Dive Master Week 4 - Gili Air - Indonesia

While week 3 was centred around guiding and learning about fish this week was full on courses - starting with the hardest and most challenging - PADI Rescue diver  

Assisting on a PADI Rescue Diver course this week really challenged my rescue skills, drills over 4 days included

• Unconscious Diver at the surface - Getting the process and timing down to deliver rescue breaths and remove all kit - this included 2 hours in the pool getting timing and positions right before going into the ocean to repeat and towing the ‘patient’ for over 100m in the ocean to the beach and right up to the point of commencing CPR. While I was assisting on this course with a customer, this drill is also an assessable task under the Dive Master program, so I completed it along side the customer 5/5
• Additionally my DMT Task of  a Tired diver tow - timed over 100m was also undertaken on this course: 3/5 - I was slow in the current
• Assessing a conscious diver on the surface who is panicking and how to retrieve them using objects such as ropes, buoys and poles that keep you in the boat, then doing the same using techniques while you are in the water
• I assisted as the rescue diver trainee’s buddy during a search for a missing diver scenario, once locating the missing diver (in this care it was a surface marker buoy hidden on the bottom, I switched to being the unconscious missing diver and had to be brought to the surface slowly and safely.
• DIVE FROM HELL - This was a test of the rescue diver’s ability to diagnose problems and keep things going smoothly underwater. our instructor at various points during the dive had his fins off, used as mitts, BCD off and riding, tank band loose and weights out, mask upside down all needed fixing by the rescue diver trainee.  I was laughing so much while observing my mask leaked.

This week I also ticked off a couple more of the tasks required to complete my DMT:

• Emergency Plan for a dive site - in my case I put together a comprehensive document that details location of emergency oxygen acrsss the islands, decompression chambers and their capacity along with ‘how-tos” for a number of common issues such as bites and stings, burns, missing divers etc. This is being evaluated and a score will be issued
• Mapping a nominated dive site. I am 90% finished on my mapping and I passed my map around for evaluation by the other instructors for feedback. Apart from one section not being correctly oriented to the rest of the site owing to the face I have only visited that part twice. That will be updated and resubmitted.

Prior to commencing the rescue course I spent a few days assisting one of the local dive masters with some fund dives with a family that was visiting. It is so much fun showing people new sites and new animals they don’t get to see often.