wreck and Deep Dives they were also joined by Richard for his last dives this visit to Tenerife.  They all had two great dives and saw a really big Grouper much to everyone’s delight!!

More PADI training courses Neil has also been here completing his PADI Open Water diver course.  Neil was here in September to complete a Discover Scuba Diving experience and loved diving so much he has come back to get his certification.

Day one and off to the pool for his confined sessions, watching the DVD and working on his last few reviews.  Neil was an excellent student and got all of the confined skills really quickly.

Then for the first day of the Open Water dives we all headed off to El Puertito, Alice teaching the Open Water Course with Neil.  Neil did great underwater and really enjoyed getting back into the sea and was happy that he also managed to see a turtle.

Melissa was also at El Puertito with Darren, Martin and Chris for some fun recreational dives with the turtles.    On the first dive they had an excellent time despite limited visibility and saw a Turtle, Cuttlefish and scorpion fish.  On the second dive the visibility had lifted and they had a fantastic dive being followed by two turtles for most of the way.  Darren, Chris and Martin were really happy with the personal experience that they had with the turtles.  Chris and Martin are back next week for more recreational dives with the rays!

On Neils last day of his Open Water course,  we started nice and early off to the hotel to complete his exam!  Neil did really well with his theory and so the multiple choice quizzes and exams were no trouble at all.  Then we headed off down to El Puertito to complete his last two training dives.   Neil did really well and enjoyed diving with a turtle and seeing so much aquatic life including a cuttlefish, White Bream and Roncadors.  Congratulations to Neil for successfully passing his PADI Open Water course, we hope to see him back again soon.

A perfect end to a great week a nice glass of wine shared with friends!!

Happy New Year but sad farewells to Divemaster Interns

Happy New Year to you all.  The end of another year!!   Its hard to believe that yet another year has flown by here at Dive and Sea Tenerife.  We have had our best year to date and have met some amazing divers.  We have been busy all year round with divemaster Internships, it is always great fun having interns in and around the dive centre keeping us all busy.  We hope that you will all continue to support us and come and enjoy some more fun times with us.

So back to this week another great busy week, poor Pete and Melissa left on their own while Alice recuperates from her busy Christmas eve as Santa’s Elf.

The week started with a  busy administration day much needed after months of diving, so we managed to catch up on all those little jobs that just don’t ever seem to get done, then off out for a fabulous evening at Big Al’s, with a Scottish piper at midnight who could ask for more.  There is still a very long list of things to do in and around the dive centre its never ending!

Unfortunately we had to start back to work on the 2nd January and straight off bright and Early with Richard, David.  Its great to see these guys again who started to Learn to dive with us four years ago, and have been back every Christmas since then!!!  This year they are taking a break from courses to enjoy some recreational diving.  On their first dives to Poco Naufragio and Pequeno Valle they were joined by Instructor Z and Master Scuba Diver Mike.  They had two great dives and were pleased to see Common Rays, Moray Eels and shoals of Barracuda.  Mike was sorely disappointed he was unable to do more dives with us this week but promises to be back next year.

Finally Santa’s Elf returned to Tenerife to her real job and actually to start teaching again!

More fun dives off out on the boat a bright sunny morning at Yellow Mountain with Z and new arrivals Peter, and Juliane from Denmark for some fun dives, Pete was also there to complete Swathi’s PADI Scuba Diver course.  Swathi did really well and is now a fully certified Scuba Diver, we hope that Jay and Swathi come back soon to upgrade to the Open Water diver course soon.

Alice was happy to be completing her first Bubblemaker sessions with Matthew and Joshua, both aged 8 and over the moon to be able to get into the Pool and play some games.  They had a great afternoon and cannot wait to be 10 years old so that they can get into the sea and start diving for real.

A very sad afternoon as Dennis and Andreas are finally leaving the Island.  They have both done amazingly well in their Internship and Pete, Melissa and Alice are definitely going to miss their smiley faces and positive attitude around the dive centre.  We really hope that this is not the last we see of them!!!

Melissa headed off to see the turtles first visit for the new year, with Peter and Juliane, Dmitry, Richard and David  they had an amazing time diving with the turtles and were really lucky to have a turtle with them for around 15 minutes.  The Turtles are so interested in the divers and what they are doing, Poor Peter was knocked onto his back trying to take photographs!  They all had a great morning diving and it was really

Alice was yet again busy in the pool on another Bubble maker session with Dmitry age 9, not Dmitry from the mornings dive of course but his young cousin who was so excited to get into the pool and try what his elder cousin does.  He is already planning his own open Water Course!!!  So maybe we will get to see him back at Dive and Sea!!

