Randalls back …. for 6 months!!

So the end of Week 1 in my 6 month stay at Mermaid diving, and it is already going great.
I completed my 8 week Divemaster Internship last September and after a brief visit back for some actual recreational dives earlier this year I’m now back for my Pre IDC with Melissa and then the IDC and IE ……..and work experience.

My first day this year and we headed off to Radazul, a first for me as this is a new Dive Site for Mermaid Diving.  Radazul has a lovely marina and is a fabulous dive site, we did 2 dives there with an old intern Zippy (see none of us old interns can stay away) and his dad Ian.  We had two great dives and I am looking forward to going back there again.

The second day I stayed in the shop and revised for my IDC with Melissa. Lots of study required, but we focused on Physics and the RDP, all good practice.  In the afternoon it was good fun to watch the EFR course that Patrick was teaching his first ever! I am definitely looking forward to that treat…..
A nice early start and off into the pool with Melissa and Flounder to see how my skills were after a few months without practice.  It was also good to watched Patrick teach the new intern Buzz for his PADI Open Water Course.  More study..

After another pool sessions for Buzz to complete his PADI Open Water Confined sessions, then Patrick Flounder and I headed down to complete the PADI Rescue Diver Exercises.  It was good experience to be able to assist Patrick on the course as obviously soon it will be me!!    it was tons of fun, and I got to try to drown him . Flounder did really well, and we did some practice stamina assessments for him.

We all headed off to Abades with Buzz and Patrick to complete his Open Water dives, Flounder and I went exploring on the reef and had two great mapping dives….. looking forward to seeing Flounders map

Most of my week was revision, I am looking forward to being an instructor and working for the summer.

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 great welcome to the team at Mermaid Diving and I am already an Open Water Diver :-))

I cannot believe week one went so fast! It seemed like only yesterday I landed in Tenerife and now I don’t want to leave, I hope the rest of my 7 weeks don’t fly past like this one has.

On my first day at the dive shop, I was introduced to the whole team, everybody was really nice and welcoming. Randall showed me around and showed me where we keep all the dive equipment. Melissa gave me my first two dive books to read, and I watched the Open Water DVD.

The next day I was meant to start my PADI Open Water Diver Course but Patrick, my dive instructor, had ear trouble so he couldn’t go into the pool which was fine because I had a lot of reading to do and I seemed to progress through the book pretty quickly, later in the day Patrick took me down to the pool to do a 10 minute tred water and a 400m swim, which made me realize just how long it had been since my last swim! fortunately my apartment is right next to the pool so I can go and practice or cool down after work.

Wednesday and Thursday I spent a lot of time in the pool doing my first 4 open water confined water dives, Patrick made everything look easy and it was a pleasure to learn from him, I also finished my first book Thursday so it was time for the open water exam, and all that reading paid off as I got 94% in my exam!

Friday I went out on my first two dives in the ocean, Patrick took Randall, who is here learning to become a instructor, Flounder, who like me is a dive master in training, and me out to Abades, which was a really nice reef dive where we saw penalty of fish and a eel or two
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On Saturday I had a day off as the shop was closed so I had a chance to catch up on some well need shopping.

Sunday I did my open water dives 3 and 4, for these dives we went down to the mariner in Golf Del Sur, we went down the left hand side of the wall, on these dives we saw many types of fish including two types of Atlantic damselfish.

I can’t wait to learn more and experience more dives in my second week here at mermaid diving, where the sun is all was shinning and there’s hardly ever a cloud in the sky.

The joys of being a new Instructor…

I have just returned to Mermaid Diving having done my Divemaster Internship this time last year and my Instructors development course in December. I received a very warm welcome from Melissa and it feels like I have never been away. I have also met Divemaster Randall and two Divemaster interns Flounder and Buzz.

