NASA releases video of gulf oil spill

NASA made this haunting time-lapse video of the oil spill that continues to devastate the Gulf region. The shocking images give us an idea how terrible the disaster is.

 Image from NASA, you can see a complete gallery or real time images here

This two-minute video by NASA shows a space-based view of the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the horrifying oil spill that has followed. The images--taken using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument--were hand-picked to best showcase the disaster.

The images were put together from their satellites Terra and Aqua. The images begin with the oil rig explosion and run through May 24th.

PADI Rescue Diver Course in Taganga

The PADI Rescue Diver course is an important and crucial step in expanding a diver’s knowledge and experience beyond a purely recreational level. During the PADI Open Water Course you focused primarily on yourself and mastered the knowledge and skills needed to take care of yourself underwater and on the surface. In the PADI Advanced Open Water course, your focus broadened to include the environment in a variety of situations such as drift, poor visibility or at night.

In the PADI Rescue Diver course you’re about to enter the next stage, in which you develop knowledge and skills in order to effectively perform diver assists and rescues, manage diving accident situations and provide first aid.

The course will challenge your ability to recognise and deal with problems in a calm and efficient way as they present themselves. Most certified Rescue Divers look back on their rescue training as one of the most demanding (mentally and physically), challenging and therefore most rewarding programs.

At the end of the course, your skills and confidence as a diver will be enhanced, making all of your dives more relaxed and enjoyable.

The course has three components to be conducted over 3 days.

1. Knowledge development session
2. Confined training session 
3. Open water rescue training session.

 
1. Knowledge development session: This section develops the principles and information you will need for preventing and handling diving emergencies, covering topics such as equipment problems, self-rescue, diving first aid, diver stress, emergency management, and rescue and assistance procedures for both conscious and unconscious victims on the surface and underwater.

You will watch a video and receive your own PADI Rescue Manual. This part can be completed as independent study but any of our instructors are ready to solve your doubts or to help you understand any subject.  The manual has questions you need to answer before you take the exam, your instructor will check those answers, and explain every question you didn´t understand and every wrong answer and after that you will take the final exam; pretty easy!!

2. Confined training session: This session is conducted on days 1 or 2 of the course, after you have watched the video and read your manual.  In shallow water and on surface you will apply the knowledge you've acquired from independent study and we will teach you to recognise and deal with different emergency situations. You will learn and practice self-rescue procedures, how to assist tired diver at the surface, how to manage a situation with panicked diver or a distressed diver underwater, swimmng assistance protocols, surfacing the unresponsive diver and further emergency procedures. 

3. Open water session:  During the open water training your instructor will demonstrate all of the skills learnt one more time with the help of a dive master or qualified assistant who plays the role of the victim. Once all of the skills have been practiced over and over you are ready for the final day´s training : “live” scenarios – now this is where it all comes together and your rescue skills and knowledge are put to the test. Your instructor will design some “live” scenarios to surprise you with and test what you have learnt.  As a rescue diver you really need to be calm, whilst alert and prepared at all times. This session takes place over the days 2 and 3 of the course.

Prerequisites: You must be at least 12 years old, have an Advanced Open Water Diver certification and current CPR and First Aid Training. Our Emergency First Response Primary Care (CPR) and Secondary Care (First Aid) courses meet these requirements.

 

Who is Aquantis

Aquantis opened 2 years ago with 4 people, the owners and 2 workers more.  Now we are a nice group of people wanting to share our Passion for Diving.  Every single day we meet at 7:30a.m to start organizing our diving trips and sometimes we work until 10p.m doing theory classes or night dives.

This is the people who makes possible our dream of living in front of the beach doing what we like most: diving and receiving new friends at home.

Ali. He is from Taganga, he cannot stop, Ali is doing something all the time. Ali fills tanks, cleans up the dive gear , prepares the diving trips,  assists with the dive equipment manteinance, cleans the backyard, takes  care of our dog and our cat, basically we cannot run this business without him. Ali is also boat captain, he is learning to dive and is a pretty good dancer, He dances folkloric music very very nice. 

Liset.

She is also from Taganga, keeps Aquantis clean and make the delicious snacks and the Colombian coffee; she makes more than 5 liters of coffee per day. She also does the laundry and have the towels ready after every diving trip. Liset has a beautiful daughter.

The Boat captains.

Benjamin is the principal boat captain, he is always smiling, lives very close to us with his wife and two children. He is from Taganga, drives very carefully and helps everybody, in and out of the boat.

Tirso is also from Taganga, is the captain assistant.  He is a very strong and kind man, he helps also in the dive center filling tanks and cleaning up the dive gear.

The instructors

There are 5 PADI Certified instructors working in Aquantis:  Chopper, Alejo, Desi, Niko and Carlos. All of them speak english.

We are really proud to have Chopper and Desi in our staff, they are from Taganga and have been diving in these waters for more than 10 years.  They know the dive sites so well, they can identify every single fish, know the drifts, the waves, everything. 

 

 

Chopper and Desi have been learning English  you will find sometimes their English very particular and funny.
 
 

Alejo is from Cuba, really cool guy, he has been diving for more than 14 years in Cuba and all over Colombia, you will always have fun with him. He takes time to explain every detail to the students to make them feel comfortable and confident. He lives in Santamarta and comes to Taganga very often by bike, very eco-friendly!!

 

Niko is greek,  his full name is Nikolaos Kozobolis!!, He arrived to Taganga some years ago and couldn’t leave anymore. Niko is amazing, his demonstrations of the skills are perfect and he is so funny, looks like a pirate no?  He is not in Taganga all year around, he works as an industrial diver in Africa some months per year.  He is married to the beautiful Salome and have a 12 years old diver: Mateo

And now Los Caleños, (from Cali).

Carlos started working with us very recently, he is from Cali and used to work in Utila,  He is a very good instructor, knows  all the procedures by heart and experience, his English is perfect and his theory sessions very complete. Super friendly guy!!

The Dive Master.

Richard or Cali is the Dive Master in Aquantis, He is from Cali, Colombia so he dances really good!! He almost doesn’t breath underwater so you can expect long dives with him. Cali is very good spotting rays, turtles and seahorses. He helps the divers with everything, don´t hesitate to ask him to remind you some skills before the dive or to help you with the gear. He is learning english, he can have a conversation and improves his skills everyday. He cooks also very well :)

Administrative assistant.

Marjorie is just great, she answers your emails very quickly, receives the payments, processes the certifications, uploads the pictures, knows everything about our diving trips and gives you very good information about restaurants, hostels, buses schedules, flight tickets and more, always more. She is an advanced diver and speaks english. 

Marjorie is from Santamarta and works with passion every single day.