Articles tagged with: Diving Tenerife

Eagle rays, Austrailian interns and Broken Vans

Date: January 19, 2015 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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It already been a month!

On Monday I was off diving at Alacala, with Josh, a customer from UK, and Flounder. The visibility was horrible with only 1 metre and the waves continuously breaking on the rock steps. We were pleasantly surprised by the rare sight of a sea snake before it was engulfed by the moving sediments, and the nonchalant greeting from the resident green turtle.

The second day of diving was on Sunday at Pequeño Valley, MY FIRST BOAT DIVE in Tenerife! The visibility wasn’t great weather but I managed to see a passing shadow of an eagle ray flapping off to the horizon amongst other things.

In between the two highlights of the week, brain-cells-killing tasks went underway. Jumpy, our ever-loyal van, decides to take a little holiday vacation to replace her gears. Administration works like cleaning and painting the boat, cramming dive theories and Divemaster surface skills speeches, and cleaning up the dungeons. The dungeons in case you are wondering are our special place full of delights and shiny things, also known as the store rooms!

We also welcomed a new Divemaster intern from Australia. She’s a pretty cool diver and companion. Can’t wait to torture her for the Rescue Diver Scenarios!

Ive done it, Im A Divemaster

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

So my 8 weeks in Tenerife have now sadly come to an end, but at long last I am a PADI divemaster!

I could not have done it without great company from my fellow interns along the way, fantastic support from everyone here and of course special thanks must go to all of my Instructors for all their hard work and patience for getting me through my pool skills.

The start of the week saw me get signed off on my remaining pool skills and complete my EFR training, and the remainder of the week saw my mum accompany us on 11 dives.
On Tuesday we went to Tabaiba where my mum was blown away by the wreck of the El Ratón and the fish life around it, and we also went on only my second night dive of my internship at Abades. This did not disappoint as we saw lots of critters about including a huge angel shark that was completely undisturbed by our presence, as well as some sea hares and a cuttlefish burying itself into the sand.
Wednesday saw us attempt to see the rays at Poco but oddly they didn’t show up.
On Thursday we went to a rather shallow dive at Las Galletas which none of us had dived before and then did Yellow Mountain for the final time – again no angel sharks this time!
On Friday me made another attempt to see the rays at Poco but again they weren’t there, much to my mum’s disappointment. We did however do a lovely dive at El Delphín (another site I had not dived before) and I would definitely do that again on another visit here.

Friday night was of course Flo’s (first) final night before returning back to Belgium for 11 days so we marked the occasion by going to Taj’s for my final time and me doing more karaoke down at The Bar.

Our day off saw me and my mum along with Flotsam and Jetsam attempt to do the long walk at Masca but unfortunately the water taxis weren’t running so instead we went to Garachico in the north-west and did a windy walk up the cliffs to San Juan del Reparo and back down again.

Like the week before it was great to get out of the South and see a different part of the island, which felt a lot more traditionally Spanish.
Last but not least, Sunday (and my final) dive was much more relaxed at El Porís.
I am sad to leave Tenerife and the Internship but I will keep on checking the website for news and blogs, I hope it won’t be too long before I am back again.

Kiran

Angel Sharks :)

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

All of a sudden I realise that after this week I only have one week left. Seriously, where has the time gone?!

My training is almost complete, I am just left to do my EFR, the kit exchange exercise and to have the last few pool skills signed off. Hopefully this should all get done on Monday, leaving the rest of my final week to enjoy diving with my mum, who arrived on Friday with my dad and is here until I leave.
This week started off with our first angel sharks of the season. Seemingly out of nowhere on our second dive of the Monday at the Yellow Mountain swim through Nick, Flo, Dudley, Hermit, Dan and I saw 3 angel sharks, each of differing sizes but the largest was just under 6ft in length!
What a shame that none of us had working cameras with us on that dive, and no more have been seen this week.

Tuesday saw me lead my first group of divers alone with no other interns as I took Dudley, Hermit and Garry to Poco Naufragio where we encountered Stumpy again. Pequeño Valle was the calmest I’ve dived so far and I was extremely pleased with how everything went that day.
Wednesday saw me looking after the shop on my own, although being in charge of the shop for a whole day did feel kind of empowering.

On Thursday we went to Yellow Mountain but no angel sharks were seen this time. I did get to dive with Linda for the first time though.

Friday saw me dive Alcalá for the first time since my first week. A mistake my end of forgetting to bring spare regs saw me give my regs to one of the customers, Maureen, while Flo took the customers to see the turtles. I snorkelled on the surface overseeing them and still got close to the turtles (I’m talking face-to-face, less than 1ft away from me close!).
Miraculously, the set of regs that didn’t work on two tanks worked on my tank, so I was able to dive the second dive. The highlight of that dive was seeing a feeding duck-billed ray.
Now my parents are here, I hope my mum gets to see all the amazing things that I have seen within the week she is visiting.

Wreck Diving, EFR and Santa Cruz, what a busy week!

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week consisted of me diving on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with two days off on Friday and Sunday and a short day on Saturday.
Monday saw me head to Abades for only the second time, on a day with high winds and strong swell, with Hermit, Flo and Dave, a seasoned customer. Flo took the lead on both dives.

On Tuesday, Flo and I took Hermit, Jens and two more customers Phil and Dean firstly to Las Eras and the second dive of the day was in El Porís where we got further than usual due to good air consumption by the divers and Flo’s careful dive leading. Both dives had lovely visibility and there was plenty of life on show including big cuttlefish, octopus, shoals of bream, damselfish, scorpionfish and a couple of nudibrancs.
Wednesday Ebb, Hermit, Sofia (Ebb’s visiting Italian friend) Nick and I to Tabaiba (which like Abades and El Porís I had only dived once before) to do two moderately deep dives on the wreck of the El Ratón. It was amazing to see so many fish circling around us on the deck, including one very curious barracuda. We also took a look inside the wheel house and it provided a very disorientating sensation as the bubbles moved in a different direction to the orientation of the wreck.
Away from diving, we got a free meal at Flashpoint courtesy of Flo losing a bet with me on who would do better in our exam, I passed my Emergency First Response exam and four of us took a trip to El Teide and round to the north side of the island, which was stunning on such a clear day. It was also interesting to see how much more luscious and green the north side of the island by Santa Cruz is compared to the south. Pieter and I also went to Siam Park on Sunday, which was a fun day out but also a shame that more of our group didn’t come along due to still feeling the effects of a heavy night previously.

Kiran

If you dont like fish and Sting Rays, dont do the Divemaster internship!

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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My third week on my Divemaster internship has been much quieter than my first two, mainly because at least i am starting to understand how everything works and where everything goes.
I was stuck on dry land for a couple of days and this time was spent fine-tuning my pool skills and I think I made good progress on that front this week as well as finishing most of my manual.

The dives I did get to go on were great especially our first dive at Poco Naufragio where we had two of our resident giant rays approach us right up close and Stumpy even sailed right over my head!
Pequeño valley is a dive site you have to go to. It has literally 1,000’s of fish everywhere.
Our third dive at Moon Pools was wonderful, with the light pouring into the shallow caves and holes in the rocks.

Another plus for this week was my mum’s camera arriving from back home so at long last I can take underwater photos again.
I’m looking forward to diving Yellow Mountain for the first time this week and hopefully getting much more open water time.

