Divemaster training in Nkhata Bay

I've been in Nkhata Bay for a week now. Its incredibly hot here at the lake shore, as compared to the mountains of Dedza where I've been working the past 4 months. It's about 35C every day. hot hot hot!! Thankfully I am in the water all day, everyday.
I'm staying at a travellers hostel called Mayoka Village. A really neat place that offers a wide range of accommodation from campsites to en-suite chalets. Being the budget traveller that I am, I've thrown up my tent on the beach for MK500/night (about $4). I adore my site. I am right on the beach, I have a shaded gazebo under which to pitch my tent, and there is a hammock and benches just to the left. I wake up each morning at 6am (without an alarm clock - imagine) to the sound of waves lapping at the shore just metres from my bed. Its great.

The main reason I have returned to Nkhata Bay at this time is to do my Divemaster (DM) course. I've wanted to do this for 8 years now but I've never had the time to committ to it like I do at the moment, so when the opportunity presented itself I siezed it. Carpe diem.
I have to admit though, it is a very challenging course, moreso that I expected. Unlike other recreational courses that teach you skills to enjoy your dives and practice safe diving, this DM course is the first on the professional ladder and takes a different approach. This is where it becomes work and responsibility. A big part of the course is testing our endurance, stress levels, personal limits and academic diving theory.

First off I had to do several endurance swims - freestyle, snorkelling, tows, hands-free watertreading. I passed them but my times were not great and I need to improve (I missed going to the gym in Dedza!!). So I've started swimming across the bay from my tent to the dive shop (500m) each morning and evening. One of the diving instructors (who is also my neighbour in the chalet next door at Mayoka) has given me good advice to improve my breaststroke technique.

Besides the endurance swims, I have also taken several stress tests, including gear recovery at depth. I'll tell you about what I did yesterday afternoon. I was diving with my DM instructor, Andy, and another DM student, Nick. Andy told us that as DM's we'll often be faced with difficult tasks that may include aiding and recovery at depths so we should practice drills under those conditions. Our drill: at 5m depth we had to take off our BCDs and tanks, turn off the air and purge the line so no air remains in out regulators, take off our masks and attach them to the BCD, then swim up a line to the surface. After catching our breath we had to go back down the line, find the tank, turn on the air, replace our regulators, then replace and clear our masks. Holy geez, that was hard!!! One of the most challenging things I've done. Its a strange feeling. The whole time you're doing it your body is telling you that this is wrong and to stop and get air. But you have to put it out of your mind and just focus on completing the task. You can get the air, just finish the task. Needless to say it was exhilariting. Although scared I am so happy to know what I am capable of doing under stress and I feel better for it.

Another drill we did yesterday was the gear exchange at depth. Me and Nick had to change our fins, BCDs, tanks and masks at 5m depth - all while buddy breathing simulating that one of us (e.g. me) was out of air. Changing the fins and removing the BCDs went OK but the rest we kept messing up and I think I almost drowned Nick in the process...oh my...so sorry about that one Nick! We're still working on the finer points...

On Wednesday we did a less stressful diving practical. We learn how to make underwater maps using a compass, our kick cycle counts and underwater writing slates. We mapped depth contours and points of interest like wrecks and rock formations, which could be used for dive planning.
On Monday and Tuesday I also completed my CPR/First Aid training which was outdated.

There are other parts of the course as well. There are marketing components for other diving courses and misc. dive shop work. There is also a huge component on diving theory - such as the physics and physiology of diving and how it affects your body.

I'm working very hard at this, probably as hard as I did at IPMP, and harder than my recent internship at CADECOM-Dedza. Part of this is a personal challenge. I'm not sure if I want to go on to become a scuba diving instructor or not at this point in my career path, but I know I want to reach this level at least.
So I'm 1 week down and 2 more to go. Here's hoping for smooth work this coming week!!


P.S. some diving terms I mentioned that you may not be familiar with: regulator - the mouthpiece and hose that connets to the air tank/cylinder that you breathe from; BCD - buoyancy control device - like an undewater lifejacket that you control; kickcycle - how many fin kicks you make underwater over a distance, like using footsteps to mark distance but underwater.