The Diver's Log: Confidence (And my lack of)

Hello again beautiful people! It's that time of the week again where I round up how my third week as a DMT has been. As a major starting point I can say that I'm now having consistent better days. By this I mean that things aren't entirely perfect yet, and we still have a lot of polishing to do in terms of my briefings, my skills and a whole lot of work to do on my sense of direction. The thought of guiding a dive in the near future is quite frankly terrifying me. Then again, two weeks ago I never thought I would have the confidence to sit in front of a group of divers and deliver a briefing, I now do it quite a few times a week and I'm also now able to give briefings, debriefings and guide snorkelling trips. I suppose that's what this week's blog post will be about - Confidence.

Now before I begin I would just like to point out that what I say in the next few paragraphs isn't a sob story or a pity party, it's just some background to my life so you can understand how I've reached this point in my life. After a conversation with my brother this morning he made a very interesting point of saying how much I've grown as a person in such a short space of time. Let's rewind here, back around 12 years. I went through all of my primary school life and a little bit into my secondary life coping with being bullied. Every. damn. day. Because I was "the fat kid" because I was clumsy, because I was odd, I was different. That destroyed any self-esteem I had well into my late teens. I can remember clearly my mother sending me to a self-esteem help "club" for children when I was about 8 or 9, just to try and help me get my confidence back and over time and little by little I suppose I did. I certainly developed a front of confidence so that I could protect myself should any other bully come along I was lucky that they didn't and I have the most amazing friends and family in the world.

I digress, back to the comment my brother made - that in 4 years I've gone from being this girl who would rarely leave the house, who was very sheltered and struggled to be away from her family for too long. University came along and I had to adapt and I did to an extent, I still suffered terribly with anxiety and depression but I worked through it. I look at where I am now compared to 4 years ago and I'm genuinely amazed. I never dreamed I would travel 2,000 miles by myself, let alone be working in a foreign country. But I'm here and I'm doing it and just that in it's own right makes me immensely proud of myself and I'm not afraid to admit that.

I never believed in my life that I would be able (to some extent) handle some of the logistics of the dive operation, such as making up the boxes, weight belts, making sure there's enough tanks loaded. Being able to talk to customers so freely and so confidently and actually feel this damn good about myself and what I'm doing. I got so used to asking people "Did I get it? Was I right?" and they would always respond with "ah kinda, you're close but not quite." At this point in life I have people telling me that I'm doing a good job, that I'm improving by the minute. Yes, okay, I'm not perfect but I have never felt this validated in my life. An I know that the only way is up from here.

I guess I have my team to thank for all of this; To Colin for being the best mentor anybody could ask for, for constantly pushing me to be the best I can be, we may have a lot left to do but we're going to smash this together! To Dave for being the gaffer, the boss of the base and for always being around to offer a hug, some kind words and for knowing how to cheer me up (usually there's chocolate involved.) To Sam, for well just being Sam, you sir have a wicked sense of humour and you inspire me everyday with your sheer ambition to succeed.
And last but not least to the lovely Ryan, thank you for teaching me everything you know about casting out the anchor, even though I can never get it exactly right, so you're amazing for putting up with a clutz like me.

And now none of you can say I don't mention you in my blogs. ;)

The Diver's Log: Night dives, Briefings and Stairs...

So, I tried to do a blog post title based off of "Lions and Tigers and Bears" close enough, right? Anyway, today we can celebrate my survival of my second week as Scuba Sur's DMT. It's been an interesting week to say the least but in my own opinion, crossed with the words of others and the lack of bollockings from my mentor towards the end of the week; I do believe I'm starting to show some improvements. I certainly haven't blown any O rings off of cylinders this week and I've remembered my weight belt everyday *Insert fist pump here* (Sorry, Mum.)

I should probably tell you all what exactly being a DMT involves. Let's just roll this back a bit, a DMT stands for Dive Master Trainee. Now as a trainee there are lots of things I have to be able to do to gain the magical mystical title of a Dive Master. There's a few main elements so just allow me to explain them all briefly:

 Timed Swims:

It's probably not much of a shock to you all but you have to be relatively good swimmer in order to become a Dive Master. You have to swim 400m without any scuba equipment and then 800m without the use of your arms but with fins, mask and snorkel. During the 800m your face must be in the water for the whole of the exercise, unless you are taking a quick look up to check your direction. It took me a couple of attempts to get my 800m time down but after nearly killing some poor old gentlemen because he swam directly in front of me even though he had the whole beach to himself. I'm happy to say I've ticked off both of these timed swims. The only thing left for my time swims now is a 100m rescue tow, sounds easy but when you're in full scuba gear, I can assure you it's exhausting.

In addition to the timed swims there is also a treading water exercise but I was given full marks for that; Thank you RLSS for putting me through the 15 minutes of treading water sessions with arms extended.

