rain, rain, go away ...

Given what the weather is like back at home I probably shouldn’t be complaining about what it’s like here…. But I’m going to anyways. :o) Over the past week a storm front has moved in and it’s been cold and rainy for at least the past 4 - 5 days.  Water conditions have been so bad that the ferry from the main land hasn’t been over in about 4 days.  Some of the other boats are running, but others have stopped as well.  I didn’t go into the grocery store today, but yesterday I was in and they were out of many staple items such as bread.  Ok, relax, it’s not exactly the end of the world, and there is plenty of food on the island, so I’m not suggesting that there is any cause for concern.  I’d just prefer it if while on my island paradise I didn’t have to wear my jeans and were a bit more concerned about getting a sunburn! I’m assisting on Niv’s Open Water course this week, and for today’s confined water sessions he decided to hold them up at the pool, which is located at the Mango Inn.  (a hotel property connected with UDC)  Being that it was these students’ first experience with scuba gear ever, putting them in a somewhat rough sea (with really crappy visibility) might not be the best idea.  It sounds like things should be clearing up in the next day or two.  Our class is scheduled to be doing their open water dives on Friday and Saturday, so let’s hope the blue skies and calm water show up by then….

On a different, but equally annoying note our Internet has gone from bad to worse.  It was out all day today, and has only come back on in the past half an hour.  I was walking through town yesterday and while at the cross roads noticed some met up on ladders untangling and pulling down wires?!?  I inquired as to what they were doing and someone told me that one of the internet companies on the island had gone bankrupt and that their wires were being taken down?  Lovely! 

Even with the rain and crappy bandwidth, I’m still loving it here, and in deep, deep denial about how soon my time here will be over...   :o(

  

a moment to relax and breath

 Let’s see… where did I leave off…..  Thursday morning I was able to relax a bit and get some personal stuff done as I didn’t need to be at the dive shop until around 11:30.  The Open Water class that I was assisting on was scheduled on Martini’s Law (one of UDC’s boats) at 1:00pm and there was some prep work that needed to be done. Student’s gear needed to be pulled and bundled, tanks needed to be loaded onto the boat, we needed to verify that the boat was stocked with extra gear, drinking water, first aid kit & emergency oxygen.  The students arrived around 12:00 and after the boat was fully loaded the class met for briefing around 12:30.  (the students also needed to complete their 15 minute float test before we could set off.)  It was my turn to do the boat briefing that day, and I think that it went quiet well.  Each time a boat leaves the dock the lead dive master (or a DMT when you are in training) gives an introduction to the captain, and reviews with the passengers boat safety, protocols and procedures for the trip.  As DMTs we should give 3 practice boat briefings and then will be evaluated on one for one as part of our certification.  Once at the dive site, each of us DMTs were assigned a student to be buddies with, as these were uncertified divers, this meant that we needed to stay in arms reach of our students and were responsible to keep them safe on the dive.  We geared up & proceeded to reviewed the 5-step buddy check with our students.  In the 5-point buddy check you review the following:  BCD (Buoyancy Control Device, or our Jacket), Weights, Releases, Air, & Final ok.  (Begin With Review And Friends  is the PADI way of remembering, but since being on the island I’ve learnt a few other creative ways of remembering….   Brunette Women Really Are Fun  is the only PG one I can share here)    After the buddy check we all got into the water and did a Buoyancy check on our students. 

A buoyancy check is to see if you are neutrally buoyant (properly weighted) for the dive. In this check we have our students (with Regs in their mouths) breath in a full breath of air and fully deflate their BCDs.  If they are neutrally buoyant they should sink down so that their mask is approx. 50% submerged, then when they release the air from their lungs they should begin to slowly descend.  (We hold on to them when they do this check as students) It turned out that when my student did his buoyancy check he was overweighed (which makes it harder to dive in some ways)  so I had him take one of the weights off of his weight belt and give it to me.  It turned out that the weight on the end of his belt (and the easiest to get off) was a 4lb weight… and into my BCD that went…..  along with the extra 4lbs that I was also carrying in my BCD. DMTs are required to carry two extra 2-lb weights in the pockets of their BCDs so that they can easily pass them on to students at any point in the dive if they may need them. (Tanks are more buoyant empty then they are when full, and students often has trouble adjusting for this)   So I got to do the dive wearing 8lbs more than I should have been.. .fun!  Not really an issue, but I will admit that it took me a few minutes to adjust myself.  It really helped when I re-distributed the weight so that I had 4lbs on each side rather then 2 and 6!!

