A Day At the Clinic
It’s early in the morning on Monday when the other students and I arrive at the school. There’s nine of us, eight guys and myself.
We’re greeted by Teresa, a lovely lady, calm and motherly. She almost literally takes us by the hand and accompanies us to the hospital “El Angel” in Malaga, where she hands us off to the head nurse, Maria Luisa. Today we will all go through a series of medical checks required to be able to train and work as commercial divers.
We’re all excited and perhaps slightly nervous about an entire day of needle pricks, electrodes and other medical shenanigans.
In between blood tests, x-rays, EKGs and various other examinations we have a chance to start getting to know each other. The nine of us we will be studying, training and working together for next five weeks.
Everyone seems really nice, some of the guys work in fishing and agriculture, others are looking for a change in careers. We’re quite an international crowd.
[Left to Right]
Gautier is French and the youngest in our class. He has been working in Tato’s school for a few years now every summer, developing his diving abilities and assisting the instructors in courses. He has just finished his PADI Divemaster and now that he’s 18, he can begin his career as commercial diver and follow in Tato’s footsteps.
Toni is from Murcia, a few hours north from here, but he’s been living in Ibiza for a number of years now. He’s ex-military and currently works as a security guard and DJ, but he’s looking for a new challenge and a change of pace. The Andalusian dialects (including the “Murcian” he speaks, with Murica being its own region as Toni would point out) are hilarious to me and his sense of humor cracks me up.
Juan Carlos works in a fish farm and is an apnea diving expert, who dives to depths of 50m with only one breath at the surface. I’m blown away, my deepest free-dive was just about half of that, when I was around Gautier’s age and training to be a Divemaster.
Omar is from the beautiful Canary Islands, he works in a fish farm where commercial diving is in high demand. His boss has sent him and his colleague and friend Nestor here to train to become divers. They’re a funny pair the two and always up for a joke. I look forward to a getting to know them better.
John is originally from Columbia but has lived in Andalucia for over a decade and has built his life, his family and his career as a chef in the area. But he’s had enough of the kitchen and wanted to try something entirely different. So far he has only seen the ocean from the surface, swimming and snorkelling, diving is completely new to him. He’s always got a smile on his face and really seems like he’s got this “life thing” totally figured out.
Nestor, who works in the fish farm with Omar, moved to the Canaries from Venezuela a few years ago. His grandmother is Spanish and still lives here, but the rest of his family is far away. He’s a fellow nomad like myself and we quickly hit it off.
Ronan, also from France has been living in Murcia for a few years now. He’s an experienced scuba diver and wants to take his passion for the underwater world to the next level. It doesn’t take long until we start exchanging scuba stories and comparing the places we’ve been to.
Francisco, or as he prefers to be called “Toto“, is the second youngest here with only 20 years of age. A hysterical and sweet boy who speaks an “Andaluz” that absolutely melts my heart. He’s full of spunk and energy, looking for a new adventure. His laugh is incredibly contagious and I can already see that he will be a wonderfully humorous addition to the group.
It’s afternoon by now and we’re almost through with our tests. One last thing remains: The Hyperbaric Chamber. As a scuba diver, seeing one of those is not normally a good sign. But then again, I’ve always wanted to know what a decompression chamber looks and feels like.
Walking into the Department of Hyperbaric Medicine that occupies its own building within the hospital complex, the giant blue structure that looks a bit like a submarine immediately catches my eye. It’s much bigger than I had imagined.
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I’m amazed by the control panel that regulates depth, speed of ascent/descent, air flow in the chamber and oxygen supply via masks. Soon the operation specialist will put the chamber under pressure equal to 20 meters of depth under water.
Safety protocol does not allow electronic devices in the chamber during operation, so our phones as well as lighters, matches or any other possible combustibles are safely stored in lock boxes outside.
Dr. Angel C. Alonso, a specialist in hyperbaric medicine and renown in his field, will be with us the entire “dive”. He explains the procedure to us and makes sure everyone understands what to do in order to equalize their ears and sinuses. For some of the new commercial divers in training, this will be the first time they’ll experience their body under pressure.
With a smile on his face, Dr. Alonso closes the door and engages the airlock. We begin our descent. Slowly we go down two meters, then back up one. Again we descend two meters, up one and back down two, until we reach a simulated depth of 20m.
Slowly but surely everyone gets used to the pressure and all of us are able to equalize without problems.
The increased pressure has caused the chamber to heat up significantly, but jackets and hoodies soon come back on as we begin our ascent. When the pressure reduces and the cooling air’s ability to contain moisture diminishes, fog starts rising from the floor, a lot of fog. I can’t help but smile and think to myself “This is pretty cool, physics in action!” but also “Damn, I wish I could film this”.
As we ascend above a simulated 15m we begin breathing pure oxygen to test our susceptibility to adverse reactions to the increased partial pressure of O2. So far so good, no adverse reactions, no complications.
Almost done! Nurse Maria Luisa diligently collects and sorts through all our paperwork and we finally get handed our results and official medical certificates. Everyone got the “All Clear” and we’re ready to begin our training as commercial divers.
We’re all excited to start the course and I for one, can’t wait to get into the water.
