Pinnacle and Labrinth... Day....whatever

Up early this morning for morning dives on the North side. Started loading tanks on the boat around 6:30 am and was on the water before 7:30. Was a beautiful hour or so boat ride to our first dive site Pinnacle.Pinnacle has always been one of my favorite dives as it just encompasses a little of everything. We started with a deep descend to about 40 meters or 130 feet.

Checking my computer as we ascend to 118 ft

You then have some nice cave like swim throughs which take you back out on the wall, finally reaching shallower water and loads of activity and life about 45 feet and up...such an amazing and perfect dive. After a long surface interval to off gas due to the depth of the first dive we arrived at our second site, Labrinth.

Little Spotted Eel hiding out.

This is always a fun dive as well. Lots of twisty turns and canals through the coral with plenty of colorful fish and activity. After those two dives I had went from OMG 6am boat times suck! To feeling exhilarated about the rest of the day...Which is good because I had Skill Check-offs with Kevin.

 

Kevin is a friend and a damn good person to have as a mentor and instructor. He is calm and confident in the water and his demeanor is perfectly suited to teaching. He has a very laid back approach that instantly makes you feel comfortable and capable which are excellent traits for an instructor of any sorts. Skill Check offs in the Divemaster program isn't so much to see if you can do a skill. you are already a decently accomplished diver or you wouldn't be in the program to begin with. What they ARE for is to see and teach how well you can demonstrate a skill in a teaching fashion so that it is easily aquaired by a novice diver. Among other things, Divemasters assist with certifying new divers and are called upon for things the instructor may need, to help supervise the students and to help students who may be having trouble with a skill. Skill Check-offs make sure that you can do the skill in an exaggerated fashion that helps the usually already nervous student by both making the skill seem easy and being easily mimicked without confusion. Kevin ran through the 20 or something skills ranging from gear prep to surface and underwater water skills and prepped me for what he expected. He made a few suggestions and tweaks and then at the end of the day gave me the thumbs up and said i did great!...so thats one more load off my mind. LOL but the main load comes tomorrow when start doing some swim tests. Tomorrow i believe its the 400 yard free swim, the 800 yard snorkel/mask and fins swim, 15 minute water tread without hands and the 100 yard diver tow. Im going to try seriously to just not drown..ugh.

 

So much more to go...Ugh I thought school was out for a while.

 

Divemaster:

Knowledge Development:

 

Candidates must read the PADI Dive-master Manual and complete all the Knowledge Reviews

There are eight exams:

Physics.

Physiology and First Aid.

Equipment.

Decompression Theory and the RDP (Recreation Dive Planner)

Dive Skills and the Environment.

Supervising Activities for Certified Divers.

Supervising Student Divers in Training.

PADI Divemaster Conducted Programs.

Each dive master candidate must complete an Emergency Assistance Plan. This is essentially an emergency plan for evacuation and assistance in the unlikely event of a diving accident.

Stamina and Water Skills:

 

Candidates must perform four exercises. Points are awarded from 1-5 based on candidate performance, a minimum of 12 points are required to pass.

 

The candidate must swim 400 meters/yards without stopping using no swimming aids and using any stroke or combination of strokes desired.

Using no aids and wearing only a swimsuit, the candidate will stay afloat by treading water, drown proofing, bobbing or floating for 15 minutes, with hands (not arms) out of the water during the last 2 minutes.

Using a mask, fins, snorkel and swimsuit only (no BCD or flotation aids) and swimming with the face in the water, the candidate must swim nonstop for 800 meters / yards.

Wearing full scuba equipment, the candidate must push or tow an inert diver in full scuba at the surface 100 meters/yards nonstop without assistance.

Rescue Assessment:

 

Candidates must perform a simulated rescue of an unresponsive, non-breathing diver. The exercise is pass/fail, but the candidate's performance must be of demonstration quality. Being a dive master in training you'll be assisting with many rescue diver courses ensuring that your skills are sharp and honed.

 

Skill Demonstration:

 

Candidates must demonstrate the PADI 18 Basic Scuba Skills. Points are awarded from 1 to 5 with a total of 63 points required to pass.

 

Required Training Exercises:

 

Mapping Project.

Dive Skill circuit.

Equipment Exchange. (Exchanging full equipment whilst buddy breathing at about 5 meters in depth - character building)

Divemaster Conducted Program.

Dive Internship Requirements:

 

Divemaster candidates must participate in at least:

 

One PADI Open Water Diver course confined water session.

Four additional confined water training sessions from any PADI course or program.

One PADI Open Water Diver course open water training dive.

One PADI Adventures in Diving, Rescue Diver or PADI Specialty Diver course open water training session.

Three additional open water training dives from any PADI course or program.

One supervisory situation with certified divers not in a formal course.