We’re all pretty nervous when we arrive in the morning. Official examiners from the regional Andalusian government are going to be overseeing and grading the theoretical and practical part of the exam.

IDs and phones on the corner of the table, pencils and calculators ready. We have 1,5h for the theory part and then there’s an hour of problems to calculate and dives to tabulate.

I’ve spent most of the night trying to memorise parts of human anatomy in Spanish, dreading the physiology part. No physiology questions, “Me c*#o en la leche!”.

So far so good, the theory and calculation part of the day went well I think. It’s time to get in the water.

We will have to navigate our way to a point marked by a buoy and cut a piece of metal, ascend and show our work. Of course all the kit preparation, entry procedures and our demeanour on the surface and in the water is being judged. We will have to be perfectly co-ordinated and the examiners are watching our every move.

Ronan and I pair up. We’ve done most of the course together and it’s the natural choice.

“Prepare! Ready? Water!” We hit the water perfectly and our co-ordination and timing is spot on. We come up right next to each other and give the “OK” to the examiners. “SHIT!” I look over at Ronan, his mask is gone. He has a look of terror in his eyes. It fell off on the impact.

Toffy, deployed as safety diver quickly dives down into the mirky water and a split second later, Ronan has his mask back in his hand. He quickly puts it on and I can see in his eyes that he’s completely sure he has already failed the exam. We’re not supposed to talk in the water and as we swim over to where we’re sent, I stroke his arm to let him know “don’t worry, it’ll be ok”.

We’re safety divers for the first pair to complete the exercise and quietly wait on the surface, watching our colleagues bubbles. “Don’t worry” I whisper into my snorkel. “There’s still the whole rest of the exercise.”

It’s our turn to cut the piece of metal. We swim to the buoy, right next to each other, making sure we do absolutely everything perfectly. “Ok. Descend!” and we descend at the exact same time. Phew. Ok, we’re under water, the examiners can’t see us. Time to take a deep breath and calm ourselves a little. It’s a strange thing for me, and Ronan has told me the same. But the moment my head is under water and I hear that familiar “TSHHH – tsssss” coming from my regulator, there is a calmness that comes over that I can’t compare to anything and have a hard time describing.

We’re in our element now, this is the easy part. Cesar is already waiting for us with the saw and metal. We work away and everything goes smoothly. “Ok. Ascend!”

Our heads reach the surface at the exact same time as we ascend to show our work. We get the “OK” and get out of the water. Time for the next pair.

Ronan is freaked out and convinced that he failed. We all assure him that we don’t think so. After all we did the rest of the exercise perfectly.

Everyone’s done and we start cleaning all our equipment. We’re all still a little bit tense. No news yet on whether we passed the practical part. I glance over at the examiners, they’re huddled together, discussing our results. Tato is with them too.

I go back to cleaning my kit when suddenly from somewhere the message gets passed down the line. “Everyone passed the practical part!” YAY!

Ronan sighs a big sigh of relief and we all cheer. Everyone was nervous.

We head back to the school and as I pack up all my kit, I can’t believe that its really over.I’ll miss the guys and I’ll miss Tato, Teresa and their lovely daughters. I these five weeks of learning, studying and training together we’ve all grown quite close.

Before saying good-bye to everyone we all go out for a meal together, laughing, telling stories and reminiscing.

There’s lots of hugs and kisses as we say good-bye to Tato, Teresa, Toffy and Helena. They’ve been like a family to us this entire time and we’re all a little bit sad to have to leave them.

I hug the boys one by one, I’ve gained 8 brothers. We’ll see each other again sometime, somewhere, perhaps underwater.

Photographer: Helena, Camera: Smartphone

Ronan, John and I, having worked the control panel didn’t go in the water yesterday. It’s our turn today.

I can barely contain myself, I am so excited. This is so cool!

Having learnt how to do it yesterday, it’s on my colleagues to get me dressed, connected and ready. The harness, weight system and emergency backpack are quite heavy, a little bit big on me. Gautier pulls the straps tighter on one end, Toto pulls on another end.I’m being pushed and pulled and strapped in and connected up.
The band mask is heavier than I thought and Toffy pulls is tight on my head. All hoses connected, ready for the equipment check.

