From Saturday

Last few days have been weird, man. I sit in the "airport" which is legit just a parking lot and an adjacent bar. I planned my money exactly for the taxi, and didn't know that there was a departure fee, which is only cash, so happily they took the $1 I had left and still are letting me get on the plane. I have no boarding pass, there are no gates. I promise you it's just a parking lot. I'm a little surprised it's paved.

Oh, turns out there is a boarding pass. It's a scrap of paper that says CM Air Boarding Pass.

Anyway, lots to catch up on. Stayed up til 3 am Wednesday what with all the revelry, but still woke up around 6. Bummed around for a bit, then I headed into town to see if there was room on any of the dive boats. There wasn't, so I signed up for the resort boat Friday. There are three boats at UDC. One goes to the North side, which is the best diving and where you can potentially see whale sharks. The other boats don't go too far from the shop. 

Then I went to Rio Coco for my morning avocado bagel and iced coffee. Brought my computer, they have great wifi there, and put in a couple hours of work assigning accounts. John came by, so chatted with him for a bit.

Then I headed up to Fancy Fish gallery for some souvenirs. The cash only thing slays me here, so I didn't buy everything I would've liked, since I knew my cash was winding down.

Went home, ran into Kim, and she invited me snorkeling at Coral View. Lovely spot, way the hell out past Rehab. Saw some of the IDC folks on the way back, so I stopped by for a drink, went home, and that was Thursday. 

Yesterday I went fun diving on the 8 am boat, and the girl guiding it agreed that it's ridiculous that you pay a couple grand for the IDC, but as soon as it's over you have to start paying, so I actually got to dive for free, gave her and the captain $20 each as a thank you, but again, cash. Ahhh! Always cash.

Kim came with on the Old Tom, so we buddied. We went north side to Spotted Bay, and saw a couple of really big nurse sharks, a sea turtle, and an assortment of fish.

Spent almost an hour looking for whale sharks, but to no avail :( then we went to a sea mound closer to Utila, and saw a SEAHORSE!!! Maybe 6 inches, adorable, orange with a silver necklace.

Sold my bike to one of the girls from class for $70, so I ended up getting to ride around on a brand new bike for three weeks and it only cost $20 or so. Quite pleased.

I'm getting eaten alive by the sand flies at the "airport." The bug spray does nothing.

Hoofed it back to the apartment with all my dive gear, and laid it out to dry while I showered and cleaned and packed. Internet was down, but I needed to check in for my flight, so I walked back to the dive shop for Internet. Ran into a bunch of IDC folks (most of them are staying for their MSDT) and we went for an early dinner at Paya Papaya, amid the protests of the staunch meat eaters. They were closed, again. I tried to go there at least three or four times. Bah.

We went to Munchie's instead, and I had an amazing quesadilla and a couple of iced tea rums. We went to La Tranquila to do the shirt challenge. Basically, pay $10, drink 4 shots, get a shirt. Then I had a scotch and soda (who am I?!). Then Brandon and John and I went to Buccaneer's for their shirt challenge, which was exactly the same. Got a strawberry daiquiri, and was soundly drunk. Had some good and some weird conversation, the boys each ordered a daiquiri themselves, and then walked me home.

This morning. Shared a tuktuk with Carolyn (the drivers only speak Spanish) on her way in to her shop, and that's why I'm at the "airport" so insanely early. For a while it was just me and the islander that collects the exit fee. I even beat the Honduran policia here. Lovely 19 year old boys with automatic rifles and a radio blasting stereotypical music. There's more people here now. Probably won't die.

Life's weird. I'm unaccountably sad to leave, but cannot wait to be home. The human condition is the worst. I haven't shaved or done my eyebrows or done anything fancy or girly in three weeks.

The three hours of sleep after a dozen drinks probably isn't helping matters.

I'm flying over mainland Honduras. The rivers and inlets are black with filth. When it rains, a new wave of trash washes up on Utila. 

I biked about 4 miles a day for the duration of my stay. Might have to buy a bike back home, tool around town with the wife. 

It's raining in Portland.

A most excellent day

I'm a PADI Scuba Instructor!!!

The day started at Mango Inn. Got there 7:30 ish and had confined water assessment first. We started with our skills demos, where all we had to do was demo presentation style, no briefing or debrief. We were in a group of five people at a time, and our skills were:

Mask Remove Replace
Reg Recovery and Clear
BC Remove Replace
Neutral Buoyancy Fin Pivots
CESA

I got 5's on everything except the CESA, which I got a 4 on (I didn't inflate enough and was wearing too much weight, so I wasn't quite graceful enough).

Then we went through our full confined water presentations. I had Rescue Breathing using a pocket mask, and got a 5 on it. It was great fun.

Our whole group of 9 were out of the pool by 9:45, and we headed into the classroom for our Knowledge Development presentations. I had a True/False question on what a DM can do if they are a DSD leader. Got 4.8, and that was it, I was a certified instructor!

Our examiner, Gary, has been a PADI examiner longer than anyone in the world; he's been doing it since 1986. He was super nice, though a bit quirky. Had all of us check the Certified box on the form.

They did a little ceremony and gave us certificates, and then we were done. I grabbed a baleada at Mama Rosa's, and ate it on the top deck at UDC. Then, in a startling turn of events, I went home and took a nap for an hour. Glorious.

We all met at UDC around 6 for some drinks, then the shop took us all out to dinner at La Piccola, a really nice italian restaurant. They'd rented out the whole place. Great food, drinks, and service. Before dinner they had us do an elaborate drinking game involving tequila and our own modifications to confined water skills.

A small group of us headed down to Rehab to do the t-shirt drinking challenge, but they were closed. We went to Skid Row, which is...aptly named. The boys all did the t-shirt challenge, but you have to go topless for part of it, so us girls did not.

We had grand plans to go to all the bars that did the challenges, but only made it to the one. Then we went to Treetanic (the bar at Jade Seahorse. See post from a week or two ago) which was PACKED. Queue another weird drinking game. I don't think my team won, but none of us threw up last night to my knowledge, so I call that a win of it's own.

Jhair, one of the course directors, was dj'ing at Coco Loco, so we headed over there. Everyone was pretty ridiculously drunk by that time, so it was great people watching. I played anti-wingman for a guy who has a girlfriend back home. Great fun.