Kiran

More diving for Matt, Ryan, Sam and Dave

Date: January 13, 2015 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Matt and Ryan were back, with Sam and Dave for some more diving.
We took them to Poco Naufragio, where they had an amazing dive.
A very curious Stingray stayed with them for at least 15 minutes.
They also found two Black Moray Eels, sharing a little hole in between the rocks, and their neighbour, a Fangtooth Moray Eel, right next to them.
The second dive was to Starfish Bay, where they saw Yellow Goatfish, Sexy Shrimps, Red-backed Cleaner Shrimps and Scorpion fish.

Night diving brings out all our favourties

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

A night to Poco Naufragio brought lots to see for our divers. Cuttle fish everywhere, Moray Eels and evern a Sting Ray popped up from the deep!

Getting close to being a Divemaster

Date: January 5, 2015 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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Week 5, time to start completing the Divemaster stuff !!
Diving was limited to Tuesday and Sunday of this week, due to completing Divemaster tasks, more of than in a bit and a considerable amount of socialising!

Monday consisted of me getting some more of my Diver Skills signed off, which I am now making good progress on now. Tuesday was the first of the two Yellow Mountain trips and were completed for my mapping exercise. Flo was my willing buddy that day and I was able to successfully map the Swimthrough section of the site, as well as witness one of the biggest octopuses I have seen here.

On Wednesday I took my Divemaster exams and thankfully I passed the first section with flying colours and scraped a pass on the second section by the skin of my teeth – but a pass is still a pass!
Thanks to a cheeky bet Flo made with me, he will be paying for meals for us at Flashpoint this Friday after I beat his overall score in the exam.
This year’s Halloween was my first experience of the day abroad and it did not disappoint. This year the theme was vampires and it was great to see everyone (including Nick and Linda) putting effort into their outfits. We started off with a fabulous meal at Buon Italia, then went to The Bar where I blew everyone away with my karaoke skills (slight exaggeration there I might add) Ebb and her visiting sister Lexi got wasted at Taj’s and I got my first taste of Taboo’s nightclub, albeit only for about an hour before everyone deserted me there.
The other diving day of the week involved us taking Lexi out on a dive and we also brought Flo’s other friend Pieter along for a Discover Scuba Diving expedition. I met Hermit for the first time and took him to the swimthrough and to Alien Rock where we saw a school of about 50 barracuda, a huge moray eel and two big cuttlefish near our anchor line.

Kiran

We almost got to the Marine Reserve

Date: December 28, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

I’ve now finished my second week in Tenerife as a Divemaster intern and this week has definitely not felt as full-on and as hectic as my first week, possibly because now I am more settled and getting more accustomed to the early starts. My lack of a working underwater camera is still an annoyance but hopefully that should get sorted at some point this coming week.
Diving-wise I had the pleasure of coming very close to two of our giant stingrays at Poco Naufragio, seen lots of cute and surprisingly docile cuttlefish and octopus, my first moray eels of the trip, discovered two new dives sites (although one was much nicer than the other, but I’ll get to that in a minute) and had my first experiences of El Porís and Las Eras.
I would have dived Yellow Mountain this week had it not been for some videography championship having exclusive rights to the marine reserve, but I expect I will get to dive that site this week (fingers crossed).
Instead we dived a new dive site ( well new to me as I have only been here a week! ) known as “Steps” due to its multilevel topography.
We decided to try to find a new dive site. It’s always good to have new places to go, so even though there are more than 70 dive sites the team go to, it doesn’t hurt to have more!.
Our attempt to dive a new site on the other side of El Porís, which just turned out to be a largely sandy-bottomed, urchin covered rubbish dump. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be diving there again!
I have also improved my times for the 800 and 400m swims which I am very pleased about.
More from me next week.

Kiran

Diving, Snorkelling and Sting Rays

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

I wanted to do my Divemaster internship because I’m a marine biology graduate struggling to find paid work in this economic climate and I thought getting a Divemaster qualification would not only be good for my job prospects but also be a worthwhile experience for me as a person who has been diving since they were 12.

I arrived two weeks earlier than the Divemaster interns would normally have started, and no sooner had I introduced myself I was doing skills in the pool, doing two shore dives and swimming 800m in a marina all on my first day.
The rest of the week has seen me meet one of our resident stingrays called “Stumpy”, come very close to two extremely friendly green turtles, conduct my first night dive in Tenerife and dive a fabulous wreck.

It has certainly been more full-on than I was anticipating, but that is not a bad thing at all! The only negatives that have really happened have been the Jumpy running out of gas on the motorway and my camera dying – let’s see what my insurance can sort out there.

Outside of diving I have enjoyed two meals out with the group, including an amazing curry at Taj’s with free sheesha and shots at the end, lovely home-cooked meals from Flo and Phil and cocktails on Friday night.

I have loved meeting all the current interns and all the staff at the dive shop also. Here’s hoping the next 7 weeks are just as exciting.

Kiran

Starfish almost a PADI Divemaster

Date: September 1, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week was for Starfish, we spent most of the week finishing every skill and dive Starfish had to do to become a PADI Divemaster. We finished the stamina, did the deep assesment, completed the book and exams, and got her to lead and brief some dives.
This was also Paul and Casper’s last week diving with us, it has been a lot of fun diving with them, listening to all the story’s and experience’s they have had.
Unfortunately the weather took a bad turn near the end of the week because of the aftermath of a hurricane across the Atlantic.
Although rough, it was a fantastic experience diving in different conditions than the usual and gave us all an insight into a different type of diving.
Im lookin forward to next week when Paul arrives and Starfish finally get’s her 60 dives. It is going to be a good couple of weeks.

Boat Diving Tenerife

Date: August 25, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week was the start of our new Divemaster intern, Seahorse, and also marks the halfway point of Starfish’s internship.
We had some very interesting diving this week, going to Abades and Alcala and also preparing the boat for it’s entry into the ocean.
We also started Seahorse’s PADI Advanced Open Water course doing Fish ID, and then Deep and Drift on sunday.
We spent most of the time diving with a father and son from Holland, two really good divers, which made our week really interesting, hearing about all of their diving experiences.
The end of the week marked the beginning of the boat being back in the water, and we did two dives on it on Sunday. It was fantastic being back on the boat and revisiting all the dive site’s I missed so much.
I can’t wait to get back on it and do some more diving all along the coast.
The other days of the week went as usual, we did some theory, I did some maintenance of all the kit that needed looking at, and I did some admin stuff.
I only have a few weeks now until the Instructor Development Course (IDC) and time is simply flying by, but i’m looking forward to these last few weeks, with the boat in the water, and the sun shinning in Tenerife.

PADI Bubblemaker galore Childrens Scuba Diving Fun in Tenerife

Date: August 18, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week was very busy and quite fun, we had a lot of PADI Bubblemaker courses on Monday we were joined by William and Daisy then at the end of the week we had Liam, Katie and Harry they all did amazingly well and hopefully they will all be back to compete their PADI Open Water courses as soon as they are old enough. It is so fun watching the kids enjoy themselves and everyone laughing and having a really great time. Anyone over th age of 8 can dive into the pool with scuba gear and start to learn the basics in a fun and safe manner.

This week has also been a great week for PADI Discover Scuba Diving experinces ( DSD’s ), we have had some really nice customers coming in, and also talking about doing an Open water course soon. Cassandra an Intern from last summer arrived back with her brother Joe who headed out to complete his PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience, and was really happy to get to dive with his sister.

