1st February 2011. Nitrox Courses.

During the course of January and during our Group holiday to Egypt we were able to offer Enriched Air Diver courses to some of our divers. We would like to congratulate Billy, Jonny, Larry and Tony for successfully completing their course and diving on Nitrox 32 in Egypt. This was a great chance to get some nice dives in with the chance to lengthen their dive times.

Well done guys we are proud of you all.

5th February 2011. Black Cove

We went for the first dive of Vicky's Advanced Open Water course at Black Cove today, along with Dalibor & Tom our new Dive Master intern.

Tom will be with us for the next few months to work his way up to Dive Master and then Assistant instructor. we will keep you updated on his progress.

6th February 2011. Poris Pier.

We went up to Poris Pier for the dive today and also had some snorkellers with us. The dive was good and the visibility was nice. Mick, Vicky, Tom & Neil went to see the Madonna whilst Charlie & Mary went Snorkelling. Emma & Lynn decided to have a go in the pool first.

7th February 2011. Advanced course

We continued with Vicky's Advance course with Navigation and Drift dives today. The Navigation was done at Playa San Juan where the visibility was not so great, but this was excellent for the skills. After training in the morning walking round the fountain with a towel over her head heehee... Vicky was now on course for some great skills.

The Drift dive was made at Alcala where the visibility was a little better and we even managed to find the Turtle.

Snorkelling with the girls.

Emma & Lynn came down to try some snorkelling in the pool today and did a fantastic job. Mary taught them how to swim with the snorkel on the surface and underwater and they managed to clear their snorkels and swim many lengths of the pool.

7th February 2011. Night dive Abades

We took Tom on his first Night Dive and he has only been here for 3 days heehee. Jonny, Mary, Neil & Tom went to outer reef at Abades. This was a great dive with loads of life to see. We found Cuttlefish, Octopus, Scorpion Fish, Trumpet Fish, Spanish Dancers, Garden Eels, File Fish and Angel Shark. With 60 minutes under the water, this was excellent

8th February 2011. Open Water course

Leon was with us for his Open Water course and what a wonderful student he was. He managed the skills with ease and was confident in the water. He had previously only been Free Diving for crayfish and his childhood dream was to spend more time underwater. We helped make this dream reality.

Leon is out to the Open Water tomorrow.

Sue was back to finish of her confined water skills. Sue is one of our resident divers and is coming along a treat.

House Reef Diving

Whilst Mary & Tom were training in the pool with Leon. Neil was out on the house reef with Vicky & Dalibor for a pleasure dive. The visibility was slightly poor but we were still able to see some of the life here.

Black Cove with Catherine.

Vicky took the afternoon off and so Neil had Catherine with him for a dive at Black Cove. Catherine was excellent in the water and we look forward to diving with you again on Thursday.

9th February 2011. Open Waters 1 & 2.

We were back down at Black cove with Jonny, Tom, Leon & Neil for open water dive 1. Leon was great in the water and enjoyed himself a lot.

Leon completed his quizzes in between dives and got great scores so we have high hopes for the exam tomorrow.

Open Water dive 2 was at San Miguel Marina wall with Jonny, Leon, Tom & Neil. Leon completed his open water skills and made Neil a very happy instructor.

10th February 2011. Open Water 3 & 4

With the excellent days diving yesterday we continued with Leon's Open water course. Dives 3 & 4 were completed at Abades Mountain and Abades beach with Vicky, Dalibor, Tom & Neil.

The exam was completed in between and Leon had a very impressive score.

Once dive 2 was complete Leon was over joyed and is now a qualified diver and will wait for his wife to complete her course in Malaga......the the world is open for their dive holidays.

DSD with Emma.

Mary was in the pool with Mick & Emma. After mastering snorkelling earlier in the week Emma wanted to try having a go 'underwater'. However after trying scuba for the first time Emma has now stuck with Snorkelling and will be off to Abades tomorrow to see some of the fish life.

Scuba Review with Caroline.

Caroline came in for a scuba review after not diving for a few years. She was excellent and afterwards she was full with confidence and we are pleased that she came to us. Caroline will be doing 2 dives tomorrow to show off her skills.

DSD with Chris.

Mary has been a busy girl today in and out of the pool and now it was the turn of Chris. He was back for another go in the pool for his Discover Scuba Diver. Initially he was very nervous but he again managed his skills and it was nice to see him smiling.

11th February 2011. Abades

We had a great day at Abades with dives on the outer reef and inner reef and snorkeled as well. The sun was out and the sea was calm, so what better way to spend the day than in the water.

