Snorkel test

It was another early morning by our choice. Since we would surely not feel like waking up for sharks tomorrow or the following day, this was our last chance to potentially see our friendly thresher sharks. Even though we had to wake up bright and early, I felt the day had a great sense of relief to it knowing there would be no workshops or skill circuits, only fun dives. We made it to the dive shop on time by 4:30 and we were ready to start the day. We dove on Old Monad and I feel like the sharks must have known that we were leaving as we had 2 very good encounters. My group was the last to jump in. The other groups had all gone to the right therefore the divemaster took us to the left where we spotted a very nice shark right away. I was staying back a bit to see if the paying customers wanted to take the prime viewing spot. They did not seem to take this opportunity and then the divemaster motioned for me to get closer. This shark came so close to the divemaster he could have petted it. The divemaster told me to stay close to the bottom and limit my bubbles when the shark came close to optimize the encounter by keeping the shark happy. Soon Jeff's group came over and he got to see my new shark friend close up as well. We watched this shark for probably 20 minutes. Later in the dive we had a second encounter that was not quite as close but was still very exciting. I would have to say that this was a good last day diving with the sharks

After the shark dive, we had a nice breakfast at Oscars with some of our fellow interns. We had signed up for the morning dive at Quilliano and when we checked the dive board in the moring Jeff and I were on the dive together without a staff divemaster. This was a dive site we had never been to before, but seeing as how we were now qualified as divemasters we had no problem diving the site without a guide. Jeff and I took our time on the dive site searching for any neat little creatures we could find. We found several small shrimp, a snowflake eel, some saddleback clowns and some well camoflaged filefish. Jeff had heard that there were some pygmy seahorses (they are only 1/2" full grown) at this dive site so everytime we found a sea fan he would carefully search it. He did not find the elusive pygmy seahorse this time, and later learned the sea fan that had the sea horse was a short swim off of the main reef. We had our good friend Betty on the boat with us for this dive yet she was in a seperate group for the dive itself. We still got to enjoy her company on the boat and seeing her around the dive site.

After returning to the dive shop and washing up our gear, we headed off to the village. With tomorrow being my birthday we figured we would go to the one and only bakery on the island and order a cake. It seemed like an easy task as we had already done this once for Betty's birthday, we already knew what size and flavor we would order. Jeff had decided to have them write "Happy Birthday Bugs Bonnie" on the cake since CiCi, one of the waitresses at Oscars had given me that nickname recently. Much to our surprise when we arrived at the bakery the woman told us that they could not make a cake since they were all out of cake flour until Saturday. The island had been so busy with fiesta over the last weekend that they had used up all of their stock. This just did not seem fair Betty had 2 birthday cakes on her birthday and I could not even get one. Jeff and I put on our thinking caps, we had to have some kind of birthday cake solution. That was when it hit me, let's make a Choco Mucho candy bar cake. So off to the little store across from our house we went. The decision was to get 2 different flavors and arrange them in some kind of cake configuration. We bought one case of the peanut butter and caramel along with a case of white chocolate, a two tone cake seemed appropriate. With it being so hot here all the time, we thought it best if the candy bars would be frozen so we placed them in the freezer in the common area of our housing. With two cases of Choco Muchos costing only 200 php instead of 800 php for a cake we now had extra money for drinks and a make shift cake (The $100 USD would stretch even further). While we walking around the village, we came across two little girls. They were whispering and looking over at me, oh the little disco girls I realized as tehy approached me. They did not speak much English but I could tell they were excited to see me and wanted to know when we could all dance again. I twirled the girl around a little and reminsced about our dancing night. She asked if she could come see my home but I did not think this would be appropriate to have these little children walk off with me, who is technically a stranger. I also did not want to hurt their feelings. I tried to explain my busy dive intern schedule and eventually headed out of the village. I think they followed us to the edge of the village before they returned to where we met up with them. It was nice to see them again. After all of this running around, we decided not to even try and get on the afternoon dive. It had been an early morning and would no doubt be a late night so back to the room for a nap seemed like a good idea.