Highlight of the night was probably the guy from my class that came up to me and said something along the lines of "I don't care if you're a lesbian, you have to admit that I'm really hot." referring to himself.

Didn't get back to my apartment until about 2:30 am, had fun, but didn't do anything stupid. Celebration night success.

I only have today and tomorrow left on the island. Today is souvenir day, and tomorrow is my last day to try to see a whale shark.

Instructor Exam Day 1!!!

I PASSED ALL THE HARD STUFF! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ahem. Well, today began, as it is wont to do, with my waking up before sunrise and contemplating the misery of insomnia. Then it was off the UDC dock by around 6:45 to help load the boat and get gear together. The examiners showed up around 7:30, and split us into two groups of 9 each.

13 people are from the IDC through UDC. There are 5 additional people from either Bay Islands College of Diving or Underwater Vision. So there's 18 total. My group was 4 UDC people and all of the additional folks.

We did the briefings, all 9 of them with two skills each, then were on the boat heading out by 8:30. We went to Moonhole, so the boat right was maybe 10 minutes. Our examiner, Gary, phased us in, so there were rarely more than 5 people under at a time. Way easier than all the practice we've been doing as part of the IDC! I had Mast Remove Replace, and the problems he gave me were a student trying to take off my mask, turning the mask upside down, and dropping the mask. Then I was on to the hover with oral inflate, and the problems were using the lpi and power inflating, and that was it!

Then we went to the surface, took off our weights, and did Rescue Exercise 7. The examiner gave me only positive feedback on it.

It was tough to figure out the problem rationale. For the 5 point descent someone else had to do, the examiner dropped under before they were done with the 2nd of the 5 points.

Then we did the debriefings on the boat. I got a 5 and a 4.8, which are by far my highest scores, but honestly, I think everyone in our group got at least a 4.8.

Then we went back to UDC by around 11:30, rinsed gear, and I grabbed an egg, avocado and cheese bagel and an iced coffee from Rio Coco and leafed listlessly through theory notes.

The exams on physics, physiology, rdp, general/environment, equipment, and standards all started at Mango at 1:30. Took me till after 3 to finish them. They weren't easy, but we were all well prepared, so everyone in my class has passed everything so far! Not surprising actually, UDC has a 5 year track record of 100% pass rate on the IE. One of the reasons I came here.

Tomorrow are some more skills assessments, but honestly, today was the hard day, I'm not worried for tomorrow.

Grabbed an avocado baleada from Mama Rosa's on the way home, along with a celebratory slice of cake, which turned out to be really good, I'll get to that in a minute.

Was planning on being in for the night, but the facebook group messages lit up, and most everyone was going to Rehab for a drink then Driftwood for dinner, so I decided to head out. It's a good mile, mile and a half bike ride, all the way to the other side of the bay or whatever it is. Rehab is a nice chill spot, hung out there for an hour maybe, then headed just down the road to Driftwood.

Not much I can say about it there. Atmosphere seemed nice enough, but the server was the worst, rudest one I have ever seen anywhere.

I ordered vegetarian nachos, and they told me after almost everyone else had gotten their food (45 minutes) they they didn't have any, so they offered me a veggie burger. Fine, I say. Another 15 minutes goes by, and they don't have that either. I give up at that point, but when the owner eventually came by, I told her. Nice lady, she tried, but it was too late. She gave me 100 lempiras, which was weird, and told me to come back and she'd comp me a dinner. All well and good, but the server was so horrible there's no way I'll go back. Everyone else had shitty service as well.

A real shame, but for the service, the place seemed real nice.

Biked home, and here I sit. Tomorrow I need to get to Mango around 7:30 or so. Wore jeans, pretty sure some horrible bug was in them and bit me and I killed it. Not looking forward to taking them off.

Eww.

That weather's so hot right now

Dude. It was 89 degrees today with a humidity of 77%. I die.

Another long day. Weird too. I stressed myself out pretty extremely last night, to the point where I was up every few minutes, terrified that I'd get the ascent or descent as my open water skills.

This morning we did a fun dive to the Cayes. Before we took off, I headed over to Rio Coco, which is my new favorite. I had a coffee and the most delicious bagel with avocado. The Cayes are little islands on the north side of Utila. It was about a 40 minute boat ride, and there's a beautiful reef there, and we did a drift dive. Went to a max of about 75 ft for 53 minutes. Good solid dive. It was great to just have fun and not have to stress about skills and problem solving and such.

Then we went to a little restaurant on one of the cayes called Cayeview Restaurant. Clever, I know. The place was not designed for vegetarians, the choices were burger, fish burger, or chicken burger, so I had a plate of fries for lunch.

We were back on Utila proper by 12, and I was home by 12:30. Took a shower, ate a peanut butter sandwich, and sat around stressed about what horrible skills I was going to get assigned. I knew this would happen. I stress when there's nothing I can do, but once I have something to do, I'm good to go. I have my full assignment list, so now I'm excited.

The orientation for the exam started at 6 at Mango Inn, so I got there around 5:30, as did the rest of the class. 3 people aren't taking the exams. 2 people didn't pass their tests, and 1 is taking his in Canada in a few months. So there's 14 of us from the UDC IDC, and a handful from Underwater Vision.

I got assigned a small group; there's only 5 of us (me, John, Marylee, Steven, and Paul) all of whom I've worked with before. The two examiners are guys in their 60's, seem very nice. My group grabbed dinner at Mango since it was right there (split a pizza, it was quite good but I burnt the roof of my mouth) and went over our skills, who's assisting who, etc.

I've got a good set of skills, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with them, as I've done all of them previously in the IDC. We'll see how tomorrow goes!

Mock IE Day 2

Internet connection is pissing me off, so I'm writing this end of day 3.15, but not sure when I'll post. No one day in and of itself has been that bad, except for that one open water day, but I am just exhausted.

Today was the last day of the mock IE, and it went really well. Once again I woke up early (5ish) and had to be at the Mango Inn by 7:15. I was in a pool group first with Andy. What that means is I had to present a full confined water skill including briefing, demo, problem solving with students, and debrief. I had BC remove replace on the surface, missed a problem, but it wasn't a critical one, so I got a 4.something. 4.3 I think. Long day.  