Mick, Mary & Emma went snorkelling and Emma was wonderful in the water and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Neil, Caroline, Howard & Vicky went of for 2 dives and the smiles when they came back told it all. Caroline said it was the first time she really felt confident in the water and Howard is now thinking of doing a cross over from CEDIP to PADI.

What a great day, thanks guys.

12th February 2011. Tabaiba Wreck

Vicky was ready to complete her Advanced course today with a Deep Dive and a Wreck dive, so we went to Tabaiba for both these dives. Tom our new Dive Master intern went along and so did Connar, who we welcome back this month.

Both dives went well and we would like to congratulate Vicky on the completion of her PADI Advanced course with Neil our IDC Staff Instructor.

Vicky will now be joining us this week for some nice pleasure dives.

Discover Scuba Diving with Kiko

We had a young Spanish lad in today to dod his DSD with Mary. Kiko was excellent in the pool with Mary & Melinda and managed the skills and also some underwater rolly pollies :)

We are looking forward to taking Kiko to the open water and beyond.

13th February 2011. New dive sites.

As you may know we here at Amarilla Divers try and find more dive sites for you so that you have more variety in your dive experience here with us. So today with Mary, Neil & mick we went along to Pori to see if we could find somewhere new.

We managed to find a site with a nice sloping beach entry that goes down to around 18 meters to a sand bottom. We found some Electric Sting rays and loads of large octopus.

14th February 2011. Yellow Mountain

This morning we went to Yellow Mountain with Neil, Jonny & Vicky. This was a lovely dive and we went to the swim through. Loads of trumpet fish round the Alien Rocks and some large octopus as well. Good vis and great dive.

Skill Circuit in the pool.

Whilst Neil was out diving, our other instructor Mary was in the pool with Connar & Tom for a skill circuit and kit exchange. These both went well and the kit exchange was great to watch. We will be back in the pool again soon to score the guys on the skills.

We also managed to get through Tom's EFR refresher this afternoon so a very productive day in all.

15th February 2011. Marazul.

Well after having a look at El Puertito we decided to go along to Marazul for a dive with Mary, Neil, Connar, Tom & Vicky we had a good dive. The visibility was not as good as it can be at this site, but we still managed a good dive with the swim through's and canons.

16th February 2011. Boat Diving

We went along to Las Galletas for a mornings boat dive and went to Los Arcos. Again the vis was not great but we found the Moray Eel site and some of the Arches. Connar was back doing his 'side flop', Vicky did a great 'roll back' and Tom, Neil & Jonny did a great job.

Jonny's Point

For the second dive of the day we went to Jonny's Point and did it as a drift dive. The vis was great here and a good dive was had by all.

17th February 2011. Rescue Diver training

In the pool today for some rescue training and reviews was Mick, Connar and Tom with instructor Mary. It was an excellent session with a lot of fun as well. Mick did well with his skills and Tom & Connar were great victims. Their reviews went well too. Tomorrow Open water dives.

18th February 2011. Poris Pier.

Mick, Tom, Mary, Neil, Morten went along to Poris Pier for a nice dive and some Rescue Scenarios. Morten was excellent in the water and was also a great help to our rescue training when he informed Mick he 'lost his buddy' So we went off on a 'missing diver' scenario looking for Neil. Mick was great with his skills and managed to find and lift Neil to the surface. We also found a nice electric ray round the dive site along with loads of other life.

Poris Beach

Second dive of the day was at Poris Beach. This is always a nice gentle dive with lots of life and is very similar to Abades Beach.

19th February 2011. DSD's

Mary &Tom were in the pool with the Juniors this morning. Carmen & Soeren came in for a Discover Scuba Diver course and then went out to sea with Neil & Mick. They Both did a fabulous job and we Know that resident Carmen will be back soon.

In the afternoon it was the turn of the Adults with Alejandra & Oscar from Columbia. They went on the pool with Mary and Tom and then out to Sea with Neil & Mick. They were great in the pool even though Alejandra was a little nervous, she managed to do a great job.

20th February 2011. Abades Outer reef

Mick, Neil, Bert, Rika, Morten & Camilla all went up to Abades outer reef for their first dive. The visibility was great and you the guys all had a good dive. Morten & Camilla were excellent and we would never have thought that Morten only had a few dives under his belt.

inner reef.

The second dive was at the inner reef with Mick, Neil, Bert, Rika, Morten. Camilla sat this one out as the others went to explore the reef. There was so much life here as usual and the sea was nice and calm.

