Two intense days of examination under the watchful eye of the Instructor Examiner, Rene Bos, saw myself and four of the other pass the IE (the remaining two passed a couple of days later).
I then had one weeks diving with Atlantic Divers prior to departure from Tenerife for a well earned (well I thought so :-) diving holiday in Barbados.
Straight after finishing the Divemaster, I started on the IDC course. Run by Antonio M Ortega, seven of us (Nico, Malcolm, Chen (the first Chinese PADI Instructor in Europe by all accounts) Eva, Patricia, Carole and myself) put in some hard work and some late nights preparing for the Instructor Examination.
All were successful on the IDC and now for the two day fun of the IE.
I started this at the beginning of November 2004 on the internship with Atlantic Divers.
There is quite a bit to learn and it can be very demanding and intensive at times. Big thanks to Geoff, Tony, Andy Black and Jo for their help and assistance with this.
Returning to Tenerife in September 2004, I started my Rescue Diver course with Atlantic Divers at the end of the month.
This was taken following a 3-day Emergency First Response course and is a very enjoyable and, at times, quite a tiring course: towing and dragging Geoff (Bidwell) up the beach at Red Cross is not the easiest of things to do (probably easier than him doing same to me though :-).
Advanced Open Water
Once I had completed the OW course, I used the remainder of my holiday to complete the Advanced Open Water Course. This consists of 5 dives, 2 of which must be a Navigation and a Deep Dive. The other three dives I completed were a wreck dive (Condescito), Peak Performance Buoyancy and a Boat Dive.
Many thanks to Tony Cullen, Sam, May and Karl.
Decided in 2002 to take up diving again.
Had to go to the North Sea Medical Centre for a check on my hearing (following a major accident whilst working offshore in 1994 when I suffered (amongst other things) a severe head injury and damage to my right ear: I dislodged a bone in the ossicular chain and had scarring on the tympanic membrane (eardrum to you and I).
Got the okay from the doctor and carried out the Confined Water part of the course with the Norwich Scuba Centre at the Hewett School pool, again in Norwich.
Once the confined water part and all knowledge reviews and tests were complete I took a flight out to Tenerife and completed the Open Water part of the course with Atlantic Divers. Mick and Nicky owned it at the time and I had a great laugh with them for the week I was out there.
Martin Archer took me for the OW dives and duly certified me: sounds good that!
I first started diving in Gibraltar in 1987 when I completed the British Sub Aqua Club Novice Diver course.
The confined water training was done in Rosia Bay (where HMS Victory was taken back for repairs following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805).
My main memory of this part of the course is when one of the instructors Lee (Googie) Withers caught an octopus and gave it a big kiss before returning it to the water (yeah, I know you shouldnt do that sort of thing but hey its still a memory :-).
Finished the course and then did not dive again until 2002 (dont ask me why, just other things came first).