Also had to do demos of 5 skills. 

5 pt descent

Bc remove replace

Reg recovery

Mask remove replace

Cesa

Got 5s on everything but the mask remove, got a 4 on that, need to do a slower clearing of it.

Then we packed up our gear, had some time to dry out, then it was into the classroom for knowledge presentations. Mine was on the most common cause of emergencies from Rescue. Got a 4.5, which is the best I've done on the stupid things.

All in all, I'm very happy that I've passed everything with a good margin for error, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm nervous as fuck for the actual exam.

I find out tomorrow night what skills I will have.

We finished real early, around 10:30, then had a debrief for the IDC. Got a UDC go pro shirt. I snagged the only black one, so I'm pleased :) then we had a pizza buffet at Mango.

That was it for the day. I came home and laid around, then went out for some dinner. If planned to go to El Picante, but in the continuing saga of being me, managed to follow signs for it and end up in the wrong restaurant! No matter, I ended up at Mango Tango, and had a delicious meal of sweet potato and walnut ravioli in a blue cheese sauce. That and a rum only cost about $11, which is a tiny bit high on the island, but well worth it. Gorgeous patio seating right on the ocean gave me the prettiest sunset view I've had here.

There's some sort of potluck happening at the apts right now which I was invited to, but I'm so drained and antisocial I just can't.

I've learned tons, but I've had to interact with too many people every day, and I miss D, and I miss puppy and lizard and my bed and the not 84 degree weather, and I haven't had a day off or without homework for 13 days. Tomorrow is technically a day off, but we're diving at 7 am, then the IE orientation is at 6 pm, so, not really a day off. No homework tonight at least.

Still, might see a whale shark tomorrow!

Mock Instructor Exam Day 1

Good day! Every day I feel more comfortable.

Today was Day 1 of the Mock IE, which is run exactly as the actual Instructor Exam.

Started with us at Utila Dive Centre at 6:45 am. We loaded the boat and did our briefings.

I woke up at 4 or so, and had a pretty bad stomach ache. I think it may have been due to the thai food last night, but it could also have been nerves.

MUCH better open water day today than Thursday.

My skills were Lift Bag Search & Recovery and Dealing with an overexerted diver (Rescue skill 4, just the first part, no ascent).

The briefing went fine, but I was really nervous about lift bag specifically, as I have quite literally never done it. But happily, the skills went off without a hitch.

Then we surfaced and went through Rescue exercise 7. I swear, it's harder to be victim than rescuer. Gabi and I partnered up, and we both did fine. I'm not so good with pocket mask, so I focused on that method. At the actual IE, you just get assigned one, so it's good to practice the one you're bad at. Poor Gabi. Someone went INTO HER APARTMENT WINDOW and stole her computer while she was asleep. Horrible.

Back on the boat for debriefings. Total I got 4.3 out of 5, so I'm happy. We debriefed on the roof of the boat, and it was beautiful out, so I made the mistake of hanging out on it for the ride back, and I fried my back. Bright red.

I have a weird callous on the base of my right pinky.

Had a break for lunch, so I went with Pete and John to Underwater Vision. Had a passable calzone (125 lmps) and a really delightful strawberry smoothie. Basically just water, strawberries, and ice. Like I like it.

Realized I forgot my eRDPml, so I biked back to my apt and got it, then headed to Mango Inn for the six (SIX) exams. 20 questions each on Physics (90%), Physiology (90%), RDP (90%), General Skills and Enviro (100%), Equipment (100%) and 60 questions on Standards (56/60. I'm too lazy to do the percentage). The standards exam is open book, and you can use the digital version. Easy. The theory exams were hard, but attainable. If you got about 85%, you don't have to do remedial stuff tomorrow, so that's delightful.

Tomorrow should be a half day, then I'm hoping to get out to Neptune's.

Lest I forget:

My second day here I got some sort of horrible bite that caused a rash on my thigh. It's finally mostly gone! Yay!

Also, from Wednesday, I have a massive series of three bruises on my upper right arm because the "rescuer" in an exercise forgot a clip and pulled too hard. I'm fine, I bruise easy when I dive, but still, big huge bruise.

IDC Fin!

Now, don't go congratulating me yet, I'm not really truly done yet, but the actual Instructor Development Course wrapped up today.

Really good day.

My making it up the hill to the bridge on my bike was not a fluke, I can now do it every time! Headed to Mango today for morning sessions on the Rescue and Divemaster courses. Had a nice long lunch, so some of us from class went to Underwater Vision's restaurant. I had an avocado veggie wrap (85 lmps) and it was pretty tasty. I love the tortilla/flatbread they have here. Thinner than a flatbread, thicker than a tortilla, better than either.

Then it was to UDC to gear up for the afternoon of water and skills and waterskills.

My group (Gabi, John, Clancy, Steven) was with Vanessa today, and we started out with our 800 m mask/fin/snorkel no arm swim. I swear, easier than I remember it in DM. No problem at all. Then I got to play with a sidemount kit for a few minutes. Interesting. Not my jam, but now I can talk more intelligently about it.

We did our briefings, then it was to the tarps (on the bottom underwater right off the UDC dock. One positioned shallow, one positioned mayby 10-15 ft down) for our skills. My skill was the weight belt remove replace uw, then the debrief. Got 4.8 out of 5, my highest score to date, so it was a nice way to end the course. I didn't exaggerate my demo enough.

I'm still trying to master my new bc, but it looks to be about 3 pounds more buoyant than I'm used to. An extra weight seems to fix the issue.

Went to Foo King Wok (they know what they did) for dinner. Had an ok veggie green curry, but it had a ton of celery in it. Also I spilled it all over my backpack and study books. Went over to Kieri's apartment with Gabi and Joffrey, and we studied until a bit ago. Now bed.

Tomorrow we begin our mock exams. Should be pretty intense. Tomorrow is an early morning out to Open Water, then we do Rescue Ex 7, then we break for lunch, then 5 theory exams and a standards exam.

That's all tomorrow.

Open Water 2

Today was a late start day.

Had a lazy morning, though I woke up at 5. Sigh. Around 9 or so, I headed out to Rio Coco, the coffee shop I went to last night for the hippy open mic music. Had a delicious cinnamon bun cake that I need to learn how to make when I get back, and an iced coffee. Whiled away the morning eating and drinking and getting my slate prepared for tomorrow's confined water session.

