Articles tagged with: PADI Divemaster internship Tenerife

Dive addiction and cool divers

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

Hi, my name is Fatin. I am a dive addict. And the only therapy I’m getting is to continue my addiction.

Started from an insecure diver, I blossomed to a confident divemaster through the span of the 8-weeks long Divemaster internship, with the guidance of the instructors, Divemasters and Interns.
The weather of Tenerife, the divers, the dive sites and the crew are the main reasons for me to extend my internship for another 3 weeks to gain more experience as a Divemaster before I wake up to reality.

Another dive-a-licious week with awesome divers like Richard, Maggie and Tony. It was my first time leading dives and being in-charge of the dive logistic/itinerary. In the beginning, it was super nerve-wrecking because I was used to following everyone else. But after the first time, leading is actually very fun and satisfying. Also, it helps knowing there are others interns to back me up.

This week also marks the first week of two new interns. Pretty cool divers who will definitely blossom into awesome divermasters within the next 6 weeks. Can’t wait to see their progression!

Hello new interns, you seen my diving knife?

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

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When you say something over and over again, you start believing it, and I am starting to believe I am really a Starfish, a brainless creature, but still a pretty sight.

This week, I have been leaving breadcrumbs around the different dive sites in Tenerife; my dive knife and my starfish earring. After my rampage of killing black longspine urchins during the first dive of the fateful Wednesday, I didn’t clip my dive knife properly, and it decided to move from my handle to the reef.
On the second dive, everyone else was involved in the massacre operation of the black spines, while I was desperately searching for other signs of life to keep me preoccupied. It was such a bleak day. And then on Sunday, my earring got stuck on my BCD and then fell into the rocky reef, making it difficult for me to retrieve.
Moral of the story: be a zombie and get myself some brains.

On a serious note, this week was a time for both a goodbye and some hellos.

Paul left us to return back to reality. It was an awesome dive-alicious week with him and the crew. Just the 5 of us, hitting dive sites and creating bubbles underwater. We explored a new dive site for me called “El Poris”, a beautiful rock wall dive, where we saw a sleeping cuttlefish, several moray eels, octopuses and a Virgin Mary statue underwater. We are going to miss him.

Two new interns, Abu and Flo, just arrived over the weekend, can’t wait to meet and work with them!

Done it, Im a PADI Divemaster………. Whats next?

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

I AM FINALLY A DIVEMASTER!!

I would like to thank my family, friends, motley crew on the Divemaster internship for believing in me: The Instructors, Divemaster, interns. Couldn’t have done this without you lot.

*Takes a bow, awaiting for endless applause and showers of red roses*

Frankly, once everything is accomplished and after the momentarily feeling of accomplishment, the “meh” blank expression slowly settled in. To put in a cliché manner, it is like the three stages of mountain climbing.

Stage 1: Self- doubt. At the foot of the mountain, you look up and question yourself whether you are crazy and whether or not it is possible to conquer it.
Stage 2: Giving up. Half way up the mountain, panting and out of breath, pain surging through your entire being, you look up thinking whether this pain is worth it to continue on, and then look down thinking it is much easier to go back down.
Stage 3. Accomplishment. At the top, you scream “I DID IT!!” and happy thoughts of having conquered causing you to have a permanent goofy grin on your face. After a couple of deep breaths and moments of enjoying the view, you wonder what’s next. This needs some time to figure out.

Apart from the grimness, it was an awesome week diving. Great customers, crystal clear visibility and amazing sea animals. Managed to spot giant stingrays, octopuses, arrow crabs and high-5ed a green turtle.

Fatin

Eagle rays, Austrailian interns and Broken Vans

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.

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

Helping with new divers

Date: January 3, 2015 Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

This week started off with me in the pool watching Lee the instructor, whilst he was teaching two new Open Water students, Anglo-Hungarians named Lily and Daniel.
It was my first experience of watching real students as a Divemaster intern and I learned a lot about positioning, my role as an assistant and how to deal with problems both in the pool and in open water from Lee and from watching the students.
Tuesday saw me go out to Yellow Mountain for the first time with the two students on their first two open water dives. Aside from a few equalising and buoyancy issues, I think both of them did very well.
Wednesday saw me dive Alien Rock and the Swimthrough of Yellow Mountain and I have to say I really like the swim through dive, especially looking inside and seeing all the colourful coral inside.
Thursday was an office day that mostly consisted of me and Dudley painstakingly cleaning the floor thoroughly, but on the plus side I did manage to get my 400m swim down to 9:00 minutes!
Friday saw me do three dives, one at Poco (no rays this time but big barracuda and triggerfish were there as usual), Pequeño Valley. Both of which were led by Flo and on both occasions they were lead well. The third dive was at El Puertito and I had the privilege of getting close to the turtles for the second time, but this time with all three of them!
Saturday saw all of us, including Flo’s friends, go on a 4.5 hour whale spotting catamaran at a 55% discount, where we came close to a pod of about 20 pilot whales and a pod of bottlenose dolphins, topped with unlimited drinks and free food. Safe to say fun was had by all involved.
Finally, Sunday saw the arrival of two of my friends from University called Jen and Matt who were coincidentally on holiday here.
We took them along with Kevin and Geoffrey to the Steps first and then to the Yellow Mountain swim through but on the second dive I lead for the first time. Thankfully, all went swimmingly and my friends had a great time diving with us.