I was quite impressed with my student, as he had a fairly easy time adjusting to our weightless environment.  He lost buoyancy a few times and began ascending to the surface, but mostly he was able to compensate on his own with me only giving him directions by hand signal. Only once did I need to physically slow his assent and ‘drag him back down’…  Some of the other DMTs had a rougher time of it and spent most of the dive bouncing up and down between 20 and 40 feet.  Dive two went equally well and the students spent some time on this dive kneeling on a sand patch performing some of the 20-skills at depth.   I’m not allowed to take my camera on dives when I’m working, (for obvious reasons) but I’d love to shadow an open water class before I go so that I can get some “Underwater Classroom” shots.  It’s so surreal sometimes under there.   Imagine Johan (the instructor) kneeling at the front, the students kneeling facing him in a semi-circle, and us DMTs kneeling between each of the students, but back about 5 feet.... and all of us gently swaying in the surge.  :o)    It’s like the perfect combination of my teaching background and my love of diving!!   The boat returned us to UDC around 4:00 and after we restocked all of the gear, and met as a class for a quick de-briefing & the O/W class was done for the day.  It was a great day, but I was exhausted!!  Diving while watching students the way we needed to is fairly stressful and tiring.  At 5:30 I had a lecture on Decompression Theory, so I spent the free hour that I had hanging out at the UDC bar socializing and unwinding from the class dives. 

The evening’s lecture was lead by Dick and was quite interesting.  In part of the lecture we reviewed the history of the Navy Diving Tables (which I already knew had been written in blood) and looked at how various pieces of technology (such as the ERDPml and dive computers) are helping us to be more accurate and extend our diving times in comparison to the original tables.  After the lecture came the exam, which was no big deal except for the tedious multi-dive tissue code questions which we were forced to work out using the actual tables and not our ERDP.  They were easy enough, we were all just so tired, and it was at least 7:00pm at that point.   All I can say is thank goodness for computers!!!  May I never have to use those double-sided tables again! :O) 

Friday morning started early as our Open Water course was scheduled on Martini’s Law at 8:00am.  I arrived at the dive shop just before 7:00am and we began to prep the gear and boat for the class.  The first dive of the day went very well and I was impressed to see how much improvement each of the students had already made from just a day or two ago.  They were becoming aware of were they were in the water and were (for the most part) able to maintain relatively neutral buoyancy.   At the end of the 2^nd dive (last dive of the program) we had about 10 minutes left and Johan let us all have some fun.  While on a sand patch, we all took off our fins and got to play around for a bit.  Without fins on it’s relatively easy to stand upright and to literally Walk around on the bottom of the ocean.  I imagine that it’s a lot like what it would be like to walk on the moon.  You can hop around, and even jump up and do summersaults in the air… or I guess I should say water.  I’m not sure who had more fun, the DTMs or the O/W students :o)  

Friday afternoon I was technically scheduled to be in the water doing equipment skills with Johan, but he kindly agreed that it had been a long week and that I should hop one of the afternoon boats and get out for a “Fun Dive” instead. YEA!!    I rushed home to grab my camera, and loaded my gear onto Old Tom (another boat)  for a 1-tank afternoon dive.   It was exactly what I needed!!!  Later that afternoon we met back up with the O/W students for final de-briefing and so that Johan could issue them their certifications.  They were all soo happy, it was great to be able to watch & help on their journeys!  We all celebrated by going out for dinner at R.J.’s  and I tried Wahoo for the first time (nice, mild white fish – yummy!)

