A Must Read

This is an awesome article, definitely worth a read....

Swimming with Sharks

Teaching an EFR course

Today I taught my first EFR course. In the morning my students watched the video for both Primary and Secondary Care, filled out knowledge reviews and then we discussed important topics.

In the afternoon we did practical application of skills, CPR, bandaging, choking, scenario practice and using an AED. 

The students then all completed the final exam with a 100% pass rate!

It feels pretty awesome that there are now 6 more Emergency First Responders in the world after I taught them the course today :)

Dive safety

As fun as Scuba Diving is, it is always important not to become a complacent diver and overlook basic safety issues.The article linked below outlines 5 common mistakes divers make that can cause fatal consequences.

Scuba Diving Mistakes

This second interesting and informative article linked below, focuses on the basics of DCS and how to recognize it. Crucial for all divers to be aware of.

DCS

Always remain a vigilant diver. As long as you follow safety procedures and stay well within limits you should never have a problem. 

Practicing an air depletion exercise

How to knot a backup light to a bolt snap clip

Any of you who are keen night divers will know that it is important to always have a back up light on a night dive, however having two to carry is impractical. Therefore you might want to knot your back up light onto a secure clip which you can then attach to your BCD. 

I found this article below helpful in explaining just how to do this effectively....

How to knot a bolt snap on to a light

What kind of idiot goes to SeaWorld anyway?

After months of wanting to, I recently watched "Blackfish" for the first time, although I was still unprepared for how shocked I was by it. As a passionate conservationist and an Orca fanatic the mere thought of SeaWorld and putting such a magnificent creature into a swimming pool makes me feel sick.

I think Howard Stern summed this up nicely in a recent article....

What kind of idiot goes to SeaWorld anyway?

Equalization Issues

A newly qualified OWSI the last thing I expected to happen was to be unable to equalize on the first course I was teaching.

 After a trip to the doctors I received the dreaded news that I am unable to dive for at  least the next  5 days and if after then I still have ear problems I may need to go to the capital island to see a specialist doctor. 

The doctor here thinks the problem is with a block in my Eustachian tube and has given me a cocktail of medication to try for the next 5 days. Needless to say I am desperately hoping that it works like a miracle cure, until then....

Dive Centre Maldives

I have created a Facebook page for the dive centre here at the Four Seasons Resort, Landaa Giraavaru. It is still a work in progress but contains photos of the dive sites here and information about diving in the Baa Atoll.

 Please check it out! :)

Landaa Giraavaru Dive Centre

Hulhudhoo and Undoodhoo Thila

Here are some photos from the dives I did at Hulhudhoo and Undoodhoo Thila, 2 of my favourite dive sites here in the Baa Atoll.

I'M AN INSTRUCTOR!

I admit I have been neglecting my blog lately, however it was worth it as I have now finished my IDC, passed my IE and completed 5 Instructor Specialties making me an OWSI and hopefully an MSDT when I have 25 certifications! :)

The specialties I can now teach are: Nitrox, Emergency Oxygen Provider, Shark Conservation, Search and Recovery and Digital Underwater Photography.

Celebrating on a sunset cruise

The IDC and IE was hard work, long hours and stressful but I learned so much and really enjoyed doing it and now look forward to putting my new skills into use working as an instructor.

End of IDC and Nitrox Instructor

Today we finished our IDC! It has gone unbelievably quickly and I've learnt so much from it. This afternoon those of us wanting to become Nitrox Specialty Instructors did our course and now we are waiting for the IE to start on Saturday!! Hopefully if all goes well I will be an OWSI by Sunday evening and able to blog more often again! :)

Until then, stay safe and keep diving!

IDC Day 7

Today we did a mock PADI standards exam this morning, I got 100% which was a relief! Then we went into the water this afternoon to simulate teaching our last 2 open water exercises. 

The conditions were not in our favour with very heavy rain and surge, however we all did well. 

I had to instruct a 5 point descent with reference and do the CESA exercise.

Tonight I'm doing some last minute revision for our mock IE exams tomorrow!

IDC: Day 6

Today we did 2 more Open Water presentations which for me included briefing and instructing on a 5 point ascent and Rescue Exercise 7 - Unresponsive diver resuscitation on the surface with pocket mask.

The skills went well, I managed to catch the problems and correct them but as always there was room for improvement!

Good buoyancy

I found this article really interesting so I thought I would share it with all of you

http://www.alertdiver.com/Mastering-Neutral-Buoyancy-and-Trim

IDC Day 4

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what 

we give." - Winston Churchill 

Today we had a dry day, spending it in the classroom. We all gave another knowledge review presentation which went well and we learnt how to teach in Open Water, PADI Specialty Programs, the Business Site of diving and EE counselling. 

Tomorrow we are giving our first 2 Open Water presentations, so fingers crossed it all goes smoothly!

IDC Day 3

3 days into the IDC now here in the Maldives and so far so good.

So far we have all given a Knowledge Review Presentation in the classroom, done skills underwater twice, rescue exercise no. 7 with and without pocket mask, performed an 800m snorkel swim and given 2 Open Water Presentations in confined water. 

Today we went over General Standards and procedures: DSD, Bubblemaker, Seal Team, Skin Diver and Open Water Course standards in the classroom and then did Confined Water Presentation 1 and 2 in the water. It was a really good experience and nice to feel comfortable in what you're being assessed on but still able to recognise what you can improve on.

Start of IDC

Our IDC starts tomorrow so I am anticipating that I will be very busy for the next 2 weeks. The good news is I am one step closer to being an OWSI, the bad news is I won't have so much free time to blog. I will try to write about how it is going as much as possible but I will leave you with a thought in the mean time...

Perfect quote for me

Amen to that

Free diving with turtles

This is a video I took whilst free diving with turtles! Watch it here...

http://youtu.be/0pt-8bfQ_M8

Turtle Safari

It was my day off yesterday so I went out on one of the guest trips, the Turtle Safari.

We went in the dhoni to Finholas, which is one of our dive sites and we saw 5 hawksbill turtles, porcupine fish and a huge moray eel! 

There were also underwater holes and caves which were really cool to see.