How did I make it to the halfway point of my internship? Where has all the time gone?!

Kiran

Week 1 of my Divemaster internship

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Hi, my name is Starfish. I am an Emergency First Responder, may I help you?”
Oh yea! I am officially qualified to give CPR during emergency situations, not that I’m going to run up to random strangers demanding whether they want to receive rescue breaths and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
This week passed by in a blur where days were melded with each other with accomplishments, new challenges and a favorite dive.
I helped with my first DSD participant, 11 year old Julien from France. Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) is basically a beginner diving course where one learns the basics and able to dive with instructor present. And it is interesting that although we had a language barrier (me in English and him in French), we communicated successfully using the universal diving sign language.
At the start of the open water dive, he had trouble with buoyancy and had to hold my hand to keep him in vertical position to fin around the reef. By the end of the day, he had the confidence to control his own buoyancy.

I am also half way through my Rescue Diver course, with two more tasks to complete and I can focus on my Divemaster course.
On the other hand, my hardest challenge yet is my physical fitness for the Divemaster course.
My usual exercise was constantly using my mouth and finger muscles, yapping away all day or typing continuously on my computer.
Now, everything will have to change. I have to work out more often and swim everyday, on top of the everyday hard-work.
So, my goal for the up-coming 6 weeks is simply to lower my timings for the stamina components. My timings so far:
400m swim- 14mins 01seconds
800m snorkel- 21mins 45seconds
100m tow- 4 mins

To wrap up the week, I managed to dive with Green Turtles!!! Not one, but THREE! I was so excited! I have seen turtles in my previous dives in Malaysia before, but they were usually disappearing in the endless blue. This time at Alcala, where the water was beautifully calm and crystal clear visibility after days of rough currents, the turtles came up close and personal with the interns, instructors and two DSD customers.
One was twice the size of a XL shirt. Such majestic and beautiful creatures. This marks my favorite dive in Tenerife so far.

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

Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver and Divemaster Courses

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

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Paul is back !! Paul is spending 2 weeks here with us doing his PADI Rescue course and some dives.
This week has also been one of the busiest i have ever had.
On monday we dived Poco naufragio and peqeño valle, and in the afternoon i did the PADI Rescue confined sessions with Paul and Seahorse, one of my favorite courses to do, and always a lot of fun.
The week continued with a PADI Advanced course with a wonderfull couple of students, Ellen and Trystan.
While continuing the PADI advanced course I started a PADI Open water diver course with Maik, a possible intern.
We flew through the week with a night dive at tabaiba to continue the advanced, then the open water dives and the last advanced dive at yellow mountain. And finally we finished the week on friday with 2 of Casandra’s friends doing Discover Scuba Diving experinces , and also finishing my open water students dives.
I spent my saturday sleeping to recover from the week, but i hope i have another week like this one, full of lovely people and great experiences.

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.

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.

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 Open Water and Advanced Courses……..

Date: July 21, 2014 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!

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!

DSD’s, Dive Sites and Divemasters

Author: Dive-And-Sea-Tenerife

Diving-Tenerife-PADI-Discover-Scuba-Diving

This week was fantastic.
On Monday we had two dsd’s at EL Puertito and they where really good, so monday was a good start to the week.
On Tuesday I did Lewis’s PADI Open water 1 and 2, he was very good in the water which made my day so much more enjoyable, the rest of the day we worked on the dvd and the book.
The next day we took two advanced divers to El puertito, one of them wanted to do the internship, it looked like she had fun so it looks like she will be doing 8 weeks of diving with us.
Thursday we took 3 DSD’s (Discover Scuba Diving) out to Abades, they all had their pro’s and con’s but a lot of fun to dive with, I hope they come back to do a course.
Friday was Lewis’s final day we went to Yellow mountain, a dive site I hadn’t done in a long time. Lewis really enjoyed it and so did I, I was very impressed by his skill’s and I have no doubt that he will be continue his diving education.
Saturday was my day off, I unfortunately did nothing, just moped around my apartment and complex for a while.
Sunday we did a pool session with Flounder and Ollie and then went down to the marina for stamina and rescue exercises, it was a very nice week, and I hope I have a lot more like it here in Tenerife.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.