Yesterday and Today I have been enjoying some much-needed downtime.  Today I went out on the 8:00am boat for two dives and joined some DMTs who were Lion Fish Hunting.  (I’ll explain that another time) I took my camera and the coral watch slates so that I could do a coral survey.  This afternoon I wandered around town and took some photos.   Tomorrow I hope to get out diving in either the morning or afternoon and then I believe I have an O/W course that will be starting in the evening and going through the rest of the week.  I just can’t believe how quickly the time is going here.  I’m desperate to extend my time, but I know that I really can’t do that.  I have a few days flexibility, and may look into staying a couple more days, but I need to be back in Canada by March 11^th at the latest…. Which is approaching way tooo quickly!!!!   Below are a few photos from my dives the last few days….  (dive sites:  Airport Caves & The Aquarium) Click over to my Flickr page to see more. 

fishies

Another great day, and it's still not over yet.  I'm off to a party @ Gs place tonight & from what I've heard they are known to be.....   Legen.....  wait for it......  dary   (....  sometimes I miss real TV for those of you that got that)  

At 8am we had the Scuba Tune-up testing with Dick and at 12:00 our open water class resumed.  The students are doing really well & tomorrow they will be completing their 1st and 2nd open water dives. In two more days, they will be certified divers!  (Yea Them!!  I remember how great it felt when I was 1st certified!!)

Short post tonight, but here are some photos of the cute fishies that live under the dock at UDC

typical day .....

Today is a good example of a typical day as a Dive Master Trainee  at UDC.  Don’t get me wrong, every day is totally different, but this is what I would call typical as far as my schedule goes.  

Today was a late start day as I didn’t need to be at the Dive shop until 11:00am. (that actually means that I need to be there around 10:30 so I can get my personal gear set up for 11.)  I had really wanted to get on one of the morning dive boats, but they are always two-tank dives and I just wouldn’t have been back in time as they usually get in closer to 12:00    :o(      I was assisting on an Open Water Course  (a beginner course for someone who has never been scuba diving before) During an open water course the student needs demonstrate that they have learnt the 20 key skills. The class was meeting at 1:00 pm for a demonstration on equipment assembly and for the student’s first two-confined water dives. (which actually take place as one dive)  Confined water dives are dives that take place either in a pool (like at S2K) or in “an open water site that offers swimming-pool like conditions with respect to clarity, calmness, and depth.”  UDC has two locations off of their dock, which act as confined water sites.  Each has a large blue tarp that is held down by large rocks to reduce the amount of sand/silt that is turned up by the students who will be kneeling on it while being tested on skills. (such as demonstrating hand signals, reading their pressure gauges, breathing underwater without their masks on for 1 minute, out of air and 5-point assent).  So each morning these blue tarps that we will be kneeling on need to be swept of sand and debris.  So at 11:00 am Richard (another DMT) and I geared up and began the wonderful task of sweeping the tarps. Ok, so I want you all to close your eyes and imagine that for just one moment.  You are approximately 10 feet underwater (within the first atom of pressure for any of you divers out there) in the ocean (with it’s currents & fishies) hovering on your bellies with brooms sweeping.  After about 30 seconds you can’t see a thing except for blue tarp peeking through all the sand & silt.  It’s actually kind of fun and after about 30 minutes two other DMTs kindly took our places. 

I had about an hour of free time then as we didn’t need to meet Johan (the instructor of the O/W course) until 12:30 for briefing. So I took the time to take a swim without my fins out to the “large boat” and back a few times.  (sometimes I miss swimming without my fins) We use this “large boat” for our test swims as it is almost exactly 100 meters off our dock & is a relatively safe swim path considering dive boats coming & going.  It was really really hot outside today & I was just happy to be in the cool water.  After a few laps I headed up to the UDC bar to see what was on the menu at that moment so I could have some breakfast. (There is usually only one item available at a time, and it can change once or twice over the corse of the day) They were still serving the breakfast bandelaeos YEA!!  (ok, I’m almost 100% sure that I’ve spelt that alllll kinds of wrong, but it’s not like there’s a menu or anything to read! And remember that everyone here has a different accent so who know’s what they are really called) Bandelaeos? are a good example of local backpacker cuisine, and can also be purchased along the street like “street-meat” back home.  You start off with a round piece of flat bread that has a spreading of refried beans, a sprinkle of grated cheese and some chopped onions (sometimes pickled). Then depending on the time of day and/or cart you stop at there is some form for protein. Today is was scrambled eggs, but often you get chicken and ?beef? or ?pork?  (lets go with beef & pork! No other suggestions are welcome!!! ~ thank you!) On the street you can get them for 10 Limps each (about $0.50) At UDC they are about 4 times the size and I think cost 25 Limps.  Add in some hot sauce & they are becoming a staple in my diet!