After getting a couple hour nap in, we headed off to the dive shop to finish up all the necessary paperwork for our divemaster course. We sat down with 2 of our instructors and looked over what it was we had accomplished and how we had scored overall. Both of our scores were rather impressive, we were very happy with what we had completed. We then discussed our opinions of the program and what we thought could make it better. Once all of the I's were dotted and the T's crossed we headed over to the table with all of the other interns and had a nice dinner. This was when the waiting began, they tell everyone that the snorkel test will happen around 1900. However this is never the case and when it was our day for the snorkel test it became a little nerve racking waiting for them to make the big announcement. Knowing full well that once they do, a very large crowd will form around us with all eyes on whomever has the snorkel. As this waiting game continued it became a realization that after tonight we would only have one more night with this great group of friends that we had acquired over the last month. It is funny how a big group like this can come together over a passion that we all share, spend this long together, then one by one all go off in separate directions. As the instructors started gathering I began preparing myself, just as I was telling myself I was ready I noticed a tray full of shark bite shots. The announcement was made that tonight had a variety of events that they called the appetizer, main course, and then dessert. The shark bite shots must be the first course. I had forgotten that we still had the shots coming for our 2 specialty courses that we had completed. The instructors each announced their students and what the certifications were. By the end all of the interns had at least one shot, most of us had 2. The exception was Rick, who had not drank since he got here a month ago, he had decided he was going to put his sobriety on hold tonight. This was good timing as he had 3 shark bite shots to take. After all of the shots were down the hatch, we had another short wait until they called me up to the bar. I motioned for Jeff to come with me but Mack told him to sit back down. What was going on here? They always have interns doing the snorkel test on the same day come up together. Mack handed me the blacked out snorkel test mask and snorkel. He motioned to put it on, I am certian I had a very puzzled and maybe a little nervous look on my face at this point but I went with it. As I sat on the bar stool not being able to see what was going on I hear them announcing how "Bonnie is very competetive and always wants to be first at competitions". At this point I had come to terms with doing the snorkel test first, then they start telling everyone "Bonnie did something very special that no other intern did". Ok now I am scared, what could I possibly have done that I am now going to pay for, was it my squirely behaviour from the other day, or what could it be. The next phrase I hear is "because what she did was so special she is going to get this" then everyone in the restaurant went nuts. Ohh no what is this going to be, at that point Mack tapped me on the shoulder and tells me to take off the mask. Much to my surprise one of the instructors was holding a Thresher Shark Divers polo shirt with my name on it. It was from the petition competition to save the sharks. On the back of the shirt it read "I gave sharks a fighting chance". That was a mean trick, they had me all worried that I was going to get something awful in my snorkel test. I was also given a very impressive balloon animal made into a seahorse that one of the guests had created. This seahorse became very popular later in the night and was used in several skits acted out by interns and instructors. It is amazing how entertaining the group can be, I found this to be a great substitute to watching TV. I went back to the table to once again wait patiently for our spotlight moment. This time it was a rather short wait and they called Jeff and I up to the bar. It was decided that I would go first then it would be Jeff's turn. As I sat on the bar stool once again blindfolded by the mask all I can hear is the comments of Dan as he creates the concoction behind our backs. Everytime he pours something into the pitcher the audience goes crazy, I had found this portion to be fun when I was in the audience. Now that I was the one on the bar stool it was a much different feeling. Dan would state he was adding a little red, white and blue for the Americans, some of the local spirits, a little of this for Mack in Scottland, a little of that to represent the Russians, Mexicans, and so on. Once the lethal mixture is ready, the procedure is to take 3 deep breaths then give them the ok to pour. Since I was wearing a scuba mask that covered my nose, the only way I was going to get another breath was to either drink everything they poured in the funnel or spit the snorkel and drink all over the floor. As they poured it in the snorkel I went for it. I drank it down as fast as I could and was able to claim a valiant victory over that snorkel test. Everyone applauded for me and I was glad to be done with the final task of my inernship. Jeff was next, he also was victorious over the all mighty snorkel test. After this the instructors came up with our divemaster badges and we posed for some "cheesy pictures" as Mack liked to call them. There it was, Jeff and I were certified divemasters WoooHooo. We hung out at Oscars for about another hour with the instructors and interns. This included several very interesting rounds of charades.