The end of this week also marks the end of Ollie’s Divemaser internship, it is sad that she is leaving, but the end of this week also marks the beginning of another internship for Sseahorse, I am looking forward to starting her PADI Advanced open water course as well as continuing the great progress that starfish is making.

As each week passes I realize how much I am going to miss the dive sites, and all the wonderful people I get to meet, I hope the recent customers feel the same way and will come back soon to dive with us, and for those who are looking to dive, come and see us in Tenerife, it would make our day!

Sayonara Fellow Divers :-( Goodbye Tenerife

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

The last week of my internship. I can’t believe its already been 8 weeks! These weeks have brought me so much joy! I met people I will never forget, I’ve been laughing so hard with tears in my eyes and had amazing experiences underwater. I’m going to visit the deep corner for a bit and share one of my favorite quotes:

“Sometimes we are lucky enough to know that our lives have been changed, to discard the old, embrace the new, and run headlong down an immutable course. It happened to me … on that summer’s day, when my eyes were opened to the sea.”

— Jacques Yves Cousteau

My first dive with Dive and Sea Tenerife was at Abades 1st reef, and on Sunday I finished off with style in just the same place! Abades is one of the better exploration dive sites in Tenerife, it is endless what the reef can share if you look really close!

I’m going to miss everybody and I am very thankful for the opportunity. Randall did a good job bringing me from PADI Advanced diver to Divemaster! And I learned so much from Flounder and I am very impressed by his endless patience teaching me the mask clearing skill! And the other interns, Steve and Alan, THE Americans! We had so much fun! And sweet Starfish, I will see you in Singapore! I’m ready for the Tempura Shrimps!

I’m going to miss all of my nicknames, Ollie, Thor and Olivos. Going back to Karoline is going to be a bit boring.

Ciao, Adios, Hadebra and Byebye!

Time to speak French in Tenerife

Date: August 11, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week was a very interesting one, I started the week off with some confined pool sessions for my new PADI Open Water student, Mike, the sessions went really well and he looked very enthusiastic.
The next day was open water at Abades, the sea state could have been better but it was good enough to go in, so we set of in to the water.
This week I also got to brush up on my French because I had 3 Belgium DSD’s ( Discover Scuba Diving) in the pool in the morning and then we went to do 2 fantastic dives at Abades.
This week was also Ollie’s final week as a PADI Rescue diver. We did her skill circuit which went really well, and we also did the kit exchange, and then the deep assesment to top it off.
I am so proud and happy for Ollie, she has become an amazing PADI Divemaster through out the weeks and we will all miss her.
It has been a fantastic week, and I am now starting to realise how little time have left here in Tenerife.

Finally a PADI Divemaster :-)

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

I’ve been waiting for this moment since the start of my internship, I’m finally a DIVEMASTER! The feeling I had when we finished off the last assessment was so incredible! A lot of hard work has finally paid off. The path to Instructor suddenly doesn’t feel that long!

We started off the week doing Starfish’s Rescue Diver. I had so much fun being the tired, panicked and unresponsive diver. Starfish really got the feeling of being in a serious situation when I grabbed her mask and tried to climb her as a panicked diver. The same day I finished off my Search and Recovery and Rescue Assessment. It feels very good every time I tick off something from the “will I soon be a Divemaster”-list.

Tuesday we headed off to Alcalà, which is one of my favorite dive sites here in Tenerife. We always see turtles here. Not only one or two, but three! They are so friendly and curious. We had 3 certified divers with us Lynn, Paul and Nick so we all enjoyed our recreational dives looking at beautiful rock formations, fish and turtles!

The next day we were ready to drive off to Abades. Starfish and I were going to map Abades to draw an understandable map with bearings, depths and kick cycles. We were really happy about the result and in the end of our dive we saw a HUGE octopus out in the open chilling at the reef. I was ecstatic!

Thursday we started the day in the pool with DSD’s. Two kids, and their dad from France. This was the first time I heard Randall bringing his entire dive lingo out in French! Even if I didn’t get a single word he was saying I enjoyed both the confines and the Open Water Experience. As Randall and myself were going with the DSD’s and the mom, which is certified, Flounder went off with Lynn and Paul for the last dive here with us in Tenerife this time. When we came back I did my Divemaster exam… and damdamdaaa… I passed!

Friday, THE day! First we went straight down to the pool to tick off the last skills I needed to do in the pool. While I was swimming my 400m, Flounder and Starfish practiced skills! The next step was to bundle up the kit, go down to the Marina (other side, open water) we decided to go a little crazy and do my Deep Assessment in a very wavy condition. Randall, Flounder and I had a proper workout swimming out and descended next to the Marina Wall. It was a lot of surge, so we swam hard for 10 minutes before we hit the 18m depth mark. Did one necessary skill and headed back, then with the current. Felt very good when our legs were all like jelly. So I finished off my Divemaster almost rolling up on the beach in the waves!

The last day of the week we had two DSD’s Ting and Rory from England. We had a nice pool session before we headed off to Alcalà to see my favourite turtles once again!

Next week is my last, eight week. And my very good friend Malin is going to join us to do her PADI Open Water course. It’s going to be an awesome week!

Another fabulous new Divemaster intern Starfish joins our team

Date: August 4, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week was a week full of excitement, it was our new Divemaster intern “Starfish” first week here, and I had 3 new PADI Open water students to teach, the week went by really quickly.

We went off to Abades with Esther, Stephen and Jacob for their first ever dives on their PADI Open water diver course, they all had a great time and were excited to head off to finish their course the next day at Radazul. So excited were they that they booked to complete a couple of fun dives too.

Then I had fun as Katie and Ian were back with Katies friend Heather for her PADI Discover Scuba Diving experince (DSD). Heather did excellently and we hope that she will get to complete more dives in the future. It was a really good week filled with nice people and fantastic dives.
Although I still have over a month left, I can’t help but think my time here is almost up. Time has been flying by, mixing all the days and weeks together. But still every day there is something new to enjoy, a new student, and new intern, or maybe even a new dive site.
Im looking forward to my last couple of months here in Tenerife with Dive and Sea.

I am so close only a few more items to complete and I will be a Divemaster!!!

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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This week has been a bit different with mostly administrative work and finally completing my PADI Divemaster Manual now studying towards my Divemaster exams.

We started off the week in the pool to go through the 24 skills you need to learn to complete your Divemaster. It’s so much fun to see how much my skills have improved since we started. Now I just have to look forward to the Divemaster marked Skill session.

Stamina exercises has been a task this week as well. I finished off my 100 Meter tow and 800 meter snorkel at both 4 points out of 5! I Couldn’t be happier!

We had two beautiful dives at Abades with Katie, Ian and Heather . The visibility, air consumption and weather was impeccable! Before we headed off for Abades we tried El Puertito and Alcalà, but both places had bad conditions. Better safe then sorry!

Two more weeks to go, and my Divemaster certification is breathing me in the neck!

Tenerife….. I want to stay forever

Date: July 28, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Another busy week here at Dive and Sea Tenerife. This has been a very “real” Divemaster week for me. I’ve been a part of every dive and I have been assisting, briefing, leading and helping out where it was needed. And I love it! First time leading all by myself was a bit frightening, but I powered through and learned so much from it!

We have been exploring two new dive sites, to me, this week. First we went to Playa San Juan and then El Poris, I was leading both and it’s amazing how focused you can get when you just need to trust your compass and visual references to get back to the exit point.

