Finishing off the Rescue course and the beginning of the PADI Divemaster.
Tom showing off his new PADI bag!
Day 2 of training and we are in the classroom practicing some of the in water exercises on dry land.
Our water sessions started with learning how to search for missing divers. We started with learning the different search techniques then followed by a mini scenario where we sent off two of our ‘victims’ to go and get lost and Tom and his other buddy Kate had to go and find them! Using their recently learnt compass skills and new techniques they efficiently found their friends!
Next we had to learn what to do if the divers you just found would be unfortunately unresponsive. We learnt techniques of how to lift properly to the surface and getting them positive when they were there.
Next up was leaning how to deliver rescue breaths to an unresponsive diver - one of the most valuable skills you can learn as a rescuer. This exercise (known as rescue excessive 7) takes the longest to master and needs practice! Luckily we had plenty of victims so we had lots of practice with and without pocket masks.
After we bought the victim to the shallows we have to learn how to properly exit them. This is definitely the funniest part of the course as you get very close to your dive buddies!
The last part of the water sessions was pulling everything together in the final exercise and scenarios to make it as real as possible and put all of toms skills to the test!
‘’The most amazing learning experiences I’ve had through out my PADI adventures so far and can highly recommend the experience.. so far the most challenging of all the courses but has the highest rewards as it really tests your water experience. My instructor Jay was the best and so professional and very clear with me as I found some of the activates hard at first but they made me feel so at ease with the water and all the exercises. ‘’
Tom managed to remain very calm and applied everything he learned in his training with ease!
- [x] Step 1 - Rescue - complete!
Day 3 and 4
Today we started really early in the classroom going over the first chapters of the Divemaster manual. This isn’t just going over answers it’s more of a discussion with Tom and his Instructor.
After that Tom was put to works! Helping the team get equipment fitted and organising tanks etc for our divers. Today Tom is coming along on an Open Water Course to observe and go over his basic skills again. Even though he dives a lot, he doesn’t practice the skills daily!
The course started off in the classroom where we watched some videos and went over the knowledge reviews and quizzes for the course. We had great water conditions, the sun was shining and it was warm! We went through 4 out of the 5 confined sessions with the student Linda. It was a great opportunity for Tom to see all of the skills before his skills circuit session.
He got to observe how we handle problems underwater and what some of the common student issues can be.
When coming back to the shop, we had some lunch and a debriefing then it was back to the books for Tom!
Day 4 brings us a something new, today Tom will be assisting Wayan in some guided diving. Once Tom is certified as a Divemaster one of his main roles will be guiding already certified divers.
Geert who is already an advanced diver and also a keen photographer is going to one of Amed’s famous muck diving sites to find some weird and wonderful things!
Muck diving is definitely one of the hardest dives to guide because you really have to find some weird and wonderful things!
They headed to Melasti for their dives. First up was the equipment set up which Tom helped with and then listening intensely to how a proper briefing is given as this is an important part of diving. He learnt where the emergency equipment was so he would be prepared in case something happened.
Next up in the training are the swims and skills circuit!