Much like many other nights during this month in Malapascua, we chose Malditos to be our final stop of the night. We sat around on the comfy cushioned areas surrounding the pool table as some of the interns and instructors played pool. There was lots of chat about where the other interns were headed after they were done here. I also informed everyone that they needed to come and visit us in Hawaii, as we would surely know all the good dive spots in no time. Several people seemed very interested in coming to visit us. I am not real sure how exactly it happened but around midnight a group of the interns and a couple guests decided it would be a good idea to go swimming in the bay right outside of the restaurant. So in we went, unfortunately we had not thought about the fact that it was low tide and even going out 20 meters from shore the water was only about 16" deep. This of course did not stop us from cooling off in the warm ocean water. It was unbelievable the number of stars that could be seen. I was impressed the other night at Ocean Vida and this was way better. We spent about half an hour in the water mostly just tackling each other and just splashing around. After the swim, we decided to call it a night and walked back to our place dripping wet. I believe, Jeff walked all the way back to our place in just his nickers. It was a very fun ending to a fun filled day.

A lesson in sharing

We had a few loose ends to tie up and hopefully we would have all the DM requirements completed today and tomorrow we would only have the infamous snorkel test to tend to. In the morning we met at the dive shop by 0830 as usual but this morning we did not have a planned activity besides studying for the final exam. We studied in the dive shop restaurant before and after breakfast all the way until it was time for our afternoon activities. While we were there we chatted with a new advanced dive course student Hana (the little blond Dutch girl with big guns). She was a little nervous about the navigation dive but we gave her some insight on how it is run which helped put her nerves to rest. She was a young blond girl that appeared very innocent but it was hard not to notice her gun tatoo which was located on her inner arm below her shoulder. Surely I would find out its meaning but this was not the time as I was busy studying.

Our afternoon was full of activites. First we were "students" for Adam and Ryan's discover scuba diving class (the intro to diving). Jeff, myself and either Adam or Ryan whichever was not playing the instructor, were the pretend students who had tons of problems. Mack does not take it easy on the interns. The toughest part about assisting in the DSD course is to not watch the instructor working with the student but instead watch the students that should be patiently waiting for their turn. Once the dive master starts to watch the instructor the other students start to bounce, flop, panic, and sometimes head for the surface. It is all mind over matter and a left alone student has plenty of time to get worked up and assistance is needed. Everytime Mack would question why Adam or Ryan did not have a handle on the students, the same reply was stated that they were watching the instructor working with the student and this distracted them from watching the rest of the group. Eventually they got the hang of it and then we all took turns practicing as instructors. We worked on maintaining control of the student while watching to see if the student was performing the skill correctly. Jeff and I had both completed this workshop already but the extra practice did not hurt. This was a very relaxed, fun exercise and eventually resulted in all of us becoming a little squirely. I for one became very distracted when the IDC interns "the instructor course interns" started heading over to cemetary in order to complete their skills assessment. Mack had to keep reminding me to stay focused. I had been a very good DMT up to this point but by today nearly the last day of the month long internship, it was hard to keep me on track. Any slight comment or shinny object would set me on a tangent. I was a whole lot of goofy that afternoon and was happy that I had kept this side bottled up as long as I did. Some of the comments that jumped out of my mouth made me also look a little silly since they were not exactly thought out and Mack's expressions in response to my off the wall questions were priceless. Soon the fun games were done and it was time for Jeff and I to get serious as we completed our last requirements. It started with me completing my BCD removal and replacement just one more time to show I had it down. Mack demonstrated the skill to me first but I was confident that after my practice yesterday I would be able to nail it. When it was my turn, it was spot on, except my alternate air source hose got buckled in between myself and the BCD. I completed it one more time and then nailed it for sure and with everything landing in the right spot. Mack seemed surprised since he had heard I was struggling with this skill and I demonstrated it to him with no problems. Next Jeff and I had to complete our emergency rescue of an unconcious diver. I went first and then Jeff. We both completed this with only minor suggestions and therefore were signed off. With only one more skill remaining, it was time to complete the dreaded stress test. Jeff had actually practiced this with Ryan one day and did not think it would be too bad. Technically we are not suppose to practice this skill prior to being graded to see how we would really respond in this stressful situation. The stress test consists of two divers exchanging BCD, fins, and masks while under water. The catch is that this must be completed while buddy breathing off only one regulator. Sometimes other stressors or obstacles are incorporated such as extra free flowing regulators with bubbles flowing everywhere or visiblity being intentionally stirred up by tossing sand around. The point is, we would not find out if other stressors would be added until it happened. We reached the bottom at about 3 meters below the surface and started with passing the regulator back and forth, taking two breaths each time. Once we felt comfortable with this Jeff would start by removing his equipement and I would try to do the same so that we were both at the same pace. Our plan was to only work on the equipment exchange when the other person had the regulator, this would keep us occupied and also make sure the person with the regulator was focused on breathing and passing. We maintained a pretty good routine and the BCD exchange was completed before we knew it. The fin exchange was even quicker. The mask was a little tricky since at some point both of use would have our masks off and not be able to see well before we were able to clear the mask. To clear the mask we would need to breath out of our nose which would be hard for both of us to complete at the same time since only one of us would have a good air supply. During this daunting task, we all of sudden had free flowing regulators added to the mix which made it impossible to see each other. I would pass the regulator through the bubble chaos and hope it was in the direction of Jeff's mouth on the other side. Soon our masks were exchanged and cleared, the extra bubble mess had subsided and Jeff gave me the ok sign to ascend to the surface. Since Jeff gave me the ok sign, I almost forgot to pass him the regulator on the ascent. Eventually I remembered and he appeared ok, he did not look blue. As the instructor would say, this skill was spot on. Afterwards Jeff and I discussed the equipment exchange and he reassured me I passed him the regulator far before he needed it eveytime. This could be a dangerous skill to complete with a significant other especially if I was an air piggy and left Jeff alone as an air hungry hippo. I am glad we passed the stress test without any complications.

