Certified Scuba Diver!

Up at 5:30, same drill....

I got a pink wetsuit today, it was a real warm one, and they didn't want me to be cold. The found matching pink fins and a pink mask for me too!!! I looked HOT!

Not as many divers today, perhaps 15. Went to Moray Beach first, gradually down to 18 metres, the limit of Open Water divers. At 18m it's a little cooler and darker. Not much to see (at least where we were).

After 18m, we swam very slowly back to the boat, going over corals, and stopping at a rocky bit to do a few skill exercises. We were under for 49 minutes. Saw a small moray eel. I also touched some sort of plant (at my instructors permission), it felt kind of rubbery and sticky.

Back to the boat, then went over some things, and went over our section 4 and 5 review questions, and he explained repetitive dives, which we were doing today. One has to account for left over nitrogen in their bloodstream after one dive, as it will affect how long you can stay under on the second dive.

We had lunch on the boat, and motored to Seahorse Bay. We may see seahorses, maybe octopus if we're lucky, and some moray eels. We did a front roll entry, and went down. Crappy visibility, maybe 5m tops. One of the other divers likes to call Seahorse Bay, Toilet Bay. We swam aroun d, saw a little black frog fish. Did a few more exercises, and spent about 46 minutes underwater. Back to the boat, and headed back to shore. Back at Rainbow, we decided to do the exams right away, so we started with the 40 question pre-exam quiz, and went through the answers, I only got two wrong. You need 75% on the final exam to pass. Time for the final exam. This was 50 multiple choice questions, and was quite a bit harder than the quiz. We spent maybe an hour on it. Grant was around for any questions. If you were having trouble, he would go through the question with you to get the (hopefully correct) answer. After we finished, we corrected them ourselves. I only got one wrong, and I didn't really get it wrong. It had to do with flying after diving, the book (and video) say wait 12 hours, but that rule changed a few months ago, it's now 18 hours, and Grant had verbally told us that, but I forgot, so selected 24 hours as an answer (12 hours was not an option). Court got 4 wrong, 92%, so we both passed easily! It would have been impossible to fail. We are both certified Open Water divers now.

Back at the hotel, showered, had supper, then went to celebrate. started at Shorty's, then Crazy Kim's, then another bar (Jungle Bar), then the Sailing Club. We got home about 2:00.

Met Jeremy Stein (owner of Rainbow) at the Sailing Club. Ben talked to Jeremy about getting us a discount on a special dive (using the speedboat) on Sunday, so we're supposed to meet Ben at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.