21st February 2011. Diving Black Cove & House Reef

We had a busy day today with divers Bert, Rika, Lee, Jonny,Neil and also some DSD's in the afternoon with Mary in the pool.

The first dive was at Black Cove and this was a nice dive with the underwater scenery looking good and the life down here is great. There are more fish here every dive we do, also lots of Octopus

The second dive was down al the house reef whilst Mary completed the pool section of the Discover scuba Diver course.

DSD's.

Mary was in the pool with Nicola, Lisa & Emily. Tom & Jonny also came in to help and take photos. The girls all did a great job and they had a laugh. We have however renamed them as the 'Blondes form the Wrinkly Apartments' .. this is their decision lol. They went out to sea at Black Cove with Neil & jonny.

22nd February 2011. Tabaiba wreck

The morning dive was spent up at Tabaiba wreck with Neil, Jonny, Tom, Lee, Bert, Rika & Bert 2. This was a nice dive and everyone had a good look round the wreck. There was some nice photos taken as well.

The afternoon was spent on the San Miguel Reef with Bert, Rika, Lee and guided by Dive Master Jonny. It was nice to have Jonny round and he has had a very busy week of diving.

23rd February 2011. Open Water Upgrade & Referral

We welcomed the boys to town. Andy and his son Lewis with Gary and his son Callum. They had come for 2 Open Water Upgrades and one Open Water referral, plus Gary was along for the diving.

Lee Ferris one of our good friends and ex-students was on hand to complete some open water dives and collect a few pics.

The first dive of the day was an early morning dive with Nicola, Emily & Lisa. They came back for a second dive after their DSD and went to the house reef. They were all smiles when they came back and they were now wide awake heehee...

The next 2 dives were with the boys and Tom & Jonny were on hand to help out instructors Neil & Lee wit their courses.

Everything went well and Andy & Lewis completed their upgrade to open Water divers. well done guys.

24th February 2011. Yellow Mountain

An early morning dive was in order today, so off we went to Yellow Mountain with Neil, Mick, Bert, Rika and Nadine from Canada. It was lovely at Yellow Mountain today and Nadine was over the moon with all the rock formations here and the Trumpet fish.

Mick done a great job of being Nadine's buddy and she was very grateful to him afterwards.

The next 2 dives were with the boys Andy, Lewis, Gary & Callum so that Callum could complete his Open Water referral, which he did with ease. We are very proud of you Callum, well done.

25th February 2011. Boat diving

We welcomed back Chantelle & Ade today who have been diving with us for around 3 years now.

We went along to Las Galletas harbour for some boat dives. The boys were having some fun dives after certification, along with Chantelle, Ade, Bert, Rika, Mary, Neil, Mick & Lee. With a full boat we went to Roncadores Del Faro & Los Chuchos reef.

These were both great dives and Chantelle would now like a pet Stingray !!!

We say goodbye to the boys and we hope to see you real soon

26th February 2011. El Puertito.

The last dive of the week for Bert &Rika was at El Puertito with Neil.

The turtles made their regular appearance and also a large Angel Shark was showing himself. This made for an excellent last dive for Bert & Rika.

DSD's with Mary

Mary was in the pool doing some more Discover Scuba Divers with Neasa & Micheal. Also Tom & Mick were both on hand to help out.

They then went out to the house reef with Neil, whilst Mick, Chantelle & Ade went to the house reef too, looking for Octopus.

We now say goodbye to Bert, Rika, Chantelle & Ade and we know we will see you soon. Especially in Egypt 2012.

28th February 2011. Abades Beach

Mark a BSAC Instructor was over for some diving along with Tracey & Dave. so we went along up to Abades outer reef for a dive. This was great and the guys were over the moon with the visibility here.

Black Cove Moon Pools.

The afternoon was spent at Black Cove Moon Pools with Mark and Steve. This was excellent as it was the first real 'open water' dive for Steve as he had previously done all his training in Chepstow Quarry in the UK. Steve was excellent and had a brilliant dive, we are pleased as he now wants to do a Night dive too,

Whilst Steve was out diving in the sea, Sian his wife was in the pool with Mary reveiwing her skills before doing her PADI referral. Sian has had a few hiccups here and there and so we gave her loads of encouragement.

Sian was great in the pool and we are looking forward to the sea dive tomorrow.

Night Dive House Reef.

Another busy day at Amarilla Divers and so we finished with a night dive with Neil, Jonny, Steve, Mark & Tom. This was the first night dive for Steve and he loved it. Tom was also finishing his Night Diver Specialty with Neil.

Many thanks to all the divers, students and staff.

Amarilla Divers.