Then it was off to UDC around 11 (Rio Coco is right next door) where I gathered all my gear. I remembered to take my seasickness medicine, but I think I took it too early this time; I wasn't feeling too great on the ride back...

Headed out to Little Bight again (I'm guessing it's where the IE will take us, so they are having us get acquainted with it). Choppy day, so we did surface skills first, which was pretty rough. 6 of us were in the group (me, Paul, Pete, Gabi, Kieri, and John). My skills were both underwater:

1 - Hover using oral inflate
2 - navigate using reciprocal compass

Rough. I'm using my BC, not a rental, and damn that thing is buoyant. I'm only wearing a swimsuit and a skin, and have 15 lb and it wasn't enough. So long story short, I was fighting to stay down the entire time, plus I had to play student for 3 mask skills, so my mask kept fogging, plus did I mention it was choppy? I got a 4.2 out of 5 total score, but I don't feel good about the presentation. Learned a good deal though.

Like I said, felt sick on the boat, and was disappointed in myself as well, so I was all round miserable for a few minutes, but I perked up. We took a really quick break after rinsing gear, but only had time to buy a slice of fairly old pizza at the Night Dive cafe that is right on the UDC doc. Not too bad, and the girl with the sugar donuts was back!

Then it was up to the upper deck to do our O2 Provider Instructor session. That took til 6.

Planned to go to Foo King Wok for dinner, which is down toward the other end of town. Again though, Utila is small, so we're talking a 5 minute walk. Made it almost all the way there, and found out they are only open M, W, F, so I guess I'll be going there tomorrow.

Biked home, ate a sandwich, and here I am.

I am beat. I miss Diane. I didn't do great today. I'm tired. Tomorrow is classroom and confined water. I shall crush it.

Party like it's...

Another long day. I said before that this whole thing is a little less intense that I initially thought, but don't get me wrong, it's work! I had to be at class at 7:40 to set up for my presentation.

My group was Paul, Lorne, and John, and we were evaluated by Jhair today. My topic was a DM Physics question, and I got a 4 out of 5, so not bad.

Then buckled down for a long day of class sessions. We talked about the business of diving, how to price courses, risk management, and how to keep people engaged and diving. All before lunch. Today was a lunch buffet at Mango Inn again, and it was better this time. Since they knew they had vegetarians, they swapped out our sloppy joes for egg salad. Didn't work for the vegan in the class, but me and the other veggie were ok.

Back to the classroom for another round of presentations. Vanessa covered the Open Water course, then the Adventures in Diving courses. Really good stuff, I learned quite a bit. The adventures can all be taught at my level, you only need to be a Specialty instructor if you are doing a full specialty certification, the adventures, including any you pick for Advanced, are almost all fair game. Really cool.

Finished a little before 4, and I headed back home to eat a quick dinner, then headed to UDC to meet with Lorne and Tracy to have a drink then go to a "Laser Show Orchestra" at the convention center. I couldn't remember actually putting my reg away on Monday, and sure enough, I'd left it out. The shop had it in the office, so yay! The unfortunate bit, aside from my complete spazzyness, is that the instructor who kept it safe was the same one who was there for my snafu dive last week, so I'm sure he just thinks I'm a complete idiot at this point.

Anyway, it's safe and sound with the rest of my gear now. There was a honduran girl selling fresh sugar donuts (only 15 limpuras!) so of course I had one. Delicious. Had a pina colada, chatted, then started to head up toward the laser show. Stopped about halfway because one of the girls meandering with us knew someone at Parrots. another dive center, and so we stopped there to have a free cup of rum. Very reminiscent of college, and I'm not in college anymore. Good rum though. Walked up the road, rum in hand, to the convention center. It's...this big open room, probably about half the size of a soccer field (which incidentally was across the road). We were there really early, but it was ridiculous. Probably 20 people there, and half of them were little kids. It was literally some music and some basic lasers. We stayed less than 5 minutes, and grabbed a tuktuk back to the shop (30 limpuras each). Stopped breifly by a coffee shop that had open mic night, but it's been a long day, so I headed back home pretty soon after. Took a quick shower, and here I sit.

Before lunch I had time to prep my presentations for tomorrow's open water session. I'm trying my BC again, instead of a rental, so hopefully nothing goes wrong.

Super itchy with mosquito bits.

Tomorrow is a late start for most of us (there are some students who have some remedial work to do in the morning) so I don't have anywhere to be till 11:30. Depending on how early I get out the door, I may go to Paya Papaya for breakfast, or at least grab a decent cup of coffee.

God, Open Water was only yesterday? I swear I've lost all sense of space and time, I could've sworn that was days ago...

Another busy day today, but we took a break from the IDC. Today was all about EFR Instructor certification.

Started out the day too early, as per usual (my schedule is all off. I've been super tired by 8 or 9, and wake up at 3 or 4 am. Dismal) and I biked to Mango Inn.

VICTORY #1. I live off of Old Airport (dirt) road, and there's a bridge to go over in order to get to the main street. It's really steep going into town, less so on the way out. Today was the first day I've actually made it all the way up without having to walk my bike the last couple of feet. There was a guy hanging out on the bridge (there often are people just hanging out hither, thither, etc) who all but applauded.

Got to Mango around 7:40, and had time for a couple cups of coffee. They have coffee there for us, and it's free with our own mugs and everything, but it's also pretty sludgey. One of these days I'm gonna go to the really good coffee shop and get a decent cup, but today was not that day.

Took my refresher tests for Equipment and General Skills & Environment, got a 95% and a 100% respectively, so I'm feeling good about my theory base.

We went through Knowledge Reviews (I did better than I had expected, though they aren't graded) then launched into the EFR scenarios. For instructor level, there's an assumption that we already know the participant level information, so it wasn't a hard day. We each had to demo 3 skills. Mine were:

1 - Barrier Use
2 - Injury Assessment
3 - CPR on an infant

We aim for a role model level demo. We were in two groups, and by the time we'd all done our skills, it was lunchtime.

