Hurricane Rina is on her way...

Location: Cozumel, Mexico

Date: 25 October 2011

Having lived in the Caribbean most of my live I have been lucky not to have encountered many hurricanes. They always manage to move away from Curacao. We have had our share of hits but never as bad as the main land (Latin America) and the upper Caribbean. 

However it looks like I can't escape this one. Cozumel is prepared to take a big hit from Mrs Rina. Having Dutch genes and all I try to stay as down to earth as possible but I'll be honest that every now and now and then I do think.. yeah BUT WHAT IF? I mean we have all seen what these bad storms can do to countries. So we are obting to be better safe than sorry and have bought some canned food ( I mean honestly how do you prepare for something like this ? I dunno!). I guess Pasta and Tomato sauce will do.. right? We also bought candles, beer and wine... you know just to have the necessities and all ;) 

As off the forecast right now Rina will hit us early Thursday morning and is growing to be a catagory 3 Hurricane. I am just hoping that Rina doesn't like scuba diving and likes the deserted island holiday a bit more and changes her mind and not holiday on Cozumel. However currently it looks like she favours Cozumel as a holiday spot after which she will try-out Cancun before she diverts to Cuba.

Rina's forecasted path - aiming straight for Cozumel

So to be prepared we have cleaned the dive school today. Meaning that all the gear is stored in the hurricane shelter ( classroom and tank room), the whole of the front shop is empty and we have taken in the canoes and boats. All the tourists have been send over to the mainland so currently it is a ghost town!

Rain has started and wind is blowing but we are not really worried ( just yet). We will just have to wait this one out and hope for the best.

Keep you posted!!

Marijke

Gone Diving

Location: Cozumel, Mexico

Date: 16 October 2011

Daar zitten we dan, op cozumel Mexico. Na 10 maanden zwerven hebben we ineens een appartement en een baan. Een baan als duikinstructeur, wie had dat ooit gedacht he! We krijgen hele leuke reacties van mensen om ons heen die allemaal heel blij voor ons zijn dat we ons hartje volgen Het heeft wat voeten in aarde gehad maar hebben het nu ontzettend naar ons zin. Natuurlijk is deze fase alleen maar een voorbereiding op onze plannen op curacao ( to be continued, no doubt).

Onze multifunctie kamer :)

Hier slaapt ons bed

We hebben een super leuk huisje gevonden net naast het centrum. Het is heel schattig en presies groot genoeg. We kunnen zelfs een luchtbed kwijt voor eventuele logees ;) . 

Het eiland is niet heel grooet ( het zit zo tussen Bonaire en Curacao in kwa formaat) en er wonen zo ongeveer 100.000 mensen hier. Er liggen ook altijd veel cruiseboten en dan word het centrum net iets te amerikaans. Het toerisme zorgt er wel voor dat men heel goed tegenover buitenlanders staat en helemaal als je laat merken dat je de taal wil leren. Mijn leraren zijn voornamelijk Miguel en Aarom ( de capitein en marinero van de boot). Ze leggen me veel uit over duiken in het spaans en dat is echt super leuk. het begint al te komen maar echt hele gesprekken in het spaans is nog wat te hoog gegrepen. 

Op de duikschool komen veel amerikanen, canadezen en frans canadezen. Er werken 8 instructeurs ( ik ben de enige vrouw, want schijnbaar hebben ze slechte ervaring met vrouwen die prinsessen gedrag showde. degene die mij goed kent weet dat ik graag mijn eigen spullen sjouw en niet anders gewend ben om dit te doen.). De instructeurs die er werken komen overal vandaan. Er werken nu mensen vanuit, Amerika, Chile, Frankrijk, Duitsland, Mexico en nu dus ook een Nederlander en een antiliaan :)

Het duiken is echt FANAAAAAASTIESSSSS. Elke dag zie ik wel een zusterhaai, schildpadden, toadfish en nog veel meer mooie onderwater beesies. Verder is het koraal hier ook echt TOPPIE! er zijn duiken voor debeginner maar ook voor de advanced duiker is hier echt veel te doen. Al met al zitten we hier goed om flink wat ervaring op te doen!

M's eerste studenten :

AYO!

I got wrecked.....

Location: Playa del Carmen

Date: 4 October 2011

Once we were Partied out ( and boy was it a good party)... oh OK here are some pics ( do i need to say more?)

Anyway.. conclusion..... we had fun ;) 

However, we were not finished yet! Even though we are now classified instructors we all opted for another course which means we can also teach some specialities. For us it just meant some serious diving. The first day of our course was how to service our equipment ( yes I guess I am kinda technical now!), another part was going to the Canonero wreck near Puerto Morelos ( which is a town close to Playa del Carmen). Given the fact that I LOVE TO DIVE WRECKS i was seriously looking forward to this one. It menat we could go in the wreck using lines and explore it from the inside. FUN. Remco made a cool video of us have a look:

Now you know why I like sunken ships :) 

Ayoooooo!

New PADI instructors OLE

Location: Playa del Carmen, Cenotes

Date: 1 October 2011

They say time flies when you are having fun! They also say that you should follow your heart.... And after 3 weeks of training, studying and lots and lots of presentations we are now officially PADI instructors. I'll be honest this is only the beginning. here is so much to do and learn in the diving industry that I am looking forward to the road ahead of me and what life may bring me.

Let me tell you a bit what the IDC (instructor development course) entails. Before you even start the IDC you must have a open water, advanced open water, Rescue diver and Dive master certification. Once you have these on the pocket you can apply for the IDC which will be followed by the IE ( basically the exams). The IDC prepares you for the exams. We have been in the classroom for theory and presentational workshops, in the pool for skill sessions as well as in the ocean. Cuz now you are going PRO, what we learned during Open water is now something we actually have to teach ourselves. So the IDC teaches you how to teach - still following? Once you have successfully completed the IDC you can then apply for the "exams" which is about 2,5 days. It has open water and pool presentation ( you have to pretend you are teaching your fellow classmates), it has skill sessions in the water as well as presentations in the classroom. And guess what.. WE ALL PASSED!

We have 2 job offers ( I know luxury huh) so now we just have to choose between the 2 of them. And then we must get back to work. Only difference is that the ocean is our office and the tank is our desk, the regulators is our PC and swimming is our lunch break exercise. Such a hard life.

Playa del Carmen reminds me very much of Curacao however it has got that touristy feel to it and has a "strip". The strip is one of those touristy avenues where all the gifts are sold, you find the mex-tex restaurants but also nice little pubs. Some of which we have frequently visited ;)

In fact we are off for a party tonight!!!
Ayo,

Marijke