We had an awesome Coral Reef Mapping Day as a group of seven. After our Instructors briefed us in the evening, we had to decide which buddies would perform which roles. There was some conflict between our two European divers on how to best to approach the task. It was Poland versus Germany yet again, but this time around Poland won! I landed the best role: Fish Identification. Others would be measuring and sketching the reef.
We each had a small slate and pencil to work with. At the end of the dive my slate was full! I was using every available white space to add additional creatures sighted. I turned to the Two Oceans bible afterwards to try complete a list of everything I saw. This was followed with a second dive on the same reef to fine-tune our first drafts.
Our Instructors were SUPER impressed with our Coral Reef Mapping! Our German diver (who is an engineer) did some mad maths to calculate the size of the reef, and his Polish rival is a wicked sketch artist. Peace was restored once we pooled all of our findings together.
Creature highlights were a Whitetip Reef Shark, two Fluted Giant Clams, a huge Painted Spiny Lobster, some stunning Nudibranchs and a very curious (and massive) Potato Bass. Add to that tons of Redfang Triggerfish, Angelfish, Surgeonfish, Butterflyfish, Moorish Idols, Wrasse, Parrotfish etc. etc. etc.
Fortunately I had mostly recovered from flu symptoms before all this took place. We had spent so much time in the training pool the past two weeks that a few of us were feeling ill. With so many humans spending time in there, it’s a bit of a cesspool of bacterial soup. On a Search and Recovery dive, I really struggled to equalise my face cavities, which can really hurt.
Otherwise Search and Recovery was a great training exercise learning how to tie different knots, perform different search patterns and techniques using a compass and kick cycles, inflating a bag, and fighting a strong current. We were all quite shattered after that.
We have finally been given a proper schedule for the remainder of the Dive Masters course. For the next few days I will be assisting an Instructor with Open Waters training. These will consist of new guests at Coral Divers who are learning to dive for the first time. I’m keen to start sharing my knowledge and skills!
Next: Open Waters Assist as a Divemaster
Previously: Dive Master Training at Sodwana Begins!
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