Last Sunday we had an amazing night dive at Radazul! I love night dives, their so exciting and mysterious. And it was Lewis’s first night dive as well, and he did very good! Monday we headed off to Abades to dive with the vibrant fish life. The visibility was PERFECT and we got great pictures of the second reef. Next day it was time for mapping Tabaiba for my Divemaster. So much to think of when mapping, but Tabaiba is always fun whatever you do!

Alan and Steve is back in America and we really miss our awesome Americans. So at right now and until Monday it’s only me as an Intern.

I simply love life here and want to stay forever…

PADI Instructor… Why do anything else?

Date: July 21, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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This week was good fun and a learning experience for me with Lewis,for his PADI Advanced Open Water Course.

Lewis did really well with his PADI Advanced course as well as throwing in some more recreational dives into the mix, he loved his night dive at Radazul and couldnt wait to carry on for more dives.
So well done Lewis in his holiday here in Tenerife he started with his Discover Scuba Diving Experience, then his Open Water and now he is a PADI Advanced open Water diver!! with 19 dives!!
Also at the end of the week we were joined by Ian and Katie for their PADI Advanced Open Water course, they had compelted their PADI Discover Scuba Diving with Dive and Sea Tenerife two years ago and after completing their PADI Open Water in the cold scottish waters decided to come back to Tenerfe for their Advanced course. They both did excellently on the course, and next week they are heading back to do some fun dives and a DSD (PADI Discover Scuba Diving) for Katies friend.

PADI Open Water and Advanced Courses……..

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week has been hot and sunny in Tenerife! Lewis decided to continue his diving education and we went to Alcalà to do his Navigation and Peak Performance Buoyancy. As always he did a good job and we enjoyed looking at the two turtles that lives there. Both very curious! Alcalà is such a good dive site with deep water entry and cool rock formations with vibrant aquatic life!

Thursday we were supposed to go for a night dive at Tabaiba, but after a couple of Lewis’s Advanced Dives we realized that it was too much of a surge to dive. We drove over to Abades to see if the conditions were better, but unfortunately to choppy waters there as well. Either way it was a fun road trip, singing in the car and Alan and I had a dance session in the car park.

Friday we had a PADI Open Water student. Flounder and I went to the pool with them, and as Randall and Mick did the confines we practiced skills. I’m so glad my skills are improving! And in all the seriousness, it is so much fun! Kit set up and speeches before skills are so hard, it’s like learning a new language. Submersible-pressure-gauge-low-pressure-inflator-hose, tongue-rolling words right there!

After work we went to the Americans flat to make tacos and played beer pong! That game is so much fun, and the first run I had beginners luck out of another world! Alan and Steve are leaving us on Tuesday. It’s going to be sad to see them go, and hopefully I will visit them in America at some point!

Divemaster Internship in Tenerife? 100% yes

Date: July 20, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

My eighth and final week in Tenerife has been full of bittersweet feelings.
On one hand I cannot wait to head back home, but on the other hand I am going to miss the people, places, and especially the diving!
We had the chance to deep dive Tabaiba for the last time. We had planned to dive at night at Tabaiba to complete one of our favorite customers, Lewis, PADI advanced open water course. Unfortunately the current at the dive sight was too strong so we had to cancel the night dive.

Outside of the dive shop, we had time this weekend to soak up the sun at one of our favorite beaches in El Medano. When we arrived at the beach, the water was completely filled with kite surfers and large waves. It was so much fun trying to body surf in the waves while avoiding being run over by all the surfers. After the beach session we walked to Flashpoint where we devoured the best cheeseburgers we have found on the island.

It is a sad feeling having to pack up all my dive equipment. I know when I get home I will have a few more months of diving, but the water there does not compare to the water we have been spoiled to dive in for the past two months.

The time has flown by, every dive and every person I have met here will leave a lasting memory. I would recommend this internship to any water lover who wishes to enjoy eight weeks of fun, sun, and excellent diving!

Scuba Diving – Learning a new language!

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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This week has been hot and sunny! Lewis decided to continue his diving education and we went to Alcalà to do his Navigation and Peak Performance Buoyancy. As always he did a good job and we enjoyed looking at the two turtles that lives there. Both very curious! Alcalà is such a good dive site with deep water entry and cool rock formations with vibrant aquatic life!

Thursday we were supposed to go for a night dive at Tabaiba, but after a couple of Lewis’s Advanced Dives we realized that it was too much of a surge to dive. We drove over to Abades to see if the conditions were better, but unfortunately to chappy waters there as well. Either way it was a fun road trip, singing in the car and Alan and I had a dance session in the car park.

Time to leave Tenerife :(

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

And so my final week here at Dive and Sea Tenerife has come to an end :(. I have learned so much and my diving has gone from amateur to professional. The people that I’ve met and the places that I’ve been I will always keep with me for the rest of my life. Im definitely going to miss Tenerife!

Alright so anyway my last week here has been pretty fun got to do my last dives a tabaiba which made me very happy! The first dives where with Richie who was a PADI divemaster back in the mid 90′s, his bouyancy was awesome. We then went to back to tabaiba to do Lewis’s deep, wreck, and night dives for his advanced course. Unfortunately though we had to cancel the night dive due to a current and bad vis, but its always better to be safe than sorry.

Overall this internship has been amazing. The people that I’ve met here I plan on staying in contact forever, we’ve had so many good memories. And hopefully we can go on dive trips together in the future.

Ill miss el medano beach and the burgers at flashpoint. Ill miss the night life at las americas and of course I will miss all of the diving here. Even though its the end of my internship in Tenerife, it is only the beginning of my journey with scuba diving. I’ll miss you all……………. Alan out!

Have you checked out our Special Offers for July yet?

Date: July 18, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

We have got some fantastic special offers for you in July 2014!

Want to know what’s down deep?
The PADI Deep Diver Speciality will show you how to do it safely and also have some fun for only 225€

Already an Open Water diver?
The PADI Advanced course will open up new possibilities for you.
PADI Advanced Open Water Course 250€

Do you just want to go diving? We have it covered. 4 dives for only 120 euro.

These offers are available throughout June and can also be booked in June and taken at a later date.

PADI Divemaster— Yes Me a Divemaster

Date: July 14, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

I can officially check off all the requirements needed to become a PADI certified Divemaster!
I had the pleasure to complete my 60th dive at one of my favorite sites, Abades, where we took our young PADI open water student Lewis. I have to say, it was a rewarding feeling to see Lewis complete his open water course, because just two weeks prior we were taking him on his first ever dive as a Discover Scuba Diving participant.
It was a very gratifying moment to see a customer start with no idea what to expect when it comes to recreational diving, and then to watch them transform and fall in love with the sport.
This week also concluded the FIFA World Cup Finals. Being one of the few Americans to enjoy watching the event back home, it was really neat to witness the event abroad. After work, all the interns met up at a bar in the local town of San Blas to watch the showdown. The atmosphere was unlike any I have experienced previously when it comes to watching football. The only disappointment was watching Argentina lose.
It’s a bittersweet time for me right now to only have one week left for my internship. I know I will be happy when I am back home, but at the same time it is hard not to miss such a beautiful place and all the great people I will have to leave behind. So for now, I plan to make the most out of these last days and bring home some awesome memories of working here in Tenerife with Dive and Sea Tenerife!

My best Turtle impression ever!

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Diving-Tenerife-Moray-Eels-Fangtooth-Dive-And-Sea-Divemaster

This week has been so exciting! It started off with Lewis who took his PADI Open Water Course with us and he did so well!