Photographer: Helena, Camera: Smartphone

“Diver One, receiving loud and clear?” asks Toffy. “Loud and Clear!” I respond and we go through the kit step by step. “Opening Emergency Valve. Emergency Valve open.”

“Diver, approach pier!” “Approaching pier.” “Prepare! Ready? Water!”
I take a big step. The water is low today so the drop is a little higher than usual. A big splash and I hit the water. Down I go, yup, this is what it feels like not to have a BCD. I can’t help but laugh. The big harness and heavy band mask make feel a little bit like a robot.
I feel John’s hand under my arm and he quickly pulls me back up, Gautier is keeping tension on the umbilical.

We descend to the bottom and start making our way to the deadweight where I’ll have to complete my task. I notice that we’re a little far left of the main mooring chain as we leave the surface and once we hit the bottom, John notices too. With no visibility there’s no chance we’ll find it even if we’re only half a meter off. John starts navigating towards where he thinks the chain is and as I’m dependent on him to get me to site, I have little choice but to go where he takes me. I’m pretty sure we’re going the wrong way, but honestly I don’t really care. I’ve got my giant, heavy, metal mask, air coming from the surface and this is unbelievably fun. I really don’t mind spending a little more time in the water, trying to find our way.

“Hold on, John! I’m stuck”. Oh no! We moved underneath the mooring chain of one of the boats and my umbilical got wrapped around it. My peripheral vision is quite restricted in my “robot-head” and the zero-visibility doesn’t help the situation. I try to figure out which way to go around the chain and how to untangle myself. At least we can use this one to follow it down to the main chain.

This is tricky and I can’t seem to get it but I enjoy this equipment way too much to be freaked out by this. “Whatever” I think to myself “I’m loving this, I’ll just stay here a little longer then”.

Suddenly see the familiar grey silhouette of my old wet-suit, now Toto’s new wet-suit. TOTO!!! Thank f*#k!! I grab his arm. We both laugh a little as he untangles the mess we have managed to get ourselves into. Confident and sure of the way little Toto swiftly has us back on the main chain and at the work site. “Thank you, honey!” I squeeze his arm tight and look him in the eyes. He smiles at me and nods. We’ve been underwater together for a month now, he knows what I’m saying.

I get handed the flansh and start taking it apart. Carefully I hand all the bolts and nuts to John, who puts them away in their designated container. One, two, three four, this is easy and my “robot-outfit” is incredibly comfortable. The mask seals off my suit perfectly, I’m nice and warm and cosy. I can breathe through my nose (which to be honest, I mostly forget about) and I’ve got this flansh and zero-visibility thing down like a pro. I am having an absolute blast down here. This is amazing!

… MORE PICTURES AND VIDEO COMING SOON …

Done! “Damn it, I should have gone slower” I think to myself as I signal the “OK and return”. Now I have to get out of the water. It’s too soon, I don’t want to get out yet! Just five more minutes, please! I feel like a little kid, playing with new toys.

Back at the dock wall we ascend to the surface. John and Toto keep me afloat and Gautier keeps tension on the umbilical.

The water level is low and the first step of the ladder is about 10 cm above the surface. I reach a few steps higher, pull myself up and rest my knee on the first step. Ok, good to know that I can get out by myself this way. I won’t be nervous about it for the exam then.

As I climb up the ladder Helena and Toffy are taking pictures. I can’t wait to show them everyone!

As my colleagues take off the mask and harness, Toffy, Helena and Teresa start laughing. My facial expression must clearly convey that I absolutely love this.

A little consolation to the fact that I had to give up my “robot-suit” again is the fact that I now get to go play with a pneumatic hammer, chiselling away at the dock wall.

Photographer: Helena, Camera: Smartphone

Ouch! This is somewhat unpleasant. The pressure coming from the hammer is quite uncomfortable on my ears, but when I move my head further away, I can’t see a thing in this water. It takes me a bit, but I finally find a comfortable distance. This is fun “takatakatakataka”. Nestor said he drew a heart on the wall. No chance, I’ll find it. I try and draw a circle, but I’m pretty sure it’s more of a squiggly egg shape in the end. I don’t know, I can’t really see it.