Our first dives were to Radazul with Ian and his son Zippy a former intern. It was Zippy’s first time back in 2 years. This was a new dive site for me and is situated by a marina in the north. There was a large amount of fish which included Trumpet fish and Ornate Wrasse. It is also popular with other divers and dive companies.

The following day we travelled to Tabaiba in the north and visited a wreck that has been properly prepared and sunk for divers to visit. It sits in 30 metres of water. It is always an interesting site to visit.

This week I have taught an emergency first responder course for 3 people. The post man did give us some funny looks as someone was attempting rescue breaths on Resu Annie in the shop when he arrived. I have also taught the full open water for Buzz who has really impressed me with his calm manner in which he tackles everything. I have also taught a rescue course in the marina and in open water at Abadaes.

This week I have also made 3 visits to hotel pools to do taster sessions for Discover Scuba diving.

I have really enjoyed my first week back at Mermaid diving. The whole team are really friendly and supportive. The weather here has been fantastic for the last 10 days with hot days and clear blue skies. The water temperature is currently 19 degrees with good visibility and the diving has been fantastic.

It just leaves me to say “ What are you waiting, come out and join us and have some fun in the underwater kingdom”

Hello Everyone I am Flounder…apparently :-)

Hola!

Please excuse the disgraceful fashion in which these blogs will be written in; I am not really the ‘Dear Diary’ kind of person. Allow me to introduce myself … my name is ‘Flounder.’ I know that may seem like an extraordinarily strange name for a 21 year old guy from Edinburgh, but despite my initial relucatance the name is steadily growing on me,.

I am in Tenerife for a few months completing a Divemaster Internship and I can confidently say after my first pool session, that my instructors were very impressed with my diving skills – look who’s making jokes!! I joined as a PADI Open Water Diver however I have not dived in quite a few years and my total count is still in single figures. After speaking to previous intern Blinky, this is set to change massively.

Throughout my first week I have had several pool sessions with Melissa, creating the foundations to perfect the DMT Skill Set which I will have to demonstrate within the next few months. I also had a go at the first stamina test – the 400m swim – for which I almost achieved the maximum amount of points. I am very optimistic about greatly improving and polishing the skills and tests throughout my time here with a few more pool sessions.

Midweek I was able to observe my instructor ‘Tinman’ (another one of Melissa’s ingenious creations) conduct a Discover Scuba Diving course for Adrian and Georgia. It was great to watch and observe an instructor taking a complete novice for their first breaths underwater. This also brought my first dive in Tenerife at Abades.

Towards the end of the first week I completed my fish ID and EFR course and I am well on my way to the Advanced Open Water Certification.

All in all I have had a great first week in Tenerife. My exhaustive search for a gym may finally come to an end early next week with some promising leads in Las Chafiras, being able to sunbathe in April when its raining back home is always a plus, and the realisation that my cooking skills can’t possibly get any worse is very reassuring- the only way is up!!

Ryan (Flounder)

Fun diving and PADI Courses fun all round

A busy administration week for me, but luckily for everyone else they have been out diving and having fun.  Also a sad goodbye to Nemo and Randall… Randall however will be back in just over 5 weeks time for the entire summer as he is coming to complete his Instructor Development course.
Nemo headed off with Blinky, Tinman and repeat customer Mike who has attained his Master Scuba Diver rating to Las Eras, they had a fun morning exploring the rocky areas to uncover, Morays, Octopus and Cuttlefish, it’s Nemos favourite Dive site so he really enjoyed his last dives here in Tenerife.  Mike will be back again later this year so that will be lovely.


We were joined by PADI  Advanced Diver Dara from Ireland to complete some recreational dives while Friend Kevin completed his PADI Open Water Diver course.  Kevin has been doing really well and has taken to diving like a fish to water.

Dara has been diving with the team at Tabaiba, El Puertio, Las Eras and Radazul, he has really enjoyed his time diving here, they are both planning on a return trip



All in all an enjoyable week for us here at Mermaid Diving

Mermaid Melissa

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