We were all feeling pretty lazy, so everybody ate at the Mango Inn restaurant, which is literally across a walkway from the classroom. I had the egg salad sandwich again. Solid sandwich. Only thing on the menu that is vegetarian. They can make a pasta vegetarian, too, but who wants pasta at noon in 84 degree heat?

I'm not used to how everybody smokes here. In fact, I think it's bothering me more every day. They aren't considerate smokers. Smoke on the break, smoke at lunch, smoke right after getting out of the water. Etc.

Back to the classroom for an afternoon of presentations on how to teach and structure EFR courses.

After an hour and a half or so of that, we took our exam. 60 questions, open book test. Broken up into three sections, the first one was more participant level, so a little less straightforward to find. I missed 4 questions, and they were all from the first section. Sections two and three are pretty much straight out of the instructor manuals, so with the electronic versions, it was really easy to find the answers quickly. 56 out of 60, so I got 93%. Pass rate was 75%.

VICTORY #2. I am now an Emergency First Response Instructor!

Some of my fellow candidates are ESL, and some party too much, so not everybody passed. A shame, but tomorrow late afternoon is remedial work, so hopefully everyone will continue to progress.

I grabbed one of the Course Director candidate assistants, Eric, and he helped me go through my presentation for tomorrow, which was all the homework I had, so I'm good to go.

It wasn't even 3:30, so I headed out to Utila Teacup, which is owned and run by my neighbor, Carolyn. She's a sweet older lady, a Wisconsin expat. Lovely little shop. On the bottom floor there's a little store that sells curios, jewelry, and other stuff, all honduran. I'll be getting my presents for people from there. Upstairs to the little cafe. It's mostly tea, with sweet and savory items as well.

I had a celebratory piece of sweet cream pie, as well as a jasmine lime iced tea. Delightful. She's only open til 5 every day, but I'll be back. Good prices too, 80 lempiras total.

Biked home, and on the main street, a bird pooped on my head! Gross. Wiped it off. Had to swing by the mini-market to buy a bag of chips for my presentation tomorrow (I'll explain more tomorrow) then promptly back home to wash my face!

Hung out on the porch with Kim and Carolyn for a good couple hours. So many stars here, beautiful out. Had a good conversation with Kim in particular about UDC, the program in general, etc. Super glad I'm not doing the MSDT.

Everyone is really gay friendly here, even the older folks. Love it.

I keep forgetting to mention it, but the day I arrived here, my screen door spring was broken and stabbed my main door every time I opened or close one or the other. I asked the landlady if she could fix it. The next day, I came home to the screen door with the spring part completely torn off. "There, I fixed it!"

Showered, and made myself a peanut butter sandwich that I didn't really want to eat. I continue having trouble with my appetite. I'm just not hungry and not eating as much as I should. It's like the opposite of normal!

I miss Diane. I'm having a good time here, and I'm learning a lot, but I miss my girl and my pets and my stuff and even work a little bit.

Open Water finally

So, I went to bed early because I felt icky, but I woke up in the wee hours and didn't get back to sleep. I was so unaccountably nervous for today's open water demos.

Here's how it worked.

I biked down to the shop (not Mango) and got there around 6:30 am. Gathered gear, weight belt, and helped load tanks onto the boat (we took Martini's Law). We broke up into groups of 4 again, same group I've been with all week (Toby, Paul, and Steve) with Vanessa evaluating. Before the boat took off, we gathered as a small group and did our Open Water briefings. If you follow the slate for Open Water skills, you get through all the information. The trick is to actually read it! My skills were:

Mask Remove and Replace
PPB - Efficient Fin Kicks

I gave my spiel, should have gone into more of a description of how to do the skills, but overall didn't do bad.

Then we all (16 candidates) got on the boat and went out to the dive site, Small Bight (Bay). Really beautiful spot with sandy patches and coral all around. We each took turns one right after another to work through our skills. Just like in the pool, we played student twice, assistant once, and instructor once for our two skills.

Mine were both underwater skills. The Mask Remove Replace is a really straightforward skill, so that went fine. The PPB Efficient Fin Kicks is harder. I had them do it at the same time, and only barely caught one of the assigned mistakes. Had I not caught it I would have failed the session.

Then we got back on the boat and did our fake debrief with our 'students.' Again, follow the slate, remember the mistakes (a pencil underwater was invaluable) and it's easy enough.

We went back to the shop, and Vanessa gave us our scores. I got 4.2 out of 5, which is nice and solid. Again though, very close to getting a 1!

Now that it's over, I'm happy, and hopefully I won't be so nervous beforehand next time.

Had time afterwards to bike home, take a shower, and eat a peanut butter sandwich. Then I headed to Mango Inn for the first portion of the Emergency First Response Instructor course.

I forgot how much I hate the EFR course.The books don't make sense to me. I got all my knowledge reviews set for tomorrow, but honestly, I'm probably not right on a lot of them. Sigh.

Tomorrow we have more lecture on EFR, then we go over knowledge reviews, then we do skills demos for primary, secondary, and O2 tasks, then we take our exam. It's open book, so shouldn't be too bad.

So I biked toward home, and stopped at Mermaid's for pizza. It's a weird little buffet, cafeteria, restaurant, with a mini-market in it. Pizza was on sale (Monday special) for 120 lemps. Got a mushroom and bell pepper pizza, and the mushrooms were pretty sad little canned ones, but goddamn it was a good pizza. My appetite is back, at least for today, and it was really nice to eat a good meal.

Now I'm home, finished my O2 provider knowledge review, and studied for my remedial Equipment and General exams (I got 85% on both, and even though i only need 75% on the actual IE, they like us to have a really good solid score going in). Should be good prep.

Yesterday was a weird day. Woke up again to rain at 3 am, and didn't really sleep after that.

Didn't feel sick exactly, but a little off. The bike ride to class was the hardest it's been, but no reason for it.

Started with a knot clinic to work on bowline, two half hitches, and sheet bend.

Then we did a lift bag exercise. Hard! I hadn't used one before.

Then we went in the pool doing another skill training, and did really well, 4.6 out of 5. Then I took my Standards preassessment exam. This test, both preassessment and at the IE, is open book, just looking up rules, ratios, etc. Did really well on that too. It's 40 questions, took 31 minutes, and I got 3 wrong, for a score of 92.5. I had time to do my open water slate preparation for the next day as well.