So much fun to see how he just mastered the skills and got so comfortable in the water!

Also, I got my first taste of the life of being a PADI Divemaster! A couple from England did a DSD with us and I helped through the whole process! I learned so much that day!

Friday, it was time for Lewis’s Open Water dives 4-5 and we went to Montaña Amarilla (Yellow Mountain) it is a great dive site with really cool rock formations! Can’t wait to go back and explore even more.

And little did I know what Sunday was going to be like… Stamina day! I never minded lifting weights, but hardcore stamina it’s just very tiring! We started off the day skills in the pool. It’s just hilarious how I look whilst doing the Hover! Like a turtle on its back!

Hopefully I will manage to turn over at some point! Haha! So now I’ve just started my 4th week and I’m getting better at my skills and swimming! One happy diver! Ciao!

Ollie

Turtles, Tenerife and Tears….. almost

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

7 Weeks in Tenerife and t-minus 7 days until the end of my diving internship :-(.
I can’t believe that I am almost done, I’ve done so much in these past 7 weeks but it seems like such a short time. But on the positive side I Alan am now officially, well at least on paper, a PADI Divemaster!!! Oh snap!!

Its a pretty good feeling if I have to say so myself. So besides Steve and I becoming Divemasters, this week was pretty interesting. I got to dive with Lewis on his first and second open water dives on Tuesday, he is a natural underwater.
We then went to El Puertito with two sisters from Singapore, to see the turtles. At the end of the second dive, which I was leading, one of the sisters had trouble equalizing and I had to help her swim back to shore. In that moment I truly felt like an actual Divemaster.
On Friday we took Lewis to Yellow Mountain to complete his open waters four and five, which he did great on. He then passed his exam, and we welcomed him to the ranks as a certified diver!

Overall a great week! Now on to my last and final week at Dive and Sea Tenerife. I miss my home and my family, but I feel like I’ve made a home and a family here. Alright no more sentimental talk right now, I’ll leave that for my last blog. On to week number 8!

Diing with Turtles in Tenerife? We have it covered

Date: July 7, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

I like to think of this week as the week of the turtles! I had the privilege to go on three turtle dive trips, two to the infamous El Puertitio (a.k.a. El Puerturtleo) site, and one at another site called Alcala.
The dive site at Alcala was a very fun trip because none of us had ever dived there before. After getting lost on our road trip, we finally found our destination tucked into one of the nicest little towns I have seen on Tenerife. After first walking the beach of the new site and starting to build a reasonable dive plan for the site, we happened to come across a few divers just about to enter the water. We asked them a few quick questions about the schematics and were more than happy to find out that there lived a few large green sea turtles in the area! We enthusiastically got kitted up and made our way to a pier toward the end of the beach and entered the new site using a deep water entry technique. Using our knowledge of underwater navigation we took a tour of the entire dive site by circling its entire circumference. And right when we were headed back to shore we saw the biggest green sea turtle I have yet to see on the island!
Unlike at El Puertito, this turtle was not very curious about us divers, but he didn’t seem to mind when we followed him around a few rocks as he grazed on some algae. Even though this story seems to be the highlight of my week, there was still something better that topped it.
The next day at the El Puertito site we entered the water around 9 am, and just five minutes down we happened to cross paths with the biggest and most mature green sea turtle known to inhabit the area. As usual the turtle made his rounds, inspecting each diver carefully for any signs of a free breakfast. But after realizing we had no food to offer, the turtle uncharacteristically swam about us for what seemed like half an hour. We were very spoiled on this dive, the turtle was having fun swimming along with us, we found a good sized octopus hidden amongst the rocks, and I was fortunate enough to bring my Go Pro to capture most of the dive on video!
So if your looking to go diving with Turtles, Tenerife is the place!
I have to say that has been my best dive since being here, but I am still optimistic that with 2 weeks still to go I will have a chance for even more amazing dives!

Diving with the Turtles in Tenerife

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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Alright so Alan’s blog week number six at the wonderful dive shop, here on the beautiful island of Tenerife.

So this week diving wise has been the week of el puertito. We started off the week on monday diving with Patrick and James on their last dive with us, for now at least.

Randall did a great job leading the first dive, and then he gave me the task of leading the second! I feel so much more confident with it all, like the dive briefing and the underwater navigation.

Later on in the week we went back to el puertito with an open water diver who’s name was Fabio. He’s from Italy and only had a few dives under his belt but was still good. The first dive was the best dive that I’ve had at the site. We had a turtle follow us for a half hour and wouldn’t leave us alone, it was a great opportunity for pictures!

Friday we went to the boat. It was sad seeing it out of the water and with one of its sides deflated but we where able to clean the underside of it and get it just a little closer to going back into the water.

The rest of the week was full of administration work, which is good to get that kind of experience of the dive industry.
I ended the week with 57 dives and I need 60 to be a Divemaster!

Ahhh I’m soooo close!! I can’t wait to be a PADI professional, it has been a dream of mine for quite some time. Bring on week number 7!!

Tenerife, Turtles and fun :)

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Finally, I feel like I know where everything is and the routines in the shop.

This week has been a bit different from the first one.
We had to say goodbye to Patrick and his son James. It was sad to see them go,

I’ve learned so much from Patrick! He is such a good instructor and a very nice guy. Hopefully I get to dive with him again one day!
We did a very exciting dive at Alcalà! We had never been exploring this particular dive site before, so we had heaps of fun looking at a nice reef and two turtles.
I tried to do my swim (400m) in the pool. But I think karma decided I was not going to do it that day.First the goggles didn’t work properly so my contacts fell out, and second my towel flew in the pool and got soaked!

Sunday we had a productive day! I was observing Randall and Flounder doing confined skills with Louis who is going to do his PADI Open Water certification with us. He did so well and it’s going to be a thrill being a part of his open water dives too!
After the pool session, Flounder and I did some skills I need to know for my PADI Divemaster. Finally I feel like my skills are improving!

We finished off the week by learning knots from Randall in the sun. So nice to be able to work outside!
It’s all been a good week and I’m very excited for the next one to start!

Ollie

Turtles in Tenerife? Just a few!

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week was probably one of the best i’ve had in a while, 2 days at El puertito and one day at another dive site at Alcala.
Let’s start with El Puertito, we went out for two dives with an Italian man named Fabio, the first dive was without a doubt on my top 5 dives i’ve ever done, within five minutes we were ambushed by a turtle, not even 2 minutes after that we found an octopus, my favourite thing ever, the turtle was centimetres away from me but all my focus was on the octopus, I could of stayed there for hours watching it, but we moved on to quickly find a second turtle, the daddy of the family, papa turtle stayed with us for the whole dive, I was so happy.
The second dive was also fantastic, I took my torch and I was looking under every rock and ledge and found some sea hares, some brittle stars, which are kind of like starfish on redbull. It was a great day and Fabio enjoyed it as much as us.
We also went to a little town called Alcala, about 15 minutes after El puertito, and a beautiful place. We soon found out that some turtles live there, so we set of to try and find them. After looking around for about 15 minutes we still couldn’t find any, my hopes were wearing thin. But on the far side of the bay, we came across a huge green turtle, way bigger than any I have ever seen, I would of screamed with joy if not underwater. We stayed with the marine giant for about ten minutes watching it feed and move around so gracefully, and then we left.
We want to go back there to explore some more and find all the other wonders hiding under the ocean.
The rest of the week went as usual, cleaning kit, maintenance, admin, etc
On sunday, my first PADI Open water student came in to do his confined dives, I was very exited and a little stressed, but once in the water I remembered everything I was taught and it went really smoothly from then on.
Im looking forward to doing his open water dives, and to anyone out there who would also like to explore the magical place we spend most of our day’s, come to Tenerife,, it’s worth it.