I can not believe there is only a 60 question multiple choice test left between us and our snorkel test which is where we recieve our divemaster badges. As we sat to take the test I was unsure of how difficult it would be. The first ten or so questions were a little scary as they were about specific types of tides and currents. We had not really read that chapter we just skimmed it and answered the questions in the book. Fortunately after the first ten, the rest of the test was based on the final chapter in the book which we had studied rather thoroughly. We both passed the test with flying colors and in true PADI test fashion Jeff got a better score than me but only by a couple points. It was an excellent feeling knowing that we had completed all of the requirements for the DM course and now could have a relaxing day before our snorkel test tomorrow night.

We were chatting with some other interns in the restaurant when Mack called me over from across the room. A couple of the staff divemasters were at the bar and seemed in high spirits which caught my attention as I walked toward Mack. He handed me a tip envelope with my name on it. It was from the father of the two children who's open water course I assisted with. To my amazement, a crisp $100 USD bill was in the envelope. Mack congratulated me for a job well done. I realized later that this was tip day and that was why the staff divemasters were also having a bit of a high moment. It definitely feels good to be appreciated and this could not have come at a better time. It is Filipino tradition to treat everyone on your birthday and a $100 USD could provide a very nice evening for my birthday party guests. I had already decided we would check with July and see if they would have enough burgers at the other place so that the crew could eat there. I had also decided if she did not have cheese I would try to find some and tomorrow I would make sure to put in the order for my birthday cake. We are finished with all our skills, tomorrow is the snorkel test, the next day is my birthday and I had a shinny new $100 bill, what could be better?

The interns decided to go and eat at Ocean Vida for dinner. We ran into Hana at the dive shop and invited her to come along with. It turned out she was actually staying at the Ocean Vida hotel so she gladly accepted the invitation to join us. We had a very nice meal sitting on the bean bags around a table on the beach. We had eaten at Ocean Vida a couple of times before but never outside on the beach. It is amazing the number of stars that can be seen when there is limited lighting from surrounding buildings. The constellations can be easily picked out and even the milkyway galaxy can be pointed out by an untrained eye. The last time we were able to see this many stars was our trip to Fiji a couple of years ago. I would have to think that the reduced amount of pollution in the air would also have an effect on the clarity of the sky. After dinner, we headed over to Malditos for some games of pool along with discounted rum and cokes. Hana came along with us to Malditos and I got the opportunity to ask her about her gun tatoo. It turns out her and her friend were in Thailand and all of the guys were all about showing off their "guns" (muscles) so the girls decided to get their own guns to show off. It was definitely a unique tatoo especially for such a sweet innocent looking girl to have. After Hana's story, it was off to bed as we had signed up for sharks in the morning since it was our last opportunity for the shark dive.

