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the fish was impossible to see – 24 03 10

Today I did a double dive at Puerto del Carmen.

I buddied Derek again who is completing his PADI Advanced course.  We have swum together all week and he is a really nice guy whose occupation enables him to identify gliches in the configuration of airplanes cockpits and the software that is used (that is my crude understanding of his job).

The first dive was pretty amazing.  After entering the water by a giant stride from the concrete jetty (I wonder whether all dives are going to be begun this way?) we went down to 31m.

Fish I saw included:

•    Angel shark (about 1 metre long)
•    Grouper
•    Cuttlefish

After the dive we exited the water by the steps (taking the fins off is tricky in the surging water, balancing on one leg and trying not to look like an arse).

We had a break for an hour before getting our gear on again for our second dive.  The term used at the school for this is a 'double-dive' (for obvious reasons).

The second dive was to concentrate on Derek’s navigation skills.  This involved using a compass in submarine conditions.  

The task is pretty straight forward.  

A line is placed on the seabed at a fixed distance.  The diver is asked to swim the length a couple of times to establish how many kicks it takes on average to swim it.  After the average is established, say 20 kicks, then they are asked to swim off using the compass to swim in a straight line and return to their starting point.

After this is successfully completed (and the instructor can ask for the task to be repeated if they are not 100% happy with the performance), then the diver is asked to use the compas and swim the 20 kick distance before making a 90°  turn, then again, then again.  Until in the end the diver should have made it back to the original starting point.  Its fair to say that their might be 'some' variance due to surge and currents, but on the whole, the box should be made.

Derek then navigated us back to the steps for exit, and thereby successfully completed his PADI advanced course.  Brilliant!

We returned to base.  

In teh afternoon, I was given detailed instruction on the RDP (the PADI dive planner) and shown how to remove tanks from the compressor when the noise stops, signifying that the tanks are full (my third tranche of responsibility).

At the end of the working day I swept out van one, and drove it to its overnight position in the car park down the road.

Because Andrew is leaving today, I went along to the drinks and tapas do which the Active Adventure guys do each evening.  It was good and I met a whole bunch of new people; some staying a while for the surfing and some just passing through.  

The evening ended with a 'TVR' – Tequila, Vodka and Redbull.

Best bit of the day: Laying hidden in a shallow sandy bed, the angel shark was indistinguishable from the seabed, covered in sand.  Albeit for a feint depressed outline the fish was impossible to see.  The instructor went over and gently touched the back of the tail end, at which point the shark, slowly and without any effort, slowly moved his tail from side to side, moving at great speed into the deep blue.  

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light from below my feet – 22.03.10

I started today. 

I am going to be working 6 days a week.  On average I will be having Sunday off making an average of 2 dives per day.  Pretty hard core I reckon, and brilliant.

The morning was spent, completing paperwork and disclaimers in duplicate (Elf and Safety!!).  Then putting kit together in a box and being shown around the centre by Mr D., the Dive Centre Manager.  

Mr D. is a really nice guy who is married to a German woman.  They both have a little baby.  I met another instructor Babs, known as the 'Diving Diva'.  She is a typical instructor, jumping around, engaging, and motivating the white and blue collar workers to enjoy the diving and giving them a real experience.  She presents as really fun, but works really hard moving tanks around, making everything safe and sorting gear.  
Today was an orientation dive.   If you don't know this means getting into the water in the way the instructor advises… achieving a neutral buoyancy and then doing some basic exercises. We rolled over, went upside down as a handstand and stayed there floating after pushing off from the sea bed. Swimming backwards and doing a roly-poly

It all sounds pretty easy, but it isn't.  Underwater is like being on an alien planet.  Concepts we take for granted, even basic functions are profoundly altered, obviously including the idea of breathing and that is just the start.

Whilst under the water I saw:

  • Several wrasse (multi coloured)
  • Three large grey/brown parrot fish (different from in the pet shop)
  • A cuttle fish (hiding in the sand which swam off backwards as I approached it)
  • Some goatfish (using their moustaches to dig in the sand and sea bed)

and a whole host of others I do not know the names of.

When we finished the dive and everyone was feeling a bit tired, Babs played a practical joke by placing a dried 'sticky' date, into a colleagues shoe to see if he would notice.  

The whole group was aware, the guy walked back toward the minibus and got dressed.  As he put his shoe on, the tension and excitement within the group was palpable.  The put his foot on the floor and took his foot half out a few times before replacing it, as if there was just something about the shoe he could not get comfortable.  In the end the shoe was rammed on.  

He did it up and proceeded to get everything and everyone into the minibus. No one said a word. It was one of those school boy pranks which are so simple, yet so funny, and quite mean. How will he get her back I wonder?

My best bit of the dive:  I hung suspended upside down and got all confused as a mirrored heaving shimmering film shone with rays of light from below my feet, whilst above my head fish swum past inverted below a sandy ceiling.

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ropes trailing upwards toward the light – 23 03 10 – Morning

Got up early following dreamless heavy sleep. I took the time to make a few cheese and salad sandwiches for packed lunch before I heard my 7:30am 'wake-up' alarm go off.