The Stress Test:

If I called the equipment exchange exercise where you trade mask, fins and BCD with a buddy then you would probably look a me and say it's not stressful. However, there is one very important element to the stress test. There is only one "operational" regulator. You are sharing a regulator with your buddy. And this is the point where I would like to formally apologise to Ryan for ever so nearly drowning him by taking too many breaths. I hated this exercise when I first did it but after some practice attempts with my mentor of just taking the BCD off and him being in control of my regs I can hopefully say that the next attempt Ryan and myself make should be much better.

24 Skills Circuit: 

Skills tests, if you're a diver on any level you will know that in order to complete a course you have to complete a certain amount of skills so you have the appropriate training for your appropriate level. Mine consists of 20 open Water course skills and 4 PADI skin diver course skills. I wouldn't mind just having to do the skills but it has been over a year since I've had to perform some of the skills and I have to get them up to demonstration standard before I can pass. So by hell or high water (and with the help of my mentor and some youtube videos) I can and will get there.

Including all of the above being to satisfactory standard you have to have at last 60 dives to pass but we've nearly surpassed the half way mark for 19 days of being here so that's not too bad really. Then there's also a theory element and a final exam.

So apart from practicing all of my DM skills, timed swims and the notorious stress test this week has been fantastic for me in terms of breaking down some serious walls in terms of my anxiety. About three days ago my mentor announced to me I would be giving the pre-dive briefing to customers about a dive site called Bahia Lila. I was terrified, I've usually been pretty good with public speaking but this was different, or at least it felt that way. But the time came around for me to give my first briefing and it was going well until I sat down on the boat afterwards. "Shoot, I forgot about lost buddy procedures." I was lucky in this instance because we were diving with experienced divers and they had been warned this was my first briefing. The next day came around and I gave the briefing again and this time I'm pretty sure I covered everything because so far neither the boss nor my mentor has pulled me up for missing anything. Brownie points for Goodwin.

The other wall I managed to smash down was my fear of night dives, when I was doing my advanced open water course last year I had the chance to do a night dive but the fear of getting disorientated was too much and I opted to do something else. So after skipping last week's night dive due to a confidence crisis, it took 3 instructors to convince me to go for the experience and I'm honestly so glad I did because after a few minutes of working out my buoyancy I loved it, the sighting of a grand puffer fish and a massive sting ray just absolutely had me made up. Ever seen an over excited marine biologist before?

Just as a side note to my fellow divers, be aware of your tank positioning because if you should slip and fall down a set of near vertical stairs into the water below, it could save your back, I was very lucky that my tank took the full hit. Also make sure your jacket has some air in it too, so you just float back up to the surface. In other words, just don;t be as clumsy as me if you can help it.

I think I'm gonna leave it there for this week guys, I know his as been a long post but I can't put into words how stressed, how exhausted but how truly happy this job makes me. Yes, you have bad days in this industry but with a team like mine I know that even if I have a bad day they are there for me and they never fail to make me laugh with their antics.

Upon Review: 1st Week As A DMT

Hi all, since I got such good feedback from my last post about my first day as a Dive Master Trainee (DMT) I felt it would only be natural progression to move onto how my first week as a DMT went. This post won't be any candy coated truths, it may show some vulnerability on my part but that has been the function of the blog from the beginning. To be honest, to be truthful and to be open because it may just help one other person out there who could be struggling,  in a new job, in a new country or in an internship. Or maybe you can have a laugh at my expense too!
My first couple of days on my internship were interesting to say the least. Those who know me know that the line "if it can go wrong, it will go wrong" has a tendency to follow me around wherever I go and whatever I do. This couldn't be any truer than now. I've blown O rings out of cylinders, I've jammed a tank valve (although actually, that wasn't my fault, it just had to be attached to my BCD at the time.), I've forgotten extra weights, weight belts and to top it off, on one occasion where my mentor and myself were doing an introduction dive, guess who forgot to turn her air on. Yep. So I snorkeled the entire thing. So at this point I'm already in the minus brownie points. And my mentor has lost a considerable amount of hair in the last week.

However, everything that has happened has taught me how to do something new. I've learnt how to replace O rings, rig up tanks to the compressor to be filled, that a wrench is a perfectly good tool to use to jam your tank open so you can dive with it, I've memorised a checklist in my head like it's second nature so in the last three days I don't think I've forgotten anything (To my fellow Harry Potter nerds out there a rememberall would be fabulous round about now.) I've also gotten over my fear of snorkelling, Although I will always retain the fact I'm a scuba diver, not a snorkeller. Oh and now I have an overwhelming paranoia of making sure my air is on.