Underwater aviation

I woke up around 4 AM to the sound of the alarm clock. I still did not feel quite myself and was happy I could quickly go back to sleep since I was no longer on an AM shark dive. Jeff rolled out of bed and headed off to the dive shop as he was on the shark dive along with his previous students Sam and Katy. They had finished their advanced course and were doing a fun dive so they could see the sharks once again before leaving the island. Jeff was sent along to assist on the dive. Mack thought it might ease Katy's nerves as she still was not overly comfortable in the water. When they arrived at the dive site Katy was already very nervous because they had gone to new Monad where there was not a mooring line to descend down. Jeff had one of the boat boys put together some rope and a spare weight belt figuring she would feel better if he gave her a rope to descend along. She continued to look very nervous as they kitted up. When it was time to put her fins on she started coughing uncontrollably and almost threw up. Sam and Jeff tried to calm her down but after a second coughing fit she decided she was just too worked up about it and would sit this dive out. The rest of the group jumped in the water and continued the dive. During the dive they saw at least four thresher sharks and a couple of large trigger fish. At one point they were up on a ledge and had two threshers swimming below them. When they got on the boat Katy was rather sad that she had missed the dive.

When Jeff got back from his shark dive, I got up and felt much better. A good night's sleep paid off and hopefully this would give me the rest I needed to complete the remainder of the internship on time. Jeff and I have been very lucky that we have not had any serious infections or injuries requiring a doctor's visit. Being that there are no doctors on the island of Malapascua, it becomes a higher time commitment to travel to another island by boat and arrange for transportation a couple hours to the nearest doctor. A couple of the interns had to make that trek while we were here. Adam for his foot infection and Garret for his ear infection. It sounds like once they got to the the doctor it was good medical treatment. The antibiotics and doctor charge were also in Filipino pesos which made at least this portion of the trip a bargain. The doctor was concerned Garret would not be happy with the 300-400 peso medication bill and 90 peso doctor charge. Garret felt this price was rather reasonable and paid the equivalent to about $12 USD and was happy to be one step closer to healing his ear infection. It seems like the trips to the doctor for Adam and Garret were well worth it but I am still glad Jeff and I have not had to make a doctor's call yet.

When we got to the dive shop, we found out we would start the day with knowledge reviews with Mack to prep for the final exam and later in the mornng we would go on a "fun" dive with Mike (an instructor that just returned to the island). Mack was very thorough going over the knowledge review including a lot of explanation which would be helpful as these were the most challenging chapters of the dive master manual. During this time our dive site for the morning changed three times until it was finally settled that we were going to Lap Light. Jeff and I were happy with this final decision as we have not dove this site yet unlike the earlier sites that were written on the board. Mike seemed to have a scatter brained idea for this dive and it felt a little akward as he had no idea of our dive progression and was talking about working on some bouyancy skills. This seemed rather odd to be working on when we are only a few days from finishing our DM program. We agreed to play along, Jeff, Adam and I got our gear together and got in one of the small boats to head around the island to the dive site. At the beginning of the dive Mike set up his SMB on the bottom and we played a game of airplane. He started with the SMB unrolled and anchored to the bottom so that it stuck up about 4 feet off the bottom. We then had to circle around like an airplane with our arms stretched out to the sides. When it was our turn to be the airplane, we were to have a controlled landing by touching our regulator to the top of the SMB then pull up gracefully by using our breathing to control our "take off". It was very much like a touch and go in the aviation world yet our playground was underwater. I felt I was a very good airplane VROOOOOOOM!! Mike would then lower the SMB and we would repeat our airplane moves. This continued until the SMB was only about 6 inches off of the bottom. After this we swam around the dive sight where Jeff spotted a small harlequin sweetlips, and I spotted a gigantic puffer fish. The puffer reminded me of a big fat cat as it sat there on a coral and looked like it needed to be petted. Fortunately for the puffer I am a trained professional and know better than to touch, poke, prod, pet, or ride the wildlife. We ended the dive by practicing our SMB deployment procedures. This was probably a good dive for Adam to get his feet wet again since he had been out of the water for the last 2 weeks due to his foot infection.