I was dressed and outside the gate for 8:30 and Laurence, the dive centre manager, pulled up just before twenty to providing me a lift to work.

I was briefed in the morning and it was explained to me that from now on I am to assist in greeting customers as they arrive and help them to relax.  (My first tranche of responsibility).

It was made clear that I would be diving with Babs in the morning on a wreck dive. Customers included in the mornings dive were two guys, Colin and Andrew; Colin works in the armed services, married 25 years and has a 21 year old daughter, whilst Andrew is a white Zimbabwean living in the UK, working in London.

All the kit (BCU, fins, mask, wetsuit, boots, regulator and weight belt) was taken from the individual hangers and placed into white stacking boxes, the boxes were in turn stacked into the mini-bus and we set off from Costa Teguise (base) South West toward Puerto del Carmen where some time ago three Spanish fishing boats were sunk explicitly to provide wreck sites for divers.

However intentional, wrecks are haunting places.  

With large surge-swaying seaweed-festooned ropes trailing upwards toward the light; and abstract lines of sun cutting down from the surface, one can only reflect on the serene battle between industry and nature.  A battle we can rest assured, in the long run, nature will always win.

During the dive we saw:

•    Three barracuda
•    Cuttlefish
•    Damselfish
•    Ornate wrasse
•    Starfish (with a missing and re-growing leg)
•    Urchins
•    and a skeleton of a dolphin.  

Best bit of the dive:  I went into a small cave, the walls covered in yellow lichen-like coral.  As I turned and looked up, my eyes followed the ascending bubbles exhaled on every breath.  The bubbles, some small and some large, floated towards the roof of the little cave.  When they could go up no further, the bubbles travelled sideways, moving like quick-silver to find the highest point; before becoming trapped as miniature mercury lagoons where they could travel no more – all silver and wonderfully reflective. Inside the cave I floated for a moment watching the nature of bubbles under rock and there for a moment, I think I found peace.

Then I swam out again toward the group to look at more rusting wrecks, like an old elephant’s graveyard.

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I wrote to razor but he did not write back

I sent a letter to Razor care of the Sheppy Prison Cluster the week before last.  I enclosed his glasses and asked if he could complete a visitor order, which I now know is the protocol.  To date I have heard nothing back anf my time here in the UK is running out.

I fly to Lanzarote on Sunday morning to start my Scuba internship with Calypso Diving.

I don't think I am to get my guitar or hat back which is a shame.

Over the last week my house has had a makeover, with assistance being provided by dad's wife, my sister and a new vagabond pal, who has made her way around Africa and South America over the last seven years.  All have worked really hard to clear out my gaff.

Ultimately six boxes of precious things made their way into the attic, whilst 22 black bags of belongings (from downstairs alone) were taken to the tip.

I loved the hat for all it and its feather symbolized which I have already described to you in previous articles.  I also loved the guitar, remembering Loz, Christina and others playing it in the Petts Wood House after mum died when I got drunk for a week, following Loz's dad's wedding. 

The guitar also brings memories of Dave singing 'the Duck song' and the only song anyone has ever written about me, 'Lloyd stole my midget' – brilliant!

It is concluded by all and agreed by me (the rational side of my personality anyhow) that I do have some 'letting go issues'.  "What's wrong with that?" my alter ego screams inside my head?

Maybe the hat and guitar are just two examples of this and maybe its karma that 'Razor the hat thief' does not write back, maybe without the prompts I my memories need to be relied upon more for what they are – glorious memories, whilst life moves on.

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Wow! so the game is on

Having been given the email contact details of a dive school in Lanzarote, I tried getting in touch last week.  No reply.

This
week I was informed that the interface between Hotmail and Terra is
often having an argument so emails are delayed or lost.  Ridiculous as
it sounds, it's true. 

I telephoned one of the contacts last
night who explained that the principle of me doing the courses I need
to go forth into the wide world and procure gainful employment from
diving is not a problem.  That it would take about 6-weeks and that I
would need to talk to the boss about an intern placement in the
morning.  He seemed a really nice chap who was very keen to explain all
the considerations ahead of me.

This morning I phoned the boss. 

He
seemed really switched on.  The telephone call was short and sweet.  Yes, the
intern placement is a goer.  Yes, it will take a month and a half to
complete 60 dives necessary to qualify.  I would need to undertake a
first aid course and that I would not need to bring any of my own
equipment, everything will be supplied including the encyclopedia and
manual.

Wow! so the game is on.

This evening I followed up
with a call to the house of the guy I spoke to last night.  His wife
was very accommodation and explained that accommodation would be
available at least in principle for the first two weeks.  If it does
not work out, then they would help me find some else on the island that
is reasonable.

So this is good news and demonstrates that the
no-plan plan is good so long as every opportunity is followed up and
one is flexible.  It also demonstrates once again that network-based
leads are good leads to follow.

Now I just need to pack up some more of my books and throw away even more of the repulsiveness which fills my house.

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