Two new guys have joined the Mermaid family

On Monday we had two new PADI Divemater interns join the family who have been renamed Alan and Steve. They are two open water divers from Rhode island in America they both seemed to fit in really quickly and seem to get on really well with everyone. 

Also Ned, Patrick and I went to El Puertito with Gary and Owen, two open water divers. This was a really cool dive as Ned brought his Go Pro with him so we got some really cool shots.

Later on in the week we went to the wreck at Tabaiba with Rhiannon, a rescue diver from Bristol. This was also Alan and Steve’s first dive at the wreck so everybody was really looking forward to it. After our two dives on the wreck and seeing as it was such a nice sunny day we all decided to go for a swim, which was a nice way to relax and enjoy the nice warm water and hot sun.

On Thursday, Alan, Steve, Patrick and I took Robert out for his PADI Open water dives 3 and four at the marina wall. Despite the visibility being bad and having a long surface swim on the first dive every one really enjoyed both the dives.

On Friday we had a DSD called Gwyn and we returned to El Puertito which he really enjoyed. He was amazed to see the turtles so close up.

At night time Alan, Steve, Flounder and I went out to Las Americas which was a fantastic night out and we all had a great laugh. After waking up at half one the next day, Ned, Patrick, Flounder and I went go karting at the Karting Club track and after 30 minutes of racing around, we decided we should all go back another day and see who will the fastest out of the mermaid diving gang.

Week 5 has been another brilliant week out here in the sun but i’m a little sad to be already in the second half of my internship.

The past 6 weeks have just flown by….!

I can hardly believe where the time has gone. The last 6 weeks have just flown by. My wife has visited and James my 18 year old son is coming out in 2 weeks time after he has finished his A levels. 2 weeks after that I will be returning to the UK for the summer.

This has been another busy week for the interns. Alan and Steve have completed their navigation and fish ID advance course dives. We are off tomorrow night wreck diving at Tabaiba where we will complete their PADI Advanced Open Water course. They have also completed their Emergency first response exam and practical. We will be doing their rescue course next week in the marina before completing the course in open water. They have also completed their rescue manuals.

Randall passed his instructors exam last weekend which is fantastic. He is just waiting to be processed  by PADI and put into teaching status. “Congratulations Randall well done”.

Buzz and Ned have completed their deep water assessment and only have the rescue assessment to do next week before completing their dive master course. Flounder has had a very busy week working with customers.

We went to Radazul with Yens a customer who did his advance course with us last year to do a deep dive. Yens has bought all his equipment and was keen to try it out. We saw a large shoal of Barracuda. We also lots of Trumpet fish and some Cuttlefish.

On Friday we met Naomi who did her Discover Scuba diving experience with us. After a pool session we went to open water at Abades. The visibility was excellent and we saw lots of fish on the reef.

We also met Brian who is doing his adventure diving course. We went to Las Eras for his deep dive. There we found a very large grouper who was hiding under a rock. It had lovely colours and just stayed staring at us from the shelter of the rock ledge. The fish at this site are larger than at other sites and we saw a large number of big Trumpet fish just floating in a large recess  in the rocks. It was Brian s’ first dive in 10 months and he wanted to go straight back in to continue exploring. We are all looking forward to our wreck and night dive tomorrow night at Tabaiba.

The weather this week has been lovely and hot with days of clear blue skies. The diving conditions are now excellent again after a few days of rougher weather that churned the sea bed up which knocked out the excellent visibility we normally we have. The sea temperature is 21 degrees at the surface which is fantastic. It will now continue to get warmer over the summer.

It just leaves me say “It would be lovely to see you and  have you come and join us whether it is for recreational diving or developing your skills through further courses. Go on treat yourself you know it makes sense”

A new guy joins the group :-) and more old interns returning

I can’t really believe that I’m writing my week 5 blog already! Time has just passed so quickly.

This week we have welcomed back into diving Patrick, who is a former Divemaster intern and now qualified instructor who is here for 10 weeks, and new intern Buzz.

After completing the skills portion of the course I have now become a PADI Rescue Diver. Patrick, Randall and I had a great laugh doing all the skills down at the marina and it was great to do the practical aspect after all the mountains of reading!

We also saw the arrival of Zippy  aka George who returned to Mermaid Diving for a few days of scuba diving. We went up to Radazul and Tabaiba for two dives where I gave my first proper dive briefing and also helped Patrick lead the dive as I was the only member of staff to have dived Radazul previously. Patrick greatly enjoyed being back in the water and it was great to see a different instructor offer a different perspective in terms of leading and teaching.

Later on in the week we started doing various different skills that every Divemaster should know including knot tying and mapping sites etc.

I also started reading the Divemaster manual (the final manual in the long list of PADI Manuals which have become the bane of my life in the past 5 weeks!)