All of these things are only practical aspects but in the last week I have learnt a few things about myself, how I operate, how I work. This trip was never meant to be on of those "self-finding, tree-hugging, mud spa experiences", I knew it would be sun, sand and hard work but I guess when you take on endeavours like this you can't help but discover some things. I've known for the last 5 years I have been a hard worker but this last week I felt the mental and physical strain of burning the candle at both ends; so working in the day, then coming home and reading up on the theory side of things, sleeping and repeating that entire process. It wasn't until yesterday when by chance I ended up on the beach for 20 minutes after work and I jumped in and just enjoyed being in the water, not having to worry about timed swims, scuba kit or students. It's time to stop operating like a machine and start working smarter, not necessarily harder.

And I think I'm going to leave it there for this week folks, it's been a hard week and mentally draining so I'm going to enjoy my day off today, be lazy and recuperate. But enjoy this lovely quote below in my absence.

The Diver's Log: (12 &13) Internship Day Numero Uno

Hi everyone, as promised I would update everyone on my endeavours as I'm now (after a year of waiting am in the canary islands doing what I love the most - Scuba Diving. And today was my first day properly on the job as a DMT; A Divemaster Trainee. Yes, folks, my now boss concluded that I had enough responsibility and sense to be an almost position of authority. I know, it's frightening isn't.

Anyway, here's a (near enough) hour by hour breakdown of how my first day as an intern went, and then I'll finish up with my final thoughts of the day. That sounded a bit like the end of the Jerry Springer show, I digress, on with the blog.

6:30/45am: Wake up time!

After a little bit of a miscommunication error, I thought we would be leaving today at 7:25 to go to Scuba Sur and start setting up the boxes for the day. Hence the stupidly early wake up time. At least I got to enjoy a leisurely shower, a nice cup of tea, eat my cereal whilst watching the sunrise over Patalavaca. Beautiful.

8:30am: It's Show Time!

The boxes are set up and on the Carrito (golf carts to you and I but I can imagine people would get offended if I started saying that. Sorry team.) So off the lovey Collin and I went. Just to update the blog Collin is my DM mentor, He's a cool scottish dude. The first dive of the day was beach dive were I would be observing a student. This, fellow readers is where the first cock up of my internship occurred. i was kitting up, everything was going great, until I had to get my weight belt on. (This is where it all starts to go belly up.) It was twisted, and it took me 11 or so tries to work out how to sort the problem of the bloody evil twisted weight belt. We got there. So I went down to the beach to find Collin and the student, put my fins on and joined them, we went to descend. Bugger. I wasn't descending. Then my mind drifted back to when we were all kitting up together; Colin said to put extra weights in my pockets for the student and to help me with descending. So back up to the surface, up the beach (In full gear so you can imagine how much I am perspiring at this point.) I grab two extra sets of weight, y thinking; it would help me descend and if the student needs two, I can provide two and not worry about rapidly ascending. Back in the water I go, this time, all runs smoothly. Kudos to Collin for putting up with my cock up his morning. Expect many more to come and many "don't worries" to be said.

12:00pm: Lunch Time -

My favourite time of day, naturally, there's food involved. After having a chat to the team, Collin says to me that he believes I'm a hard worker. Those who know me know that meant the absolute world to me; I'll grapht for this, it will be no different to anything I normally put my mind too, just a bit hotter.

2pm: Second Dive of The Day -

The second dive of the day was a very gentle one as it would be the student's final open water dive to complete her PADI scuba diver course. Located at Bahia Blanca - It's a rocky reef with a wide range of different ecosystems and very beautiful to go and see, due to it's limited depth of 12m, it's perfect for beginners or for a gentle dive. It was a great dive and one I'm happy to say went without a hitch. Plus there were plenty of starfish there to see! After the dive, I don't recall so I'm dropping it into this section; my colleague Sam, taught me how to clean the boat and put all it's coverings on for in future if I'm asked to stay behind after a boat dive and clean it. So that was pretty cool. Cheers, Sam!

4pm: Operation Clean Up -

When the boat has come in and/or the beach divers come in and the students are on their way. We start cleaning the container and preparing the boxes for the following day, it's hard work but I enjoyed it - always nice to learn some new skills.

5:30pm - Home Time -

For me, the day passed really quickly so when the boss said it was home time, I was shocked to see it was already 5:30! So I filled in my logbook as the final job of the day on my personal itinerary; hene why the title contains the numbers 12 and 13, because today we finished dives 12 an 13; 47 to go until dive master status is achieved, and an exam, and everything else...

So that's what my day was like; how was yours? send me an answer in the comments below. All in all, today was pretty good day, I'm slowly starting to find my feet and with a team as supportive as the one I've been blessed with;  I know everything will be just fine.