Final stretch to PADI Divemaster

Date: June 30, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

On my final stretch until Divemaster status! With only 8 more dives to go,
I have completed all the other water skills and prerequisites. One of the last requirements I had to complete was a mapping activity where Alan and I were able to reconstruct the two reefs at the Abades dive site.
Each of us took turns taking underwater bearings using our compasses and depth readings off our dive computer while the other calculated distances using kick cycles. It was amazing how accurate of a map we created after only two map dives at the Abades reef.
Other exciting news this week included two birthdays. Outside of the dive shop we celebrated by having a fun night out at El Medano.
I also had another opportunity this week to descend on the Tabaiba shipwreck the same as last week, descending straight down to the deepest depths of about 28 meters. This time was better however because the visibility had improved and we had an extended bottom time to explore the wreck.
Another sad ending to the week was saying our goodbyes to instructor Patrick. Alan and I were both very lucky to have such an able and fun instructor and its obvious how improved my underwater skills have become under his instruction.
Although I am now more than halfway through my internship, I am still excited to finish with as much fun and intensity as I started this internship!

Dolphins 6 millions years older than thought!!

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Dolphins swam the oceans six MILLION years earlier than originally thought, ancient skull reveals

Studies of a skull fragment have revealed it to be from an ancient dolphin
Research was led by Mizuki Murakami of the Waseda University in Japan
The fossil was first found in 1970 but its origin has only just been revealed
It belonged to a species of dolphin that existed up to 13 million years ago
The finding makes dolphins 6 million years older than previously thought
Names Eodelphis kabatensis the species is an important evolutionary link

Dolphins may have been swimming the Earth’s oceans for six million years longer than previously thought, suggests a new study.
They are the most diverse family of living marine mammals and include species such as the Bottlenose dolphin and the killer whale.
However, their early evolution and fossil record has been steeped in mystery due to lack of good specimens.
Now a new study, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, has re-described the oldest species of dolphin with a new name: Eodelphis kabatensis.
Although the partial skull was previously described in the 1970s, researchers behind the new paper say the scientific community largely overlooked it.
And the new re-description has important implications for the evolutionary history of dolphins.

Goodbye old friend , Welcome to Tenerife

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Well I am definitely excited to say that at the start of my 5th week, here at Dive and Sea Tenerife, I passed my Divemaster exam!!! Whoooo!!!

Now all I have to do is get my dive count up and I’ll be a Divemaster.

So this week was a week filled with diving. We started off with two great dives at Tabaiba doing Patrick’s son James’s advanced open water dives. And then throughout the middle of the week we did four dives at Abades, and then ending a another two dives in Tabaiba.

Also this week we welcomed a new intern, Ollie. She’s from Norway and speaks English very well and fits in perfectly with the rest of the team.

But as we gain one intern we lose another. This was Buzz’s last week at the dive shop and I was so sad to see him go, he became a very good friend and I look forward to diving with him in the future.

Well now its on to my sixth week here and my last week as a rescue diver!

40 Dives already :)

Date: June 23, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

So glad to announce I have successfully reached the 40 dive mark here in Tenerife!
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.

PADI Rescue Diver………. Almost a Divemaster!

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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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 an Open Water diver to a 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!

Tenerife is such an awesome Island to visit, there is just so much to do and see. We all know the diving is great, but with so many other things to do, there is just not enough hours in the day!

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 exam 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!!

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

Date: June 16, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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 PADI 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!

Tenerife, not just diving, but sight seeing

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Alright, so week three of my of my Divemaster internship has just come to an end and I’m already a PADI Rescue diver!

I am definitely excited about that and I can’t believe that I have come this far in such a short time.

Randall did an excellent job instructing Steve and myself on our confined rescue dive scenerio while patrick supervised. Buzz did an excellent job playing the role of an panicked diver even though he had a big grin on his face the entire time.

Later in the week we did a bunch of excellent diving at Abades and Las Eras taking Terry and Andy with us. Terry is a rescue diver who used to be an intern here, and we were taking Andy on his five adventure dives to become a PADI Advanced open water diver.

On Sunday we had a day off and Patrick drove Steve, Buzz, Flounder, and myself up to the top Mount Teide to do some site seeing.

It is absolutely beautiful and humbling to see just how big that mountain really is. So over all it has been another amazing week in Tenerife with excellent diving and excellent people. Now its time to work on what I came here to do, become a Divemaster.

5 reasons why Nudibranchs aren’t boring

Date: June 11, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

For some reason, Nudibranchs – also known as sea slugs – are often associated with being boring. Maybe that’s due to their land counterparts, the slug, but more than likely it’s because divers just don’t know enough about these incredible creatures which can be seen in Tenerife.

Here are just five reasons why nudibranchs deserve extra appreciation:

1. There are over 3,000 species
Every new nudibranch you see on a dive will be a completely different experience. That’s because there are over 3,000 species of nudibranchs and there are still more being discovered today. Nudibranchs can be seen in a wide variety of colours, shapes and sizes, and are found in both cold and warm waters across the world. In Tenerife we regularly see around 15 different variations.

2. Nudibranchs are toxic
Divers don’t have to worry about nudibranchs being poisonous, but predators do. Since they lack any protective shell, nudibranchs send warning signals that let other animals know they might be toxic to help keep enemies at bay.

3. They change colour based on their diet
Nudibranchs are carnivores and eat other small animals such as hydroids, sponges, anemones and barnacles. But, what makes the nudibranch unusual is that they often adopt the colour of their prey, leaving them looking brilliant, colourful and perfect for photos!

4. Nudibranchs are hermaphrodites
Although they don’t usually self-reproduce, nudibranchs possess both female and reproductive organs. This means that any nudibranch can mate with any other nudibranch of the same species, rather than being limited to male or female partners only – a nifty trait which makes it easier for them to reproduce.

5. They leave a slimy trail
As nudibranchs move across the ocean floor with their foot, they leave a trail of slime behind. This slime trail actually serves a clever purpose – it communicates messages to other nudibranchs, such as where to find a mate or that danger is nearby.

As you can see, nudibranchs are far from boring. In fact, they’re really quite interesting!

Night diving is the most amazing experience

Date: June 9, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

The most exciting part of my week was becoming certified as a PADI Advanced Open Water diver!
During the process I was fortunate enough to dive a new site, Las Eras, where we saw a huge grouper lounging underneath one of the rocks.
Later on we saw some Scorpion fish and loads of jelly fish on my fish identification dive at Abades.

But by far the best dive of the week was at Tabaiba. Seeing the beautiful shipwreck during the day was amazing, but being able to explore the same site at night was the most incredible underwater adventure I’ve been on.
After descending with the lights off in the pitch black, then turning on our torches at the bottom of the ocean, I honestly had the feeling of being an astronaut exploring a strange planet in outer space!
If you havent tried night diving, you REALLY must, its just fantastic!