Grabbed a super vegetarian baleada at a place called Comedor Catracho with some other candidates in my class. Really big, good, and 50 limperas, or about $2-2.50 U.S. to class for a QA on standards, which was basically going through typical exam questions.

Finished around 4, and I biked to the grocery. Bought bread, cheese, peanut butter and apricots.

So tired when I got home that I mostly laid in bed. Got up after a while, made dinner here, and was asleep by 8:30 or so. Woke up a lot though, I'm really nervous about our open water sessions today - I'll have so much less control...

Partying til 9!

Yeah. I never was much for partying. Back when I was single and not all the way out of the closet, I'd go to clubs with friends and coworkers.

And before I'd go, I'd rock back and forth on the couch for 15 minutes going "Youwillhavefunjustgetupgetupandgoandyou'llhaveagoodtimeandit'llbegoodforyouandit'simportanttonotlooklikeascociopathjustgetupandgo."

So I'd get up, go, and if I was able to find parking before freaking out, I'd go and get drunk, have a quiet panic attack and go outside for a minute around 11, then go back in and have "fun."

Super. Healthy.

So basically I don't do that anymore. I don't 'get' the normal socialization process, so I recuse myself from it whenever possible.

Anyway. My day:

Started too early, as it always does, but this time, instead of being awakened by the nagging psyche that lives within, I was awakened by a deluge outside my window. For the first time since I've been here, it rained so hard for so long that I had to close my window (my bedroom window has a great view of the ocean, and I can hear the waves all night) at around 3 am. Didn't sleep much after that.

When it was time to head out, it was still pouring. I tried to head out during a lull, but didn't manage it. By the time I made it to the covered area that you could loosely call a garage to get my bike, I was already drenched. It was cool too, so I was clammy and icky.

It's a solid 10 minute bike ride to Mango Inn, but I managed. I started the day with my Classroom Presentation. Mine was on Worldwide Fisheries from the Project AWARE course. Near to my heart, but there's not a lot of documentation that comes with it. I did fine with it, 4 something out of 5.

Basically, I'm not going to get 5 out of 5 ever on these things, because on principle, I'm going to pretend teach the same way I will actually teach, so I'm not going to follow the stupid repeat, repeat, sell, repeat, sell, repeat format that they make you do to get a perfect score. Rant over.

Next I was in the classroom group to learn all about why PADI has standards and why we should follow them, then all about Risk Management. Risk Management was done by an ESL French guy studying to be a staff instructor, so it was, okay, but not amazing.

Had a long lunch break, so my intent was to walk to the "hardware" store where I bought my bike get get a pencil and some other stuff to better hold my instructor slates. I get distracted pretty easy, so managed to walk pretty significantly past it. Did pass Utila Hotel though, which I had heard from Tracy had a cool new restaurant coming. I went upstairs to see if they were open. They weren't, still in testing mode, but I actually met and chatted with Carlos, the chef, and got to sample a weird, yummy rice cake topped with cottage cheese. fresh fruit, and chia seeds. Carlos was really nice, talked me through how they are a superfood restaurant, he grew up in LA, but is Honduran by birth. Paya Papaya opens on the 10th, so I'll be coming back to eat their quinoa burger at a minimum.

After that, I headed back down the road to discover the "hardware" store was closed. Why not, it was 11:30 am on a Saturday. Places don't really have hours as such here. Explains why I walked past it though. When stores are closed, they basically look abandoned.

Still had some time, and some hunger, so I stopped into a super depressing looking restaurant/food shack called Ruth's Place, and had an amazing avocado baleada. I think it was the best one I've had so far, but there's still a lot to try.

Headed back to Mango, and it was time for my pool session. Started out with a common Rescue scenarios demo, really helpful, in case any come up on the IE.

We then broke into a group of 4 people, each person had one skill to present, was a student for two classmate skills, and was a DM for one classmate skill.

The way the skills work, you do an out of water intro, get into the water, demo the skill, have each student do the skill, correct student mistakes, then surface and do a debrief. I again got 4 something out of 5 on the Regulator Clear with Purge and Exhale skill.

Wrapped up by 3. Did homework for a few minutes, but it's pretty minimal, so I headed back to my apt.

I'm struggling to eat enough here. I don't have a well stocked fridge, but even if I did, it's too hot to eat much. I'm trying though.

Got my in water presentation for freeflow regulator prepared for tomorrow morning, then headed to UDC. They do a big dinner/party/event every Saturday. I didn't sign up for the food, because it was a hog fry, but I did go to socialize. See my previous several paragraph rant on socializing in general. Still, the rum here is excellent, I visited with my fellow classmates so they don't think I'm a sociopath, and I was still home by 9.

Pats self on back.

Knowledge and demos

Today, Day 3, was the first full day of the IDC for me.

I continue to have trouble sleeping, so I was up before 6. Headed in to the Mango Inn on my bike, and it was early enough that I didn't encounter any traffic.

Andy, head instructor, gave me my official preassessment scores (I already knew them, as I'd asked Vanessa, the other lead instructor) and told me they were all good, nothing to work on.

We then did sessions with Andy on how the Knowledge Development and Confined Water teaching sessions are designed.

They had a buffet lunch at the Mango Inn that was passable. Salad, Mac and Cheese, and beans. Weird pudding for dessert. Tip only, and I gave 100 limpuras, which was more than it felt like it was worth, but half of what they normally charge for it. A shame, as their normal lunch is cheaper and better (see egg salad sandwich from the other day).

Went back to the classroom for the 2nd half of the day, which was Vanessa going through PADI specialty classes, and marketing info.

Finished up around 3:30, and we were supposed to focus on our Knowledge Development and Confined Water presentations for tomorrow. Honestly, took me 10 minutes to do both, so I then did all the reading for the day as well. Finished before 4, and rode my bike home.

Honestly, half the class seems really overwhelmed and stressed out, but I can't figure out why. I was expecting this to be MUCH harder than it has been. I thought we'd have to do full lesson plans; we don't, all we have to do are recaps of a single question each. 5 minute presentations. Absurdly easy. Same for the confined water skills. I figured we'd have to conduct a session. Nope, you guessed it, just one skill.

