So, I finally returned to the sea and just completed my first week back as a resort Instructor. How could I have forgotten the long hours doing thankless work? Ha!
To be truthful, it has been an easy week in which I have assisted in open water dives and done a Discover Scuba. As an instructor it has been far from challenging but terrific fun because my boss is determined that I should find my feet slowly and learn the ways of his center and the dive sites. It is an excellent center and I am proud to be working within such a team.
My original decision to accept this job was the location; three years ago I was working as an Instructor in Tenerife and the breadth and diversity of the marine life in the Atlantic waters off the Canary Islands were outstanding. Lanzarote has so far only upped the stakes of beauty.
My first dive was out of a small bay at Puerto Del Carmen and instantly we were surrounded by Guelly Jacks and Cow Bream in their thousands, the reef wall was peppered with red soft corals, sea anemone and urchins, Lizard fish stared shiftily from their sandy lairs, Wide-Eyed Flounders hovered gracefully across the sand and I saw two huge Cuttlefish. Arrow crabs waved their pincers mincingly at me as I searched for the excellently named Shame-Faced Crabs and then I saw it, a shadow, but nonetheless a sure thing. An Angel Shark of about 1m asleep in the sand, we finned closer for our 2 wide-eyed students to see when with a ripple of his velveteen flesh he was up and way sailing in the blue.
What a job, and for our 2 trainee divers an unforgettable introduction to Scuba diving.
As for me, after 2 days off lazing on the beach, I am hungry to get back to work and hopefully next week I will be able to spread a few naughty tales of resort life, courses and tan lines.
Adios!
