Week 4 in Punta Gruesa, TEFL begins, EFR scenarios and full moon GVI awards!!

This week saw the beginning of the TEFL program in Mahahual. We soon found out that teaching a class of eight year olds (when you don’t speak a word of Spanish) is fantastic fun although controlling them is somewhat of a challenge!

Raph’s secondary school science experiments were a scorching success, with everyone looking forward to what is in store this week. Also a good number of adults showed up for the evening classes at the school with professions from construction workers to bartenders and taxi drivers.

At the end of a busy day we came away will feelings of achievement, not only in our teaching but also in what we had learnt and experienced. We can’t wait to get the chance to have another go!

At the Friday night “Full moon party”, the weekly awards were presented. The “Dunce of the Week” award went to staff member Dave for spraying himself in the face with the water hose. The “Genius” award went to Rachel for achieving an amazing 99% on her first attempt at the full fish species exam. The rest of the night followed with general merriment under the full moon lit beach.

Thanks to a spell of excellent diving weather we have been sending out 5 waves of coral and fish spot dives per day and divers have been lucky enough to spot sharks, turtles, stingrays and the occasional dolphin along with the usual parade of giant parrot fish, friendly groupers and curious barracuda plus a crab with claws as big as your hand!

On top of daily duties and diving, most of us have been working hard at BTEC assignments and presentations. Everyone passed the EFR scenario with flying colours, involving a “car crash”, many staff covered from head to toe in tomato ketchup and much fake panicked screaming. Apologies to Steph, a visiting staff member from the GVI Boston office who nearly fainted because someone forgot to tell her it was a fake accident! Now we are moving onto Rescue Diver studies and can’t wait for the practical exercises for that.

So after a busy week, we are looking forward to a long weekend break. Many are embarking on cenote diving adventures and others are off to explore the Mayan ruins. Let’s see what stories this weekend brings!

Week 4 in Punta Gruesa, TEFL begins, EFR scenarios and full moon GVI awards!!