The more dives I accumulate, the better I get at recognizing the wide array of marine fishes in the area.
Pretty soon I will be confident enough to know all the usual fish we see at the dive sites.
I cannot wait to continue on to become a Rescue diver next week. The more I dive, the more I want to get back in the water and explore!

2nd Week in Tenerife and loving the diving

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Hey everybody Alan here again,

I can now say that after my second week here with the team, I am officially a PADI Advanced open water diver!

The dive instructor here, Patrick, has been extremely helpful in guiding me and my co-intern steve through the dives that we needed to complete the course.

As usual the dive sites and visibility have been incredible here in Tenerife. We got to dive a new dive site, well to us anyway, in Las Eras which is a deeper dive to about 25 meters with beautiful boulders and rock formations.

The amount of trumpet fish we saw there was incredible. We got to dive my favorite site again, it’s a ship wreck off of Tabaiba which is also a deep dive to 30 meters.

Now all me and my friend Steve have to do is finish our PADI Rescue divers course and then it will be time to work on our Divemasters.

I’m so looking forward to the remaining six weeks here with good friends, nice people, and of course incredible diving.

Summer has arrived in Tenerife :)

Date: June 8, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Thinking about getting away from it all?
Get over to Tenerife, the temperature is a glorious 28 degrees with low humidity and the water temperature is around 22.
With perfect diving weather and so much more to do in Tenerife it is the ideal holiday solution.
Need help with accommodation and excursions? Just ask and we will arrange everything for you.

Dive and Sea Tenerife Newsletter May 2012

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Diving Newsletter for May 2012

Hello EveryoneI hope that you have all had an enjoyable month.

Here at Dive and Sea we have welcomed back the lovely hot summer weather of Tenerife and the water temperature is heating up nicely!!

We have been busy meeting our new Divemaster intern and new divers to our centre, and as always a pleasure to welcoming back familiar faces.

I hope that you are all keeping updated with Facebook as well as website news.

Project AWARE Dive Against Debris

We had the most wonderful dive against debris not only could George, Melissa and Chris pat themselves on the back for the two large bags of debris collected at Pequeno Valle but on their ascent they were surrounded by a pod of 4 Dolphins, it was an amazing experience and I am sure the Dolphins were thanking us for tidying their sea up! I think the dolphin looks like it is smiling at us!!

After this wonderful experience we were off to continue our good work at Starfish bay culling more Urchins..

The next Dive Against Debris and Urchin Culling dive will be at the end of June, any one interested in participating please contact melissa@diveandseatenerife.com

Summer Special Offer

Discover Scuba Diving

Including 1 open water dive is now discounted from 90 Euros to 70 Euros
Including 2 open water dives is now discounted from 110 Euros to 90 Euros

Is the first introduction into Scuba Diving, anyone from age 10 upwards can join in this experience. With this you can dive with a PADI professional to a maximum of 12 meters for 1 year. It can also be added towards the PADI Scuba Diver or PADI Open Water qualification

The Discover Scuba Diving experience normally lasts for one morning. First of all you watch the Discover Scuba Diving DVD, then we get straight on to the pool session where you will learn some of the basic scuba diving skills and become comfortable with your scuba diving equipment. Then its off to the ocean to come and meet the fish! There is so much to see in Tenerife

Divemaster Update

It was all go last month, following the successful completion of their divemaster course Zippy and bungle started on the Assistant instructor course, they were joined by Jackie from Teide Divers. All of the candidates performed brilliantly and it was huge sign of relief when they passed all their presentations and exams.
Well done to all three of you. Below proudly showing off their new Assistant Instructor T shirts!!!

We said a sad farewell to George and Chris a hard act for new intern Aaron to follow but I am sure he will excel during their internship.

We welcomed Aaron from California who has managed to gain himself a whole variety of nicknames starting with Canadian Dave and I think we have finally settled after much debate on Juan! Juan has joined us as an Open Water diver and whilst he is here for his 8 week induction he will be completing his Master Scuba Diver Certification, with Navigation, Boat, Fish ID, Deep and Search and Recovery Specialties as well as his Divemaster Internship.

Aaron worked hard all month, and is just getting to the last items on his divemaster internship he managed to improve his stamina and got great scores on all of them, despite the stress and studying for his Divemaster exams he did really well.

Watch this space or log onto their blog for more regular information.

We are looking forward to welcoming the summer interns arriving in to start mid June, Will, Geoff, Jamie, Alex, Matt and Foster more info about them next month.

Diving Knife – Equipment information and review

Of all the equipment you carry with you as a diver, your knife looks like the simplest one. But you’ll soon discover that it has many purposes.

Perhaps the most important purpose of a diving knife is that it gives you the ability to cut yourself or your buddy free, if you’d get entangled under water. Therefore it is recommended that you always have your diving knife with you whilst you are diving.

Another purpose for your diving knife is specific to the local area of Tenerife. You can use your knife to help the environment, by killing Black Long-spined Sea Urchins. Unfortunately, Black Long-spined Sea Urchins are now abundant in the Canary Islands, and take over much of the habitat of other species. The diving community requests every diver to help maintain control the number of Black Long-spined Sea Urchins in the waters surrounding the Canary Islands, so that the habitat will be given back to the native species.

One great value dive knife is the Aqualung Zak, 45 Euros. The blade is made from stainless specifically designed for the marine environment, with a blade length of 10 cm perfect for Urchin culls.

Dive Site Review ~ Poco Naufragio – Kim Timmers

Poco Naufragio is a beautiful dive site in the south of Tenerife. ‘Poco Naufragio’ means ‘small shipwreck’. It’s not just the name, and the wreck that would make you curious about diving at this dive site. It’s THE place to see one of the most intriguing creatures of the ocean: Stingrays. The Stingrays can get up to four meters wide, even without their tail. Poco Naufragio is only a few minutes from the marina.

When you following the line down, you’ll find that it is attached to a block of concrete, that is placed on a shelf. The shelf houses many different species of aquatic life, and is semi-circular shaped. Some of the species you’ll find on the shelf are Moray Eels, Arrow Crabs, Scorpion fish, Lizard fish and an occasional Stingray.

You could dive while staying on the shelf throughout the dive, and not go below 18 meters. If your certification level allows you to go deeper, than you can descent further, next to the shelf, and visit the wreck itself. The wreck is found on a sand bottom, and is about 4 meters long. The Stingrays that live in the area, are usually seen near the wreck, but they do occasionally visit the shelf as well. Stingrays are commonly sighted at Poco Naufragio, but it’s never a guarantee to see them, as they are wild animals. This only adds to the excitement of this dive site, because you never know what to expect.

Divemaster Internship

We are now running our 8 week internship from the 1st of every calendar month, the next start date available is 1st July 2012.

We provide all the training for FREE, however there are costs involved with regards PADI materials, diving insurance, accommodation & equipment.

During your time with us you will learn to be a dive guide and teaching assistant. You will also learn how to interact with clients and students as well as various aspects of sales, customer services, equipment maintenance and obviously diving lots!

All diving is FREE for the whole duration you are with us we guarantee you that you will do a minimum of 60 Dives, some of our interns manage over 100 dives!

As the longest running, and only 5 Star PADI Dive centre in the area, (1 of only 4 in Tenerife) and number 1 in the PADI Rankings for the Golf Del Sur / Amarilla Golf regions of Tenerife 2009 / 2010 / 2011, we ensure you will have a great time and give you loads of assistance during your course.

Our PADI Dive Centre has trained more Divemasters than any other centre in the area and the majority have gone on to use the qualification for employment in some form or for continuing their education.