At 12:30 the four DMTs on the couse (and 2 MSDTs who were shadowing) met with Johan for a briefing on the day’s class. We met up with the students at 1:00 and started by fitting them all with gear (another one of our Jobs as DMTs) once they had their gear Johan began the demonstration and assessment on equipment set-up and we were all in the water just before 2:30. I think we were under for about 45 minutes while the students were evaluated on their skills, and for the majority of that time I was just kneeling behind one student keeping and eye on him, while observing what Johan was doing.  After that we surfaced and swam into deeper water so that the students could perform some surface skills and a tired diver tow. (my chance to lie back and relax)  We were out of the water just before 4:00pm and by 4:30 we had rinsed and re-stocked all of the gear. After a short de-briefing with the students and Johan, class was over for the day… Well to be more actuate I should say that the Open Water class was over for the day… My day was not over quite yet.

At 5:30 I had a lecture scheduled so I quickly ran home to take a shower and grab my textbooks.  The lecture tonight was on Equipment and was held with Guilherme, (aka “G”) who is the resident expert on equipment and tec diving. (He actually built his own semi-closed rebreather from scratch!!!)  It was a great lecture, and a great refresh of the equipment specialty certification course that I took through S2K last year.  Following the 1-hour lecture we had an 20 question exam, and were able to check yet another thing off our list towards becoming certified Dive Masters :o)  We have 5 (or 6?) lecture/exam series as part of the internship in addition to the Knowledge reviews in the DM Text Book.  We have a workbook to help study for the lectures as well as the Encyclopedia on Recreational Diving as support text for pre-study.

At 7:15 we had a briefing with Dick (another Instructor) on the “Tune-Up” dive that we were going to be doing tomorrow morning at 8:00am  (so at the shop by 7:30am….  Won’t be getting much sleep tonight!)  As part of our Internship we need to demonstrate that we can conduct a “refresher” dive for certified divers.  It’s recommended that a diver who has been out of the water for more than 6-months (or is new to that specific diving environment, ie: new to diving in Canadian cold-water) do a tune-up of the 20 basic skills.  Each of us was assigned 4 skills that we will need to demonstrate to the rest of the class, and then we will need to evaluate each of our co-DMTs to see if the skill is being performed appropriately.  (and we know that some of us will be instructed to make mistakes)  I’ve been given    1) Equipment Assembly   2) Fin Pivot   3)  BCD removal/replacement under water  and  4)  Out of Air & Alternate air source assent (which happens to also be the last of the skills that I need to demonstrate at Instructor Quality so I’ll kind of be killing two birds with one stone in that one. ) 

That was all finished by 8:00pm and it was definitely time for food!!!    Underwater Vision (the dive shop next to UDC) was having their weekly wing night, so Mark, Lee & I went over to order us some wings!!!.  Their wings are 8 Limps each  (20 Limps = $1 U$) and are sold in multiples of 6.  I ordered 6 honey-garlic & 6 mediums and then we headed back to UDC to have a beer while waiting the 20 min for our orders to be ready.   We ended the night by bringing our wings back to UDC and hanging out with a bunch of the other DMTs and instructors for a little while.

So that’s about it for the day.  It’s just around 11pm and definitely time to crawl into bed.  I have some reading to do for tomorrows “tune-up” dive so with any luck lights will be out by midnight……   Nighty  Night!!!   


