Location: Denarau
Today started bright and early with a rescue scenario. In order for the rescue class to finish up the in-water section of the rescue course, they are required to pass 2 different scenarios. We had Lolo, Steph, and Amanda in the water as a panicked diver on the surface and two unresponsive divers at the surface. The students were woken up slightly before 7 am by the sounds of Big Bootie Mixes playing throughout the forward cabins, just before the (simulated) call for help was interrupted, and then it was into action. Pierce was one of the first people in the water, ready to help the panicked Steph, but upon entering the water, he noticed Lolo, who was unresponsive at the stern of the boat. He made the correct call and swam over to help Lolo first. At this point, there were people jumping in the water to help back him up as the panicked Steph chased him down, demanding his help and attention. Morgan was also straight in the water and helping Amanda, who was also unresponsive. She expertly began giving Amanda rescue breaths and towed her back towards to boat, where there was another team waiting on deck to encourage Amanda up the ladder and ready to deal with her situation once she was back on board. We had Catherine and Jen keeping track of vital signs for the patients and administering Oxygen to them. Ian took the role of coordinator and was the relay between the different teams, updating them on the conditions of the other patients and keeping track of things for when EMS arrived.
After the eventful scenario, the students had an Oceanography class with Steph. After class Ian and Kylie went out with Lolo to catch up on some rescue skills. Kylie was practicing exiting an unresponsive diver into the dingy, which, unfortunately for Ian, meant he was the dummy and was repeatedly yanked up into the dingy. But he was able to get his revenge when it was Kylie’s turn to be the dummy while he practiced exercise 7, which involves rescue breaths and towing the diver back to the boat.
After a lovely lunch cooked by Morgan, Max, and Kylie, we spent the afternoon focusing on the second scenario. This time the rescue class was split in half. So instead of having a team of 14, they were in teams of 7, which meant that one person was now going to have to perform multiple roles in the scenario. There was also the added challenge that this time of the divers in the water was “missing and last seen near the anchor chain.” This meant that unlike the first scenario, a snorkel search was required as well as a buddy pair in scuba equipment ready to go down and use a search pattern to find the missing diver. Both teams performed fantastically and passed the scenario on the first attempt!
We ended the day with a bunch of happy, trained rescue divers, dinner, and a sunset motor-sail back over to Denarau to be ready to head back onto the dock tomorrow.