Some are now working DM’s others continued on to be PADI Instructors and one is even working as a Dolphin Trainer!

We have additional discounts on accommodation for multiple bookings i.e.. couples / friends /Clubs / Groups

Not PADI certified, don’t worry, as there are crossovers for all levels of BSAC, SSAC, CMAS, FEDAS, SSI, NAUI, SAA, SCOT SAC etc, so just let us know what agency and what level you are and we will tell you the next PADI level required.

If you wish to apply for the internship please send your CV and a photograph with your preferred dates and also letting us know where you found out about us.

We are also able to offer the following PADI courses / internships to better enhance your work opportunities and diving experiences;

PADI Master Scuba Diver
PADI Assistant Instructor
PADI Instructor
Pre-Instructor Development Course

If you have any questions take the opportunity to check out our web page.

Or our new Divemaster Intern Blog

Dive and Sea Tenerife Newsletter April 2012

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Scuba Diving in Tenerife ~ April Newsletter

Hello again,

Another month has flown by, we have had a terrific month here at Dive and Sea Tenerife, we enjoyed a busy Easter.

Divemaster Internship Updates

All of our Interns have had another busy month here at dive and Sea Tenerife, firstly Kim (Alice) newly certified Divemaster finally went back to Holland!She still did not want to leave despite an additional 5 weeks here. Alice was heartily disappointed that she was unable to complete her Assistant instructor on this Internship as she has not been a certified diver for 6 months. Kim plans to return at the end of the year to complete her PADI Assistant Instructor course, so we look forward to welcoming her back.

Congratulations to Alice for getting herself a fabulous divemaster Job in Gran canaria we all wish her well.

Congratulations, also, to Chris who has worked really hard this month, and completed his Divemaster certification. Chris has become a true professional in the last 6 weeks, and next onto his PADI Assistant Instructor Course. Watch this space.

And Congratulations to George who has also passed his Divemaster certification not only in record time but also gave us a lot of laughs along the way.

George is also studying hard for the PADI Assistant Instructor course.

We all wish them well and they will be joined by Jackie from Teide Divers as well.

We are looking forward to welcoming Aaron and Carl at the beginning of May.

Aaron joins us all the way from California… jet lagged is how he will spend his first few days I think!

Carl has joined us on his year out from university studying Marine Biology to complete his Divemaster Course and also the PADI Assistant Instructor Course.

Dive Site Review ~ The Pipeline Las Eras – Chris Archer

This Shore dive site is a recent discovery and a very interesting dive. You enter from the shore and then swim out to the right hand side, before descending into 6 metres of water. Close to this point is a pipe that tracks from shore out into deep waters, which is encased in pre-cast concrete blocks. As with everything that has been in the ocean for some time, the blocks have become homes for plenty of aquatic life, with the gaps in the blocks providing excellent hiding places for species such as Scorpion Fish, Octopus, Rays and Canarian Lobsters.

Following along the pipe into 14 metres of water gives you ample opportunity to peek into the gaps in and around the blocks, finding beautiful underwater beings such as Nudibranch, Starfish and Sea Hares.

With a clear path along the pipe and shallower depths, this site is perfect for divers of all experience levels. Underwater photographers will have great colourful opportunities and all divers who appreciate great dive sites are sure to enjoy it.

Equipment Information ~ Neoprene Dive Socks – Kim Timmers

Feeling a little cold on your dive, but don’t want the added expense of purchasing a new thicker wetsuit?

There are a number of inexpensive options that you can consider, neoprene socks, gloves, rash vest or ice vest.

Here I am going to discuss neoprene socks……….

Dive socks are made of neoprene and you wear them inside your boots, they are really stretchy and easy to put on and take off. As I am sure you all know you lose most of the heat from your extremities, so making sure your feet are nice and warm during the dive will help you stay warmer for longer.

Dive socks come in a range of sizes and thicknesses so always make sure that you try the socks on under your boots before purchase to ensure a comfortable fit, its all very well having nice warm feet, but not at the expense of making your boots tight and uncomfortable. Another added bonus of dive socks is that they prevent your boots or fins rubbing your feet preventing blisters or bruising.

Dive sock prices differ depending on thickness and make but can cost from as little as 12 Euros.

Continuing your Scuba Diving Education – George Rudge

As a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver you might be thinking where can I go from here to continue my recreational training!

There are several options that you can explore. You can of course progress onto the PADI Rescue Diver training or you can choose from a list of specialities and concentrate on a particular area of diving.

Did you know that your Advanced Diving dives can be counted towards completing a speciality Diving course?

For example, if on your PADI Advanced Diver Course you opted to do Peak Performance Buoyancy, Drift Diver and Boat Diver all you need to do is complete one more dive in these areas to turn them into a Speciality.

If you have already completed one Adventure dive this discounts the price of the speciality by 40 Euros. So you could have a speciality for as little as 107 Euros.

Here at Dive and Sea Tenerife we can offer you a range of different specialties, one of the most frequently taken Specialities is the Peak Performance Buoyancy speciality.

This gives you dedicated dive time to practise obtaining perfect buoyancy as well as additional knowledge to aid your buoyancy control.

The course can be completed in as little as one day or two dives and for only €147.

Divemaster Internship

We are now running our 6 or 8 week internship from the 1st of every calendar month, the next start date available is 1st July 2012.

The minimum time required for a non certified diver or Open Water diver with less than 20 dives is 8 weeks.

We provide all the training for FREE, however there are costs involved with regards PADI materials, diving insurance, accommodation & equipment.

All diving is FREE for the whole duration you are with us, some of our interns manage over 100 dives!

Our PADI Dive centre has trained more Divemasters than any other centre in the area and the majority have gone on to use the qualification for employment in some form or for continuing their education.

Some are now working DM’s others continued on to be PADI Instructors and one is even working as a Dolphin Trainer!

We have additional discounts on accommodation for multiple bookings i.e.. couples / friends /Clubs / Groups.

If you wish to apply for the internship please send your CV and a photograph with your preferred dates and also letting us know where you found out about us.

We are also able to offer the following PADI courses / internships to better enhance your work opportunities and diving experiences;

PADI Master Scuba Diver

PADI Assistant Instructor

PADI Instructor

Pre-Instructor Development Course

If you have any questions take the opportunity to check out our web page.https://www.diveandseatenerife.com/Diving_Internships.htmor Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife/122027224542597

Amazing first week in Tenerife

Date: June 2, 2014 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Upon arriving at my new home for the next 8 weeks (Dive and Sea Tenerife), my buddy Nate and I were greeted at the shop by Buzz and were given our new names.
Now known as Steve, and Nate as Alan, we were given a tour of the beautiful diving facilities, shown our new ride, and taken to our big apartment.

Things kicked off the next day when we took our first dive trip to El Puertito where the sun was shining, the water was clear, and I met my first Sea turtle!
I was amazed at how comfortable these massive sea turtles were with the divers in the water, they came right up close to investigate because they have very poor vision.

Things were even more amazing the next day when we were given the opportunity to dive our first deep water ship wreck! At Tabaiba, I dove deeper than I’ve ever gone – 30 metres!
We were lucky enough to have great visibility and I recorded the dive with my first Go Pro video. I can honestly say that things have turned out better than I could have ever asked for so far on this trip.

I would recommend to anyone who enjoys the underwater to take a trip and dive with the friendly staff here at Dive and Sea Tenerife.