Oh and for those of you who I haven't skyped or pinged in a while...  sorry, but the internet is off and on and I'm infrequently awake & at my apartment these days....   Miss you!!  

time flies when you are having fun !!!

I can’t believe that it is February 8^th already! Where has the time gone?  Ok so where do I start?  I love it here and am already trying to figure out how I can stay forever!!  (joking Mom….. kind of)   My course began two weeks ago today and is going very well.  I’m in a group with 5 other DMTs (Dive Master Trainees)  2 guys from England (Mark & Lee), an Australian guy (Ando), a girl from France (Claire), and another guy who is from Spain (Alfredo).  Everyone is really nice & a lot of fun to spend time with!

The first week we mostly had fun dives during the days and then in the evening around 5:30 each night we had Knowledge Reviews (mini-exams) for each chapter in the PADI Dive Master textbook.  We also spent some time that week working on our in-water skills.  When you first learn to Scuba Dive (Open Water Course) you need to complete 20 underwater skills to be certified.  In the Dive Master program, you need to be able to demonstrate these skills at instructor level to prove that you are able to assisting on various courses. These demonstration skills are graded on a 5 point scale. PADI requires dive masters to score a 3 or higher on each skill to pass, however here at UDC (Utila Dive Centre) they require their Dive Masters to demonstrate the skills at a level 4 or higher.  I’ve completed all but one skill and have received mostly 5s and a few 4s.  I did have to repeat a skill or two due to stupid mistakes.  LoL !!  For example one of the skills that we need to demonstrate is A Deep Water entry, or what is also called a Giant Stride.   The skill is fairly simple,  after you are all geared up and have completed the various gear checks you stand on the end of the dock (or boat), do a full visual check, place your regulator in your mouth, inflate your BCD (jacket), place your left hand over your weight belt buckle, your right hand goes on your face to secure your gear with the base of your palm on your reg and your fingers over your mask, then you take a giant step forward into the water….   So I forgot to put air in my BCD….. which isn’t really a problem for me as I easily compensated and swam up to the surface…  but the problem i that if a student were to do it that way, they would probably just start to sink…. Remember we are wearing 10 – 16 lbs of lead each :o)  The second time I performed the skill it was no problem, and I got a 5, but we all got a good chuckle out of that one   :o)   

The only skill that I need to still demonstrate is the “out of air assent” This skill has two parts.  (and remember we are demonstrating these at the instructor level and not student level)  While underwater the skill begins with your co-DMT shutting the air off to your tank.  (you really start to trust your co DTMs!!!)  I will then continue to breath from my regulator while showing that my air gauge is rapidly dropping.  Once the air in my hose is gone (about 3 – 4 breaths) I show that my gauge reads 0 air, and I give the signal to my co-DMT to turn the air back on.  Once the air in my tank is back on (for obvious safety reasons) I continue. The second step in this skill is then to give my co-DMT (buddy) the “out of air” signal, and then the “lets share air/I’m taking your alternate” signal. My buddy then shields his personal regulator with their right hand and points to their alternate with their left hand, which I would then reach for and then breath from.  The skill ends when we both link right arms and safely assent to the surface.  Easy enough. We just haven't had the time to do it.

This past week the focus was less on our DM Text book and more on the subsequent workbook.  We studied & had lectures on Equipment and Physiology. (well, we did the reading for the equipment, but the lecture was postponed due to our instructor having a small run-in with the local police – more on that later)  This week we’re focusing on Physics and the ERDP (Electronic Recreational Dive Planner).   I’m a bit concerned about the Physics portion of the program, as I have never studied physics, not even in High School…. Something about Boil’s law on gasses….  I’m sure I’ll figure it out?????