Dropped off my heavy backpack, and headed back out a little later the to the restaurant at the Jade Seahorse. Ran into Lorne, from the IDC, and his gf Tracy, who are Canadian, and really nice. Had dinner with them there. It was pretty pricey for the island; I had a tea, veggie kofta, and a pupusa and it was almost $20. That said, probably worth it just for the amazing place. It's like willy wonka and doctor seuss had a baby who designed a fun house. Really incredible. The food was also amazing. I'll be back, even if just for the pupusa! The chef came out too, and really takes pride in her food. They're a veg restaurant, so of course I love them. Plus, I still have a bunch of leftover food from it too (got it home without incident on my bike!) so I guess it wasn't too expensive considering.

I've decided to get a ladybug tattoo while I'm here to surprise Diane. We talked about getting matching ones years ago, and she ended up getting one, and I still haven't. It'll be a great memory for me too. Wish she came.

My bike ride home from dinner was fantastic. It was pitch dark, and there aren't a ton of street lights here. It's crowded on the main street, but once you cross the bridge, the road turns to dirt and is super quiet. Just me, the bike, the wind, the trees, and the full moon.

I'm happy here.

Tomorrow is another full day. We start by breaking into groups of 4 people, and giving each other our presentations. Then, my half of the class goes to the classroom for a morning of sessions. After lunch, we'll go to the pool and do our confined water presentations. Should be good fun.

IDC Day 2; or, A day at the beach

Had a morning of class today about:

Discover Scuba
Discover Snorkeling
working with children in Bubblemakers, PADI Seal Team, and in general

It's a pretty nice setup. They had coffee and water waiting, along with IDC/UDC mugs that had our names on them.

We finished at 11:30 and I borrowed one of the Staff Instructors in training's tools, and added the SPG onto my reg. I've been meaning to do it for a while, just never did until now, and it'll make my demos a lot easier.

The half of the class that hadn't done skills demos yet had to do them this afternoon. I was planning on checking out a veg restaurant that my classmate, Lorne, and his gf, Tracy, had told me about, but turns out it doesn't officially open til next week. No matter, I'll still be here.

So on a whim I decided to keep on down the road, and ended up making it all the way to the other end of the road/inhabited part of the island. There's a beautiful public beach there, and an awesome bar called Rehab. They'd get a glowing recommendation from me if they hadn't forgotten about my lunch and made me wait an hour and a half. Also, the veggie wrap was literally a tortilla filled with steamed veggies. Odd. But good, cheap, stiff drinks. My new go to here might be rum and lemonade.

Gorgeous, gorgeous spot.

Went for a super short swim after that, then biked back to the apartment. Takes about 15 minutes from one end of the road to the other.

Did all my studying, so I'm well prepared for tomorrow. It'll be my first full day of class. Bring it.

Sunburn was added to a little bit today, but I'm getting better with the heat. Lots of water, cold shower at home.

IDC Day 1

Today was orientation day. Didn't start till noon, so I puttered around until about 10:45. then headed to UDC to drop off my bike. Starting midday the side street Mango Inn (where the IDC is held) is too crowded for me to comfortably bike. Also had to pick up my dive gear from yesterday.

So:

On the 5-10 minute bike ride, I carried a backpack filled with a giant binder and workbooks.

At the shop, I picked up my gear bag (BCD, Mask, Snorkel, Reg, Fins, Redundant Gauges) stuffed my backpack into it, and schlepped it for a 15 minute walk to Mango Inn.

Have I mentioned I better be in great shape after this? Heavy.

I leave my gear there for the next several days, as we'll be doing half days in the classroom, and half in the pool.

Got there early on purpose to eat at the restaurant there, They have good food, but their iced tea is the best I've ever had.

Orientation was straightforward, and as expected. We then took an epic pre-assessment exam. Well, series of exams. 20 questions each on:

Physics
Physiology
RDP
General Skills and Knowledge
Equipment

CRUSHED PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY. I didn't get a perfect score on everything, but I didn't need one, and I did all the hard stuff perfectly. Scored high enough on everything that I (and my instructors) are confident in my knowledge going into the IE. Awesome news, and a weight off my shoulders (which is good, cause I couldn't handle any more, what with the gear and the books and the walking and the heat!) since it had been so long.

Tomorrow's a half day for me, since I already did my skills demos (see yesterday. OH, got my scores on these today - best in my group. YAY!), so I'm thinking I'll try Jade Seahorse for lunch, then check out the private Bundu Beach (it's been open the past couple times I've ridden by).

So, finished the exam, got it graded, walked the 15 minutes to UDC, got my bike and rode home.

Did all my homework and fully intended to go back to the main part of town for dinner, but I have a heat headache, and just can't. This heat is still slaying me. That's a big reason I want to hit the beach tomorrow, get some water!

Puffer fish

I forgot how screwy dive classes are. I was supposed to start my IDC on Wednesday, but after the paperwork meeting on Monday, we found out that we had to do skills demos this morning from 8-10:45.

Not a bad thing, just glad I got here early!

So the class is actually across town from me, and I found another street, so turns out it's not just a single road through the island, but it's pretty damn close.

Passed all 24 skills. Now, these are the skills brand new divers have to master as part of their Open Water cert, so it's not that they are hard, it's that we have to perform them to demonstration quality. Haven't done em in a while. so it was good to play around.

I don't think there are any new lifelong friends in my group, but it's a nice bunch of people, very diverse divers.

At the class, I realized I forgot my wallet, so I biked all the way home. That little side street the IDC is on was packed with people and dirt bikes and golf carts and four wheelers to the point where I walked my bike through it. Once I got home I realized that I actually DID have my wallet with me. Took a half assed shower. So hot. My hair is already destroyed from chlorine and salt water.

Headed back to the dive shop, helped load the boat, and went on a couple of fun dives. I'm currently borrowing a BC while mine is getting repaired, and it's amazing how much better things go when your gear all works! Buddied with a woman who had a really nice camera, so I will have a couple of underwater pics! Yay! I'm a little disappointed in the lack of life on the island, I was expecting more big creatures. Did see the largest brain coral I've ever seen though, including one in the shape of a heart! Super cute. Also saw a ray and a puffer fish (little guy swam right in front of me.