Finally we get to play with all the cool toys and now the course is over? Can’t be!

Ready for the Final Exam?

In the afternoon Tato gives us a last quick run-down of what will be asked in the exam.

I can’t believe tomorrow is already the last day. These five weeks have passed way too quickly. Not to mention…. HOLY SH*T!!! Final exam is tomorrow!!! Somehow I thought I had more time, I guess this will be a long night tonight.

Today is the day, finally we will all look like real commercial divers.

When Gautier and the instructors ge the kit ready, we’re all teeming with excitement.
The Gas Control Panel comes out and we ready the umbilical. Blue hose for air, yellow gives us the depth of the diver and red is for communication. “This will be asked in the exam!”, Tato reminds us.
Ronan and I are going to be the the Tenders today, controlling and monitoring the divers under water through the panel.

Once all the equipment is on the pier (much faster and more organised this time) the first diver is getting ready. Gautier, Tato and Toffy show us how to dress and connect the diver, before it’s our turn to get our colleagues ready. The heavy Band Mask comes on and the diver is ready.

“Check Equipment!” Toffy starts out. “Checking Equipment” responds the diver. “Loud and Clear?” “Loud and Clear!” “Open anti-fog valve!” “Opening anti-fog valve. Anti-fog valve open.”. All parts of the equipment need to be checked and tested before the diver gets in the water. Two safety divers are already waiting in the dock, ready to catch the diver and pull him back to the surface. With the heavy kit and weight system, and without a buoyancy control device or fins, the surface supplied diver is dependent on his colleagues to get him to and from the work site.

“Approach Pier!” “Approaching Pier.” Ronan and I are ready on the panel, Gautier is controlling the umbilical and keeping physical contact with the diver. Four pulls means ascend, one pull is “Are you OK?”. I hope I’ll remember all the non-vocal communication signals.

“Prepare! Ready? Water!” Toffy sends the first diver in the water, the safety divers catch him, descend and transport him and our friend the flansh to the first buoy. Ronan and I watch the depth of the diver steadily increase on the panel and keep an eye on air supply and pressure. “Make sure you keep talking to the diver” Toffy reminds us “At greater depths he can enter narcosis or experience any number of other problems. Don’t let him be quiet for too long, you won’t know if something is wrong.” It’s a little bit nerve-wrecking, I must admit. Our colleagues and their lives are literally in our hands right now.

Tato keeps a watchful eye over everything and reminds us to keep checking the depth regularly. The diver might fall off a ledge or not notice that he has descended further than he should.

This is absolutely amazing. Ronan and I take turns on the panel and I get a chance to take some pictures, or lots and lots of pictures.

… MORE PICTURES AND VIDEO COMING SOON …

We will be taking turns today using the different kinds of equipment we’ve gotten to know so far, while completing the now familiar exercises under water. I’m paired up with Toto and it’s our turn to use the umbilical, through which air will be supplied to us from  the surface.

   Tenders and assistants are equipping surface-supplied divers, while others prepare masks on their autonomous kit. The instructors are connecting the air supply to our regulators and we carry an emergency scuba tank on our back. This is pretty cool.

As the diver you basically just get to stand there while other people dress you, connect you and get you ready to work under water.
Toffy has taken over the roll of photographer for the moment.

The equipment assembly and parallel tasks seem to be working a lot better today and we get into the water quickly. “Oh no!” I think to myself as Cesar hands us the saw and piece of wood, it’s the horrible old one, that doesn’t cut anything.
As we descend I notice that I’m having trouble staying down. Crap! I’m suddenly painfully aware of fact that I usually carry two kilos in my BCD, which I’m not wearing with the surface-supply harness. I signal Toto to go back up and back on the surface Gautier quickly hands me Nestor’s weight-belt, who is currently minding my umbilical.
It’s ridiculously heavy and without the BCD I have to work hard to stay on the surface, trying to wrap the way too big belt above mine and under the harness somehow. “Why am I being so silly?” I think to myself, I have an unlimited air supply via the compressor, “Screw it! I’ll fix it down there.” With plenty of weight now, I have no trouble keeping myself on the bottom.