We also completed a boat workshop where we learnt how to tie off boats and how to be a boat hand.  As well as a Coral Watch seminar and dive, as we will be assisting some scientists in Australia who are doing research on Global Coral Bleaching.  I’ve already completed the required fitness tests (no laughing!!!)  which involve a 400 meter swim,  800 meter swim (with fins), 15 minute float and a 100 meter tired diver tow.  We needed a score of 12/20 to pass the fitness test, and I’m happy to say that I scored 17/20 overall  :o)  (scores are based on swim times)

This past week was great and I was able to assist on my first course!  It was an Advanced Open Water course, so the students were already certified divers.  Mark and Lee were the other DMTs on the course. (We also had two MSDTs shadowing the course -- Master Scuba Diver Trainer students)  There are pros and cons of being a DMT, and I was well aware of both sides before signing up.  The cons are that you are basically the slaves of the shop.  DMTs (or DMs once we are qualified) are responsible for all of the logistics of the course:  gear prep (loading/unloading tanks, fitting students with their gear masks, snorkels, fins, BCD, regs, weights & exposure suit), insurance paperwork, role call, first aid kits, oxygen for the boat, etc, etc, etc   This takes about an hour prior to a boat leaving.  Once out in the water we were each buddied up with a student for the dives.  Sadly I actually missed seeing my 1^st Turtle on the 2^nd dive of this class.  All of the students, and one of the DMTs saw him, but I guess I was watching my buddy at the time as I didn’t even know that I had missed seeing him until we were back on the boat…  HELLO hand signals people!!!!  …. next time….

Luckily the 5^th dive of the course totally made up for missing the turtle! (as I know that I will see one at some point!!)  The Advanced class always ends with the 5^th dive being a night dive. (don’t worry we bring waterproof flash-lights) It really was the perfect dive from beginning to end!!! After gearing up the boat, we pushed off just as the sun was beginning to set. (photos below)  It was the perfect sunset and that night the water was perfectly calm and like glass.  The dive itself lasted 1 hour and 5 minutes, which is a great dive time! We saw sea slugs, lobsters, and lots of little fish. At one point the students gathered in a circle on a sand patch with Johan (the instructor) and everyone turned off their flashlights for about 2 minutes.   I was hovering about 5 meters behind the group and had the best view in the house.  Once everyone’s lights were off they each started waving their arms around, which stimulated the bio-luminescents to glow.   Imagine hovering in complete darkness and seeing only little green lights flashing in a circle in front of you.  One of the coolest things in the world!!

Our flashlights tend to attract these tiny little worms, which then attract little fish to eat the worms. All through the dive I could feel tiny little fish bumping to me. (ok, most of you will cringe at that, but it’s actually really neat to feel) they mostly hit your arms which are close to the light.  Sometimes large fish are attracted to the light as well, and come in close for a good look :o)    The major highlight of that dive came right at the end.  We were all hoping to see an octopus, but were not holding our breath, as Johan hadn’t seen an octopus on that dive site in about 3 months.  Well just as our safety stop was ending and we were about to all assent to the surface Johan spotted the octopus.  He was probably about the size of a large pasta pot, and was crawling on a section of the reef.  Us DMTs held back so that the students could move in closer and get a good look.   After they had their shot, us DMTs moved in and that’s when the real show began.  What we hadn’t realized was that there was a lobster also on the reef about 5 feet away, and he didn’t seem to know that the octopus was there.  Once he got close enough the octopus took his shot and went for the lobster.  It was the coolest thing to watch!!  Luckily for the lobster, he was quick on his feet and narrowly escaped being dinner.  I only wish that I had had my camera with me, but seeing that I was staff on that dive, it wouldn’t have been appropriate.  We all assented with the biggest grins on our faces and were welcomed on the surface by the most amazing star-filled sky!!  I told Johan that he had just ruined night diving in Ontario for me!!   :o)

Ok, enough babbling for now.  I’ll do my best to update much for frequently so these posts aren’t so long and rambly.   This afternoon I’ll be beginning assisting on an Open Water coarse, and I’m really looking forward to that!  The students in the class are starting with zero diving experience, and by the end of it they will be certified Open Water divers to 60 feet.  My Open Water course was a personal disaster, and I almost didn’t get through it.  Luckily I had some good friends and a GREAT DM who basically held my hand and got me through it. Maybe I’ll have the opportunity to do the same for someone else.    :O)

   

Huggs to you all back home….  Stay Warm  :o)