10 Reasons To Move To (Or at least visit Canada)

Yes, I have returned from my first travel adventure this summer, and with only tomorrow to go until I go off again to begin working in Gran Canaria for a couple of months. I should probably update my blog. So here it is a list of 15 reasons on why I want to more to canada, or at least 15 reasons why you should probably visit it. This will have a few of my own personal reasons why I want to immigrate to the land of the maple syrup, but dear viewer, I'm sure you won't mind reading them! (Or having a snoop a my personal life... whatever you prefer really...)

1) My Family

As most people close to me know, I have more family members in Canada than I do in the UK, of course it would be hard to leave the ones I do have here but I know all of them are capable of jumping on a plane to come and see me. I also don't want to miss out on losing any more years with my precious 3rd cousins, who are all 8 and under at the moment, they're all so talent,clever and just down right beautiful that I don't wan to miss anymore years of watching them grow up.


2) It's Greener

Aesthetically and outside of the capital city of Toronto you entre a type of area under the name of Rurban. (Geography students amongst you may get as excited about the use of that word as I did... Or I'm just really sad.) It is, as you may of guessed, the area between the rural and suburbs and it's perfect for me. It's got the rolling green fields, gorgeous scenery and the sleepiness of a local village for you to be able to relax in but you're never too far from an outlet mall or other local amenities for you to do your errands.


3) The Prime Minister is a Babe!
Justin Trudeau, Canada's 23rd Prime minister and most of the country has appeared to fall in love with him and so have I; for a plethora of reasons, in recent days he's announced that the Canadian government is exploring the idea of having gender neutral ID cards (#winning), has acknowledged and is ready to step up Canada's commitment to climate change (#doublewinning) and has said if that anybody ever makes a film of his life, he wants to be played by Meryl Streep. And of course he's been pretty darn good for the country in terms of politics. And for some unknown reason he likes to balance babies on his hand, you do you, Justin.

4) Niagara Falls

One of the seven wonders of the world! And it's just down right beautiful, it's the main supplier of all the hydroelectricity in Canada, so win to the Canadians for being awesome and eco-friendly. You can see the falls form almost every angle, I've been in a helicopter over it, I've done a walk behind it, I've been on a boat in front of it, and it's completely breath taking.

5) It is The Land of Tim Horton's

Yes, I know, Starbucks and Costa are the main coffee retailers in the UK and yes, I know a lot of you are addicted to them but I promise you, as soon as a Tim Horton's Hot Chocolate, or a Double Double, touches your lips, it will touch your soul and you will be addicted forever more. But, unlike Starbucks and Costa; Timmies is good value for money, for 5 large coffees we paid $18. that's about £12, you pay that for just two large coffees at starbucks!

And P.S: The Ice Capp's are truly magical.


6) The Pace Of Life

So I've lived near the City of Bristol and in the city of Hull over the last 20 years and everybody is always rushing to do something, there is never any down time, there is never anytime for people to relax. So I got a bit of a culture shock when I went to Canada about 8 years ago, nobody was in a rush to do anything. They always have at least one long weekend due to a bank holiday every month, which means people did have ample time to relax. You go, Canada!

7) Patriotism

Everybody out there is immensely patriotic about their country, I can guarantee you wouldn't make it 500m without seeing a canadian flag, or a newfoundland flag or any other nationality that the resident there may have. Everybody is just so proud of where they come from and it's absolutely beautiful to see.


8) Better Job Prospects

It's common knowledge that I do a Marine biology degree and I'm absolutely loving it, after finishing my first year with a 1st, I've started to ponder on the next stage of my life; post-uni jobs, I have options in Canada such as the Simcoe dive school/shop, and there are multiple research institutes and lab facilities in Ontario. But to anyone who is contemplating moving to Canada, as long as you have a skill, you can probably end up with a job out there.


9) House Prices are very reasonable

Or at least in comparison to British house prices, when we go over there we like to taunt ourselves by looking at various real estate magazines. But I found a property, 3 bed, 2 bath, in a nice area but on a small plot of land for $30,000 dollars! yes, you read that correctly, 30k, that's, with the current exchange rate around £22,000.

10) The People

I know I'm probably very biased because most people I meet are always something to do with my family. But hen I've been in the grocery stores, or buying a coffee or just wandering around towns, people smile, people say hi, people seem to go nuts when they hear you have a British accent but anyway, the Canadian people (or at least the majority of) seme to have the same positive ethics and morals that I do; they believe in taking your children outdoors to have adventures, not sitting them in front of a TV. They don't have the Jeremy Kyle culture that most of our bigger cities and towns do an it's so refreshing.

And that ladies and gents completes the list of 10 reasons why should move to, or at least visit some part of Canada, but a word of advice, unless you like to touristy things, stay a little way away from Toronto, really experience some of that Rurban lifestyle.

And stay tuned for my Divers Log posts coming up soon, because once I've established internet connection, I can start writing about my adventure sin Gran Canaria. See you on the other side people!