Richard and David were back on Saturday diving  at Las Eras a new site for them, they both had a really amazing time and were really happy to have seen  the amazing Rock formations and all of the gorgeous shoals of fish that are there.  On the dives they saw Red Backed Cleaner Shrimp, several beautiful Anemones a fangtooth and  A Brown Moray eels as well as two very large cuttle fish and a streaked Gurnard.  A very nice start to the day followed by a busy afternoon catching up on all of the administration duties that go with the jobs too!!

These are the boys last dives with us this holiday as David heads off back to Ireland and Richard has a long list of tasks to complete for his Grandparents before returning back to college next week.

Looking forward to another fun week next week, the return of Darren to complete his PADI Advanced Open Water Course with Alice.

Saying Goodbye at Christmas :-(

A great week with lots of dives two heavenly days off  but sad farewells as we have said goodbye to all of our interns at Dive and Sea Tenerife.

Christmas Eve dawned bright and early and off we headed with Lydia, Kali, Yarolslav, Brooke, Rob and Andreas and Dennis to Tabaiba.  They all had two fantastic dives whilst Melissa was sunbathing near the car!  They were all really pleased seeing the Wreck  after a nice coffee in the sunshine we headed back down to the south.

Congratulations to Kali, Yarrolsav and Rob for passing their PADI Advanced Open Water Course.

Kali and Yaroslav have now definitely got the diving bug and are already creating a list of must dive destinations as well as a return visit to see us all here at the Dive Centre

After a great night out on Christmas even with Lydia, Moomin and Dennis we all enjoyed two days off………..  On Christmas Day the interns popped round for a Christmas Drink and to eat the celebration chocolates.  Melissa was happy showing of her new Pink Diving watch, Lydia was definitely Jealous!!

Melissa handed out her Christmas Bauble presents which she has asked to be returned with a special message in them so that she will always remember them!!

So on Boxing day we all went out for a quick drink with Lydia to say goodbye, and they all handed Melissa the Christmas Baubles, Dennis and Andreas had painted over the Christmas design with their own designs, Dennis had painted the Dive and Sea Tenerife logo and Andreas had painted the island of Tenerife and a Christmas hat.  Melissa was delighted with these excellent presents and also very sad that they are all leaving this week.


And then it was time to say goodbye to Lydia.  We will all miss Lydia she has become part of the team in the last 12 weeks and we hope that she will return to see us all.  Lydia has been so busy in her time here she has not only completed  her PADI Master Scuba Diver with 5 Specialities but also carried out an additional 3 Specialities Wreck, Nitrox and  Project AWARE specialities as well as her PADI Divemaster and her Discover Scuba Diver Internship.

Another day dawned it was grey, cloudy and windy we were all thinking we had woken up in England….. but then the sun came out and all was well.  Pete headed out to dive with Mahmoud who was completing his PADI Deep Diving speciality.  He completed his first 3 dives, and was lucky to see Common Rays and Atlantic Rays.  Dennis and Andreas were sad to complete their final dives on the last day of their internship.

More sad goodbyes as the boys have also finished, Andreas and Dennis will be around for a few more days which is nice and we hope that they will come back

Melissa headed out to El Puertito with Iain and Rebecca in search of the Turtles.  They had two great dives.  On the first dive they headed off to the right hand side of the bay where they went in search of  the Turtles they were really happy to see two turtles one of whom stayed with us for the rest of the dive following us back into very shallow water.  On the second dive they headed out to the left hand side of the bay where they saw Annulated Brittle Stars Feathered Star fish Anemones and a red backed cleaner shrimp as well as another turtle!  Both Iain and Rebecca had a wonderful mornings diving and hope to come back to Tenerife for some more fun diving.

Jay and Swathi  joined us for their PADI Scuba Diver course.  The first day bright and early and straight off to the pool to complete their first underwater experience.  Well done, with a busy day spent in the pool, watching the DVD and more pool they both did really well.

While Pete was busy in the pool Melissa headed off to Abades with repeat customer Richard, David and Sophie.  They had two fantastic dives, and all enjoyed getting back in the water, they saw Red Backed Cleaner Shrimp, Sexy Shrimp, Anemones and Cylinder Anemones a Black Moray as well as Annulated Brittle Star fish and Feathered Star fish and the usual fish Wrasse, Bream Damsels, Parrot Fish.  Melissa was sorry to admit that she wishes the interns had been there to help with the cleaning of all the kit, its hard work all on your own.

Day 2 of the Scuba Diver course and off they headed on the boat with Pete and Melissa out to Yellow Mountain.  They both did really well as neither of them had ever tried diving before enrolling on this course on their Christmas break.