Toto starts out on the saw and with a little bit of help from some pre-made cuts, he manages to saw off a chunk remarkably quickly. We ascend, get the “OK” from Cesar, switch and descend again. My turn.

… VIDEO COMING SOON …

This saw is terrible, I can barely get it to move back and forth, the stupid piece of wood is moving all over the place and I can’t see f*#k all. It was already frustrating with the “good” saw, this is a million times worse. I can feel the rage building up inside myself. “STUPID F*$#ING THING!” I yell into my regulator while flipping this rusty piece of metal off. As if that would help. “Fine!” I growl and pull the piece of wood back in place. Poor Toto must think I’ve lost my mind. There’s a rock in the way of the saw now. “Me c*#o en la p#$a leche!”, cussing and swearing in all languages now. Fine! I’ve got all day. Or at least until the compressor runs out of fuel. I’ll just sit here and saw away at this stupid thing until it gets dark.
My arm is starting to hurt and the exorbitant amount of weight I’ve got around my waist now is starting to put a strain on my back. I angrily work away, occasionally hitting this absolute pain in my a*$ against a rock as it gets stuck over and over again.

Finally a face appears out of the mirky water, about 10 cm in front of me. Ronan. “You OK?” he asks me. “I’M FINE! THIS F*#%ING %#$*&….” I wildly gesticulate and wave the saw around. “Up!” he signals and lets me know that Cesar has terminated the exercise.

Cool Toys in the Classroom

In the afternoon Tato and Gautier bring out the next cool piece of kit we’re going to try. We all gather around in fascination as Tato explains the use of the air supply panel and communication system. Tomorrow we’re finally gonna look like commercial divers, band mask, umbilicals, tenders and minders at the ready, I can’t wait.

… MORE PICTURES COMING SOON …

We’re back out on the boat today and the ones who didn’t do the deep dive yesterday get to go to 30m today. As we’re headed to the dive site I can barely believe my eyes when I look at the sonar. 137m and all the way down to 145. We’re not even that far from the coast. It almost seems like I could swim to the beach from here. I had no idea it drops off that far, that close to shore. Amazing.

The current is quite a bit stronger today and the group has to do their exercise a few meters above the ground.

Juan Carlos is in the water as safety diver, apnea safety diver. Trained to free-dive to depths of 50 meters, 30 is no problem for him. Should there really be an emergency, he would be down there and able to intervene much faster.

… VIDEO COMING SOON …

[metaslider id=”1230″]

When the divers are back on the surface the situation has only gotten worse. The current has picked up even more and Tato has cancelled the trailing exercise for the day. Too dangerous. Damn it, that looked like such a blast. Hopefully we’ll have better luck next week.

After we (hopefully successfully) complete this course we will be trained and legally allowed to work at depths up to 30m. So, today is the time to go deep.

For most of the guys, yesterday’s 20m was the deepest they’ve ever been. Ronan and I have had deeper dives in our recreational diving career and Juan Carlos (which still blows my mind) dives almost twice as deep on a single breath. In class we’ve already extensively discussed the physiological process behind as well as the symptoms of nitrogen narcosis, which can occur at depths below 25m. It’ll be interesting to see if any of the guys get “NOGed”. I remember the one time I clearly felt it. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling I must admit, but then again, everyone reacts differently to it.

Toni and I are paired up and together with Ronan and Juan Carlos we get ready and jump in the water. It’s cold and it’s only gonna get colder the deeper we get.
Gautier and Cesar are going down with us and Cesar’s brought a rope with him. In oder to show our ability to work at such depths as well as test if any of us are affected by the increased Nitrogen in our bloodstream, we each have to do a nautical knot on the bottom.

As we descend down the line the visibility gets worse and worse. At the bottom it’s almost like back in the dock, only colder… and darker. My dive computer shows 31.7m.