After lunch we were off for another attempt to get our skills signed off. This time we would be going to the dive site lighthouse which would hopefully have calmer waters. We ran through our skills again and they were even better than ever, until I got to the dreaded BCD removal and replacement. I fumbled through the skill and then asked the instructor for a do over. He nicely decided to demonstarte the skill for me with some tips prior to me trying over. My next attempt was far better and I had picked up some tips from the instructor that made it easier for me to control the kit. I made sure that whenever possible I had two points of contact with the kit. We then repeated this again, with him demonstrating and then I followed after. Being able to practice this a couple times in a row and seeing it completed with tips, was very helpful. I am now confident that I could complete this skill on my own with a score of 4-5. The instructor went over our scores after the dive and as we thought all the scores were spot on, except my BCD skill which was still a lousey three (maybe a 3.5?). Jeff's skills were signed off and the instructor gave me the option to sign off my skills now (with the stinky 3) or I would have a chance tomorrow to prove that my BCD could be tamed. I opted for showing my BCD who was boss so another skill set for me tomorrow.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to bed early again to ensure we would be bright eyed and bushy tailed for another day of DM training.

Trapped in a cage

I woke up feeling awful. Was it my late night two nights ago, my long day yesterday, 3 weeks with only 1 day off, or could we blame the cute little Maldito cat that made me sneeze the night before? I had slept 12 hours so it definitely was not that I had stayed out too late this time. Whoever the culprit, I was feeling crummy. Hopefully they will give me the day off. We arrived at the dive shop by 0830 for our standard meeting. I found out that I was going to have another very busy day, not a day off. Jeff and I would start off the day with a skills session and hopefully this time we would get signed off. As we looked out to the beach while eating our breakfast it was evident that skills today were not going to be easy. It was rather windy and coming from just the right direction to cause cemetery to be very wavy. This was probably the worst weather we had seen since getting here. Even the crummy weather was not going to send me back to bed but instead we would have to bare with it and attempt our skills in the whirlpool like conditions. This was no joke, our skills are to be calm, controlled, and look simple which was not an easy task today. We struggled against the crashing waves to stay close to the instructor as we completed the above water skills. Maybe it will be better once we start the underwater skills. As we reached the bottom at 2 meters deep and kneeled down to start our skills, it was clear the underwater conditions would be a struggle as well. I basically had to get right up in the instructors face as I completed the skills since the visibility was too poor to see past 1 meter (usually the visibility is 15-20 meters). Luckily, this allowed me to score higher on my confidence and assertiveness. All the skills went as well as could be expected with these conditions until it was time for my BCD removal and replacement underwater. I can complete the task which gives me a score of 3, but I have to complete it to demonstration quality appearing to be in control at all times and making the task look easy. I start off great taking the BCD off and showing which arm to take out of the BCD first and the sequence of steps. It all goes south when I firmly place the BCD and tank in front of me and have to try to get it back on. The once controlled BCD and tank unit starts to wobble in the water and the kit now becomes in control of me. Eventually I get secured back into the unit but streamline and controlled would not be the descriptive words used. I already know I do not have this skill down in calm conditions therefore the extra waves and visibility challenges did not lend kindly to me improving this skill today. I completed the BCD removal and replacement with once again a score of 3. We were all relieved when this skills sesson was over and we could take a slow swim as we fought the waves back into shore. The instructor was pleased with our performance when conditions were not ideal and we scored fairly well. He told me I appeared more confident but I needed to show the BCD who is boss and cannot let it control me. After we got our scores, I admitted to the instructor that I had not been feeling well and still felt a little bubble headed from maybe a cold or allergies. He did tell me that if I did not feel up for my certified dive lead this afternoon we could reschedule. This seemed like a tempting offer and retreat back to bed for the rest of the day but I told him I would see how I felt after lunch. As I completed lunch, Mack another instructor came up to me to explain that my certified dive lead would be at Chocolate Island. I would be leading Jeff and Betty around. Once again I was happy to be in a group with Betty as she is a lot of fun, poor Garret had come down with an ear infection and would be out of the water for 7 days. I mustered up some energy to find a white board and sketch out the dive site along with some quick notes so that I would be sure to conduct a complete dive briefing. By this point I was still feeling a little ill but really wanted to stay on task so that we could complete our course on time. Today is Sunday and our last day of the internship is Thursday. We were really hoping to be done even earlier so that we could relax the last day and have fun dives. With this in mind, I got ready for the dive and made sure everything was on the boat. Since the current was so strong, we actually had to walk to the other side of the island and catch the boat there. We had never done this before, I really hoped that the dive site would not be affected by the current as badly as cemetary. Once we reached the other side of the island the water was calm which was reassuring that the dive site we chose around chocolate island will most likely be the protected side as well and calm. It was a bumpy ride out to Chocolate island but this could not impede me from walking all around the boat to assist some of my divers while they get their gear ready. I also took advantage of this time to ask Jeff and Betty about their dive experience which would give me some insight about the problems Mack would assign them. Ryan (acting as boat crew) and Mack were surprisingly added to the group and were playing the part of newly certified divers. On the way to the dive site I gathered all of my divers together and gave them a briefing on how the dive was going to go and what kinds of things to look for. Once we arrived at the dive site I was relieved to see us anchor on the very well protected side of the small island. I got all of my divers ready and after I got into the water they all followed. During the dive, Mack was giving the other divers all sorts of problems to act out. At one point, Jeff swam off in one direction and his dive buddy Betty swam off in the complete opposite direction. I had to stop my group then swim after Jeff. Once I got him back with the group I then had to chase off in the other direction to catch Betty and get her in the group. I tried to get her attention first by banging on my tank but after this did not work, I started to sprint after her. Mack was by far the worst and everytime I looked at him I had a new problem to address from bouyancy issues, flooded mask, and at one point he had started following a different dive group around. Mack even dropped his weight belt, I had to recover it and get it back to him. I definitely did not have time to feel sick while I had to take care of all these dumpties. Finally the dive was over and I had returned us safe and sound to the boat. After my debriefing with Mack, I was completely spent. My body had turned off since my battery was drained and I was in desperate need of recharging with some quality sleep.