Randall and I also had various pool sessions where my skills are improving with every session.

Flounder

Great news Randalls back …..a brief visit from Zippy and Ian and a fun week diving with Ann and Tinman

Another hot week here in the land of the sun, amazing dives and great news for us Randal came back.  Randall completed his Divemaster Internship last summer, and having come back for a brief visit earlier in the year is now here for the next 5 and a half months.  During that time Randall is going to complete his PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor course as well as complete his Master Scuba Diver Trainer and all being well the IDC Staff Instructor course.

Fun start to the week as Tinman headed off to Las Eras with Ann, Laure, Silvain, and Flounder for two amazing dives at Las Eras, the visibility was amazing and they saw so many groups of fish as well as a Canarian Lobster.  All in all a great morn ing out on the water.

The group then headed out to Tabaiba for two deep dives, the Laure and Silvan likes the Wreck and were happy to see it looming in the gloomy waters, and explore the rocky areas of the wall hiding some glorious anemones.

Ann, Randall and Flounder went off to Abades to explore the reef, Ann as usual was practicing with her Camera, while flounder was working on his Dive Site map.  We are looking forward to seeing the finished result of his Map.

We were joined again on Thursday by Silvan and Laure for some dives at Abades, Ann joined the group as its one of her favourite dive sites, on the dives they saw a ray as well as trigger fish.
A nice early pool session was great fun for me, Flounder and Randall working through the skill circuit, it was great to see how well Randall did after several months without practice.  Flounders skills are coming on nicely a few more sessions and he will be ready for his skill circuit.

A lovely evening out with the team, at El Cordero and we were also joined by Zippy intern from two years ago and his Dad, as well as friends Phil, Mike, Helena, May and Russell.  We all had a great evening out and it was lovely to have a relaxing evening laughing with old and new friends.
Bright and early for the end of the week Patrick headed off with randall, Zippy, Ian and flounder to Radazul, a lovely morning and a great time was had by all, at Radazul they saw a grouper, trigger fish and canarian lobster.

After a very sad farewell to Ann, it was nice to have other familiar faces around.

My Fellow American

So I just finished the first half of my internship and I can’t believe everything that I’ve done so far!! 

 I went from a PADI Open Water diver to a PADI Rescue Diver, and went from 18 logged dives to 43. 

 All of the diving I’ve done has made me such a better diver. I can feel myself moving from amateur to professional!  

This week started off really great, we got a lot of time in the shop to get most of our Divemaster book done. We’ll be able to do our test next week… whoo!

We had a fellow American, Paul, come and dive with us for a bunch of days. We got to dive Radazul, Abades, and Yellow Mountain, which is an absolutely brilliant dive site. Paul is an awesome Advanced Open Water Diver and a pretty cool guy.

Next week Patrick and Buzz are leaving and im gonna miss them like crazy, they both became very good friends to me.

Well if the rest of my internship will be as good as the first half (It will be impossible not to be) I’ll be very happy. I’ll see you guys next week. Cheers!!

The 40 Dive Mark!!

So glad to announce I have successfully reached the 40 dive mark!

I was happy to dive this milestone at the turtle site at El Puertito, where we saw one of the large green turtles that lives there as soon as we descended!

After being forty dives in, I quickly went to work performing the majority of my stamina tests including the tired diver tow, the 15 minute float, and the dreaded 800 meter snorkel swim.

On top of that I was able to finish my Divemaster book and passed the Divemaster exam with a 97%.

To finish off the week I was happy to dive a new site, Yellow Mountain, and added a few more deep dives at both Radazul and Tabaiba. When we were diving Radazul I was leading the group and we happened to swim across a massive sting ray.

Then the next day at Tabaiba we tried a new descent method where we swam to the deep side of the wreck and descended to about 28 meters. This was one of my coolest descents to date because it was such a far drop so we could not see the bottom or the shipwreck, everything around us was just blue.

 On a sadder note, we had to say our goodbyes to Buzz as he finished his internship this week. Plenty of more fun and diving to come, hopefully by the next blog I can officially be certified as a PADI Divemaster.

This week was over in a blur

My new beginning, the first week of being an instructor… well not really an instructor, not until PADI tells me I am. 

 But this week was good fun. Monday was a chill out day. We dived in the morning and then I kind of relaxed in the afternoon catching up with all my friends and family. 

On Tuesday I stayed in the shop unfortunately but I got a bit done. I did some data input and ordered a guitar of all things.

This week was a bit of a blur but I know it was a good week. We did Brian’s adventure dives, part of those was deep at Las Eras, and wreck and night at Tabaiba. 

We also had a barbecue on the Friday before going out to Alan and Steve’s house for pre drinks and then into Las Americas.

I’m not sure why all these days have been blured together but I thing when you have this much fun every day, you can’t help it.