Blue Endeavors is a non-profit dive store that works with local conservation groups. They use a subscription-based SCUBA model to get people interested in the oceans and conservation. I worked in the store doing regular store work like cleaning, and inventory. I also did dive shop work, like cleaning the dive gear, assembling the dive gear, filling tanks, and organizing paperwork. I also helped set up an event for the wild oyster project.
Log 1 7/1/18 10:00 AM-3:00PM
Today I started my internship at Blue endeavors, I was supposed to do an internship at DOER, but the person at DOER who wanted interns went on vacation, and won't be back for a few months. I am continuing doing what I did for volunteer work last year, washing and organizing all of the dive gear. You have to be careful when mixing the soap, it's a special enzyme that will breakdown the protein of your skin cells if you add too much. They also had me clean the store, things like sanitizing the demo masks, and cleaning the submarine and the bubble.
Log 2 7/8/18 10:00 AM-3:00PM
Today they had me train a new intern, I showed him how to wash all of the gear, and where it's supposed to go. I also had to do maintenance on the tanks, this meant replacing all of the inspection and Nitrox stickers on all of the tanks. I also helped fill some of the tanks, I wasn't able to operate the compressor, but I still learned a lot more about how filling SCUBA tanks works.
Log 3 7/15/18 10:00 AM-3:00PM
Today we had to wash a lot of gear, it was way too much gear to wash in house, so we had to take it to follow charlie's car wash, the owners weren't too happy about us using their car wash like that. I also had to do inventory, file the gear rental forums, and sort the random junk boxes. I put together a few regulator setups with some of the rental parts I found. Replacing the batteries in the computers was tough.
Log 4 7/22/18 10:00 AM-3:00PM
Today I did the usual things, washing gear, cleaning the store, organizing files. They had me replace the Nitrox stickers again because they got damaged again. I had the idea to spray the new stickers with polyurethane lacquer so they will last longer, I hope it works, maybe they will spray all of the Nitrox tanks. I also helped the kids program, I helped grab materials so they could make placation nets. I also learned more about the divemaster program, I may take it in the future.
Reflection
I liked my internship with Blue endeavors, I liked the people I worked with, and I liked the experience I gained from it. If it wasn't for my experience at blue endeavors I don't think I would have gotten my current job. My internship was a lot of work, I had to adapt to new situations and I had to be able to work with others. I learned what it takes to have a job, and what it takes to be a leader, to manage a group of people to complete a task. I hope to be a dive master or instructor someday, when I'm in college I wanna work in a dive shop, working with blue endeavors gave me both real-world dive shop experience, as well as connection to dive-shops all over California. These are connections that I wouldn't have been able to make otherwise. Washing dive gear and filling tanks aren't sound hard, but it is, wet suits are 7mm thick and they are the size of a person when you have to wash 20 of them in what I basically a closet, you get quite creative on how you use the space around you. There was no AC in the building, this makes things quite difficult when you have to do difficult manual labor, SCUBA gear is heavy, and moving over 200 pounds of lead weights, or 50 scuba tanks in 100-degree weather isn't fun. I had to make sacrifices with my time, this summer I spent a lot of time with Micky, and to do my internship I had to sacrifice a significant portion of my time, motivating myself to do deficient work I don't want to do when I have other plans that I would rather do was really hard. Blue Endeavor was a place where my ideas were welcome, I had a lot of ideas on how they could more effectively use the space they have available, and how they can manage their gear so it doesn't get as damaged. Some of my ideas are still being used today. Working with Blue Endeavors was nice, I would have rather worked with DOER because they are basically sea SpaceX. If I got to work at DOER I would have had an internship that usually graduates students get, so I'm not surprised it didn't work out. Even the working in a store is nowhere near as glamours as working at a submarine company, I still gained valuable experience that I couldn't have gained anywhere else. I learned how to be a manager, and how to come up with ideas on how to improve something, and then actually implement them. The point of an internship is to make connections, and to gain experience, with Blue Endeavors I gained both, Blue Endeavors was overall a successful internship.