When I got back to the shop and waited to hear the plans for the next day, I was astonished when the instructors told me I would be on a shark dive in the morning assisting Kurt in addition to another skills session. The shark dive was not a requirement and after the long day I had while being sick I could not believe the instructors would think this was a good idea, were they kidding? When I found Kurt, I mentioned to him that I would be with him on the shark dive, his response was I am busy and I do not know what is happening yet. This along with how sick I felt and the thought of another early morning left me overwhelmed and I could not fight the tears any longer. I asked Jeff to pick us up dinner and I was going to shower and get ready for bed. After my shower, I still felt awful and it was clear that I needed to tell the instructors that I needed to sleep in and would not be on the shark dive in the morning. I headed back to the shop and could only find Kurt, I explained to him the situation and he told me he would let the other instructors know and that if I was that ill the last thing I should be doing is an early morning shark dive. He also had hoped his unhelpful response earlier did not add to my frustrations, I assured him that I was just sick and needed to sleep. By the time I got back to the room, Jeff was still gone in search of dinner. Max and the new guy Carl were outside the room discussing how Carl's key had already broke off in the lock and this was the first night he was staying at the intern lodging. Carl did not seem happy, he stated he thought everyone's key should still work. I did not think much of it and went to my room to sleep until Jeff got back. It seemed like he was gone for a long time. When he finally arrived, he explained that his key would not work on the lock and he had to jump the fence. He was able to get in but he would not be able to open the lock to get out so hopefully someone will realize this and fix it tonight. I told him about the discussion I had overheard between Max and Carl. I did not realize Carl would just put the lock back on with the broken piece of key in it and leave for the evening. He did not even think to inform the shop. As we ate our burgers, we heard a few others try to get into the gate without luck. With the instructors and the manager living here, I am sure someone will inform the shop and get it fixed, hoepfully. The burgers we ate tonight were from purple snapper where Marja works. Marja and Onja are two local ladies that I became friends with one night at the Disco. Marja was very sweet and put smilely faces on my burger wrapper to cheer me up. After the burgers, I went to sleep but kept waking up to the sound of Jeff helping one of the staff, Jun Jun try to fix the lock. It was a very on and off, delusional sleep for awhile until I finally woke up completly with a burst of energy. I scavenged around the room to find safety pins, bobbie pins, a tweezers and anything else that may help them fix the broken lock. I also made sure to grab a ChocoMucho bar for Jun Jun to thank him for trying to free us from our large cage. Shortly after this the lock was fixed, I could finally get some peaceful, much needed sleep.