Since I'm all over the place between my apartment, the shop, and the IDC center, I managed to leave my dive skin at the IDC area, so I went diving in just a tank top over my swim top and board shorts. It's really, really hot and humid here and I'm not used to it, so the cool water was wonderful.

I better be in great shape after this. It's too hot to overeat, and I'm pedaling my butt off. Seriously. My ass is not used to biking on dirt and cobbly roads.

Sunscreened, but not enough on the parts that get "sun" in Oregon, so my forearms are burnt.

Ate dinner from another Baliadas place; a little stand called La Casita. Not quite as good, but good, and a third of the price of Mama Rosa's.

It's 5, and I think I'm in for the night. Might take a siesta then study some more dive theory. Envy me.  Probably shower again. Poor hair. It's probably too late for a siesta. I'm not sleeping great here, and realized I brought fewer sleeping pills than I meant to. Oops.

Forgot: Ordered my food in Spanish today. Pats self on back.

Bicycle! Bicycle!

So, I went out on the 8 am boat to get in some fun diving before the IDC starts. I also was using my new (used) BC for the first time.

Had a LOT of trouble getting down, which didn't make sense because I was over-weighted (went down with 15, should've needed about 10, It's a habit from teaching.) Borrowed some weight, and still couldn't stay down. Long story short, ended up surfacing a little too fast, and didn't make the greatest impression on the instructors.

Oh well. Tomorrow is another day.

Sat in on a DM class briefing and felt smug, studied some dive theory and felt dumb. Ate beans, rice, and plantain chips at Big Mama's, since they were out of veggies. (!)

Met up with my landlady, who is just the sweetest, and went to pick up my "fixed up" bike. Piece of rusted shit. Nope! So I bought a new bike which will take a while to turn into rusty shit, since I'll be gone in 3 weeks.

Had my paperwork session tonight as well, I'm gonna be a busy girl.

Baleadas!

Was going to go to a restaurant/bar called Neptune today, it's in in a coral reef, so basically I'm Ariel.

Didn't though. The folks I was going to go with drank too much and weren't up to it. I did a bunch of studying, and did a little bit of unapologetic binge watching of House of Cards. I think I'll try to go the Monday before my Instructor Exams.

This afternoon I went for a little walk. So hot that I didn't make it far, came back, studied some more, and got overwhelmed by Physics. Now, it's the same stuff I studied in my Divemaster course, which I passed, so it's not that I'm worried, it's just that it's a lot of information, and we won't be covering it in the IDC course, so it's just up to me.

I realized what the problem is, and the problem is math. See, my memory isn't photographic, but it's very, very good. So if it's just a matter of remembering what I've seen. Easy. It's a lot harder when I have to take the memories of what I've seen and actually use them to do other stuff. Lazy.

So I got overwhelmed, and then I went swimming. And it turns out I think I was mostly just hot. I walked to the dive shop, UDC, and my neighbor was working. He gave me a tour, and they've got a dock out behind the shop, so I took a swim. The water is cooler than I expected, which was really nice and refreshing. As I type, I'm not all the way dry yet, and really comfy, instead of hot and sticky. Got a tour of the whole shop, and I know where to put my gear now.

Found out about a study session on Physiology, so I went to that, it's an interesting mix. 2 of the guys and 1 of the girls are friendly. I'm not by any means the oldest, fattest, only girl, or the only one with a day job to come home to.

I am, however, the whitest. I'm gonna go light on the sunscreen while I'm here and try to get some tan in me. Already have to go in for an excisional biopsy when I come back, might as well make it fun for the dermatologist.

Anyway, the theory part is heavy, but it's not insurmountable, and I only have to get 75%. If I can't do that, I have no business here.

Good veg food here! Went to Dona Rosa's for a baleada tonight, yummy. I think I'll eat well here. I've been munching on bread and cheese that I got at the grocery, and protein bars that I brought with me, so it's nice to start trying local food.

Can't WAIT to get my bike tomorrow afternoon. It'll be so much easier to get around. I'm walked to UDC tonight and carried my gear so I don't have to tomorrow morning. Glad I did tho. Going on some dives tomorrow morning, and I don't want to be worn out before I start.

I really do feel on vacation, and soon I hope I'll relax.

Oh! So proud of self, too. Through all those flight delays yesterday, I held it together, No panic attacks.

Arrived, did not die

Made it here and safe after 4 flight delays. Didn’t end up leaving Portland till 8 at night, so I missed my SFO connection. They got me on another flight, which was also delayed 30 minutes. I was actually grateful for that delay, or I would have missed it. Miserable red eye. Couldn’t sleep hardly at all. Flight to San Pedro Sula took off a little late, but wasn’t officially delayed. I was able to sit toward the front, so I barely had to wait in the customs line. As expected, few people spoke English, but verbal communication is overrated, I managed to get where I needed through a complex series of hand gestures and desperate looks.

The puddle jumper from SAP to Utila was a kick. 20 seater, and 5 of the seats held unsecured overflow baggage. Still, I shouldn’t complain; the pilots did a great job pedaling it, and it was by far the most on time of the four (FOUR) flights I’ve been on in the past 24 hours.

Taxi driver didn’t know how to get to my apt, and when he did, overcharged me by 4 x because I didn’t have the local currency (which you don’t need, but it makes these situations easier).

Met the landlady, Rita. She’s great, an islander, which means that her family came over from Europe back in the day, but got dropped off here instead of Plymouth. “Latins” started moving to Utila only about 10 yrs ago, she says. Seems the two groups have a complicated relationship.

Rita gave me a tour of Utila, which is really one long street. One end, the end I’m on, has a little beach, and another private beach that I need to check out. It’s quiet, and about a 5-10 minute walk from the dive shop and the main hubbub. I really like the location. Since the island is so small, Sandstone is considered the boonies.

The other end of Utila is a really nice big public beach. In between are all manner of restaurants, hotels, dive shops, and other sundry. On our tour, I went to the power company, since Utila is a pre-pay as you go model (odd), the grocery, and to order a bike. I’ll have it Monday.

My apartment is great, one of my neighbors, Scott, is an instructor at the shop I’m taking the IDC at, and my next door neighbor, Kim, is in the MSDT program. She took me to the shop BBQ tonight, which was fun, but which I left real early because I’m super tired. That’s all for tonight. Way more than I expected first night here.