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.