I'm late I'm late for a very important date

The days keep getting busier it seems. At least today Jeff and I are together for today's hectic activities. To start our day off, why not wake up early and be at the dive shop by 4:30 for a shark dive that would count as our TSD shark specialty dive. It was difficult to get out of bed since we stayed out a little too late at the restaurant last night. The applause as we reached the dive shop at a little past 4:30 was an indication that some of them had bet we would have "accidently" slept in. Based on this entrance, obviously it would make sense to put us in charge of leading the first half of the dive. Our early morning rolled out of bed, got tons of sleep look surely sent the message we were eager and ready to go. The call was made, Jeff and I would lead the other dive masters and instructor down the rope to our first look out spot at Manta Point. I thought it would be good if Jeff led this time since I had led the beginning of this dive before. Everything was going as planned until I realized the rest of the group did not follow us, I tried to tell Jeff but the communication was not clear under the water. Eventually Jeff found the group as well and we met back up with them. I guess we had over shot our point and had ended up slighly past it. The rest of our leading was spot on so I think our little detour did not affect the overall dive. We saw a few sharks and a couple of devil rays therefore it was not a bad start to the morning.

After the dive we felt much more awake and ready to take on the many activities that were still to come. Next on our agenda directly following breakfast was a scuba review workshop. Scuba review is one of the courses we will be certified to teach, it is for scuba divers who have not dove in a long period of time and need a refresher. For the most part the skills that we talk about practicing are the skills that a student needs to perform in a scuba review. Since we did not have actual students needing a scuba review, the instructor brought along Betty and Garret to be our students. It started with the instructor running through most of the scuba review with Betty and Garret as students. The purpose of this was to demonstrate proper positioning as an instructor. Some of the skills are higher risk for panic or error so the instructor needs to be much closer during these. Then it was our turn to be the instructors, I was given Betty as a student and Jeff worked with Garret. While we were performing the scuba review session, Betty and Garret were given intentional errors to perform, as instructors Jeff and I were to correct the errors. There were two main reasons for the problems, one reason was to ensure that we would catch if they were doing the skill incorrectly. This came into play during the skill that involved removing and tossing away their regulator. I watched Betty to make sure that she was leaning the right way and that she would correctly find her regulator, all while I was holding on to her BCD. While ensuring that the big steps were completed, it is vital to ensure the small critical steps are not missed. In this case I had to also watch and make sure Betty was blowing bubbles whenever the regulator was out of her mouth. Never hold your breath is the number one rule in diving to prevent any lung over expansion issues. She was not blowing bubbles which I had to either correct during the skill or at the end of the skill remind her about it and have her repeat the skill. This error I found surprisingly hard to detect given the number of key points to watch for, however I did catch the error but it requires a keen eye. The second reason for these errors being introduced is to see how we react from a control of the student point of view. This type of error came into play several times, for instance during the weight belt removal Betty dropped her weight belt. This can be a very bad thing because she immediately becomes positively bouyant which requires me to grab her weights and hand them back to her before she starts to float away. Also during the fin pivot the student adds air to their BCD to become neutrally bouyant. In Betty's case she added way too much air and I had to catch her and let enough of it out to stop her from floating to the surface. It was a challenging balance between watching for procedural errors and maintaining control of the student at all times. Fortunately Betty and Garret were only given problems for about half of the skills they had to perform. This was a nice workshop to have as it gave us another opportunity to practice our skills. Betty and Garret have also not been exposed to the demonstration quality skills much yet as they are still awaiting the start of their DM program (a minimum of 40 dives are required to start the internship and they are just a little short of this number). We found this to be very benficial as it was easier to perform a skill in demonstration quality when it feels like the person being demonstrated to will actually learn from the demonstration, rather than an instructor who is just scoring the skill.

Today between the scuba review and our equipment specialty class, I was really hoping to make it to a baptism party for Mel's baby. Mel is one of the Filipino ladies that works at the dive shop restaurant. She was one of the first staff members whose name we learned. Her smile is contagious and I felt honored when she invited me to be part of the festivities. We got back from scuba review by 1200, I brought my stuff with so that I could get cleaned up at the dive shop. I was ready by 1230 and Mel was going to come get us at the dive shop between 1230-1300 and I had to be back for class by 1400. The instructors do not take kindly to tardiness and since this class was taught by the operations manager, Dan I knew I should not dare be late. The time was slipping by and it was about 1310 when I finally ordered lunch deciding I would not make the get together since Mel had not arrived yet. Shortly after ordering Mel arrived, I can not blame her for being a little late with all the preparation that I am sure the day had for her. I tried to tell Mel that I would not make it since my next class was at 