Teaching the LGU dive team in Bais

A few weeks ago our instructor Kyle and a group of dive masters in training (link described the training) had the pleasure of rising early and driving a few hours up coast to Bais city where they met up with a group of government employees who came down to MCP a few months prior to complete the open water diver course. That was the first step in training them to a point where they can  one day independently monitor the status of their own MPAs. Similar efforts are currently ongoing with other municipalities.

The idea of this trip was to get the team back in the water, refresh some skills, and while doing so also have some fun checking out the local MPA. The guys from Bais were beyond excited to be diving again, and as this was also the first time they had been underwater on their home turf, it made for an especially exciting experience.

As far as the training went, we started the morning off with some briefings; going over what skills we would be reviewing and delivering some friendly reminders on buoyancy techniques and other things that may have been forgotten since their last time in the water.
The plan was to go over some of the basics; regulator recovery, mask removal and replacement, hover, and from there just get to work on good trim and buoyancy. Essentially a condensed version of the boot camp we give to new MCP volunteers.

As we geared up and made our way into the sea it was clear that the guys had become a bit rusty after such a long time out. This didn’t last long though, and the team  worked their way through skills and saw significant improvement with each one.

By the end of the second dive, the team was looking near as good as they did when they wrapped up the open water course a few month prior!

Overall a very successful trip! Our divemasters are really looking forward to diving with this fantastic group of guys again as they continue on with their training. The continuation on the Advanced Open Water course is scheduled for late August or September.