… VIDEO COMING SOON …

Toni is the first one to do the knot. Cesar hands him the rope and Toni begins to fumble. He can’t get it done. Cesar takes the rope and shows him with swift and practiced movements.
Watching Toni’s process I have slowly started moving my hand onto his BCD and by now I’ve got a firm hold of him. “You OK?” I signal him. “OK!” he signals and smiles at me before he gives it another try. Again he can’t get the knot done. He starts laughing and tosses the cable back at Cesar. I look over at Gautier to ask if he also thinks that Toni might be feeling the Nitrogen a bit. A vehement nod on his part only confirms my suspicion. Slightly worried about my dive-partner I ask him again if he’s ok, while Cesar hands the rope off to Ronan and Toto. “I’m OK!” he assures me, but I’m not convinced. The rest of us finish the task without problems and we begin our ascent. I keep close contact with my partner and repeatedly make sure that he’s fine. 
A little too often as it turns out. Back on the surface, Toni assures me that it was only about the fact that he didn’t know how to do the knot in the first place and that he was feeling perfectly fine the entire time. I don’t know. I’m not convinced. Gautier and Cesar seemed to have seen the same thing I saw and as a Divemaster I followed my instinct to try and make sure he’s ok. Either way, I’d rather ask a couple of times too often than not enough.

When we get back on the boat and out of the water for the day, for the other four in our group the fun is only just starting. Today they’re going to be pulled behind the boat on a long line, holding on to a board with which they can control their depth. It looks absolutely nuts and like so much fun. I can’t wait to try it tomorrow.

After giving my sinuses a few days of rest I’m more than ready to get back in the water. Today’s task is training search patterns at 20m depth. The thermometer shows 7 degrees this morning and the fact that the water is twice as “warm” is little consolation. But we’re getting back on the boat, my suit is dry when I put it on and then sun is shining. The sky is crystal clear and on the horizon you can see the snow on the peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Seems like the perfect day to go for a dive.

We pack up all our kit and even though the loading process (we seem to be especially gifted in that regard) is slightly chaotic we don’t seem to be screwing up too bad. Phew. Looks like we’re off to a good start.

This time the new additions to our equipment include a brick, used as dead-weight to signal the start of our circular search pattern and a nylon chord.

Toni, Ronan and I are teamed up we’re among the first two teams to jump in the water.  “Prepare! Ready? Water!”

We descend down the buoy line and reach the bottom, so far so good. We attach our nylon chord and after a few initial communication issues we get our search started. I place the brick at our starting point and off we go. One big round, looking for weird or out of place things. I find an odd looking bucket and show it to the guys. We all shrug, unsure what to do with it. Were we supposed to bring the things with us?

… VIDEO COMING SOON …

I recognise a rock formation an am pretty sure that we’re getting close to our brick when Cesar comes over and signals me to ascend. I point towards the direction of our dead-weight and try and signal that we’re only a few meters away. But when he signals me again to go up, I return to the buoy line with the guys and we begin our ascent. Did I misunderstand what we were meant to do? Were we meant to leave it there for the next group to find? I did hear someone on the boat say they didn’t have one. I’m a little bit confused.
At the safety stop I try asking the guys by writing on my little slate. But my illegible scribbles earn me only a giggle and a shrug.

When we get back to the boat Tato immediately notices the missing brick and gives us quite the talking to. Well, at least that clears that up, either misunderstood Cesar on the surface or under water. Either way, we woke the angry polar bear.

The rest of us don’t seem to be doing much better. An anchor was supposed to be brought up that wasn’t and we all feel a little dazed and confused. Clearly we missed something here. For a while its almost quiet on the boat. But the spirits lift soon and by the time we get back everyone’s back to their old, cheerful selves.

[metaslider id=”1178″]

I’m not the biggest fan of getting up early, but today is different. We’re going to use a surface-supplied air source for the first time. This it the part of commercial diving everyone’s seen before, in movies and documentaries, even without knowing anything about it.
Everyone’s excited to get started with the “cool stuff”.

In the classroom we get a thorough briefing on what is about to happen. It’s my turn today to be Team Leader, which means I’m in charge of getting all necessary and mandatory equipment to and from the pier safely.

Cesar and Gautier are getting the compressor and umbilical ready while the rest of us ready our kit. Some of us will be having another go with the full-face masks, while two at a time will do their first surface-supplied dive in the dock.
Of course we’re not just going to sit around on the mirky bottom. The flansh with its nuts and bolts is packed up as well and along with it pieces of wood, the saw, buoys, ropes and other things. They’ve been our steady companions since the day we met them.
After all it’s not just about mastering the new equipment. As commercial diver’s we’re expected to work on construction sites and oil platforms, fix and inspect damns and reservoirs and do a multitude of other challenging things under water.

Once all the kit is at the pier, Tato and Gautier show everyone how to equip and dress the first pair of divers before it’s on us to help our colleagues out. Of course Tato and the other instructors are keeping a strict eye on things.

[metaslider id=”1038″]

While half the group is busy getting the surface-supplied divers ready, the others are placing buoys and getting their full-face masks ready.
We only have a limited time in the water, so the teams have to work parallel. It’s an exercise in coordination and timing, while mastering recently learnt skills and acquiring new ones.
There’s three of us in the team and while the others fulfil their tasks underwater, act as safety-divers or control the surface-supplied divers, I make sure all the equipment is in its place and with everyone ready to go, I get a chance to take some pictures and videos.

… VIDEO COMING SOON …

[metaslider id=”1115″]

So instead… Spectacular Sunrises

Since the start of the second week, part of our morning routine, designed to keep us in shape for a physically challenging job, is running.

[metaslider id=”995″]

And while I truly and utterly despise running, the sunrises are absolutely spectacular and Loki, my Husky who accompanies me on most of my adventures, appreciates a second round of morning exercise.

A post shared by Patricia Francisconi . (@patriciamfrancisconi) on Dec 6, 2017 at 11:48pm PST

Today, most of the Commercial Divers in training will test their orientation skills in the open water, out in the ocean. I however am banned from the water due to my cold and the trouble I had equalising yesterday. Ronan has to sit this one out as well. He’s hurt his back lifting one of the 18L tanks the wrong way. Luckily the two of us, already certified scuba divers, went for a fun-dive with Toffy last weekend to the same spot. We already had a chance to show Tato that we can find our way back to the boat, despite the slight current. It’s a cool dive-site and I really want to go in the water. “But Tato, I think I can equalise fine today”, I plead with him as the others get ready. “No! You had enough trouble to stop the exercise yesterday. Out of the water today!” Fine, I’ll annoy everyone with my camera in their faces then. And perhaps persuade Gautier to take the GoPro with him on the dive.

… VIDEO COMING SOON …

Toni had to take care of some paperwork in the morning and only made it in time to jump on the boat in his street clothes.  The three of us considered “dead” for the day and the rest of the team has to load equipment and get ready by themselves.

Once we’re out of the port (and pretty much stopped), Tato lets me steer the boat for a bit. It’s not quite as cool as being under water, but I have to say it’s pretty awesome. This is the biggest boat I’ve ever gotten to “take for a spin”.

Photo: Toni, Camera: iPhone 6s

I really like this boat, it has charm and feels comfortable, and with Capitán Tato behind the wheel my fantasy takes my right back to those childhood stories and daring sea-captains.

[metaslider id=”916″]

First Aid, Oxygen and Accidents

In the afternoon it’s time to get to know the oxygen kit and how and when to use it. It’s part of the mandatory equipment for every dive. After a thorough explanation and revision of first aid procedures we go straight into diving accidents. It’s not necessarily the most pleasant of topics to think about. But should something ever happen, we better know how to react, otherwise it’s our life on the line, or that of our colleagues.

[metaslider id=”963″]

Being a catholic country, tomorrow’s Day of Immaculate Conception is a public holiday in Spain. We get the day off because Tato’s presence is required at the annual naval parade, where some of his alumni of navy-divers will be performing.

Three day weekend, I’ll have some time to rest up and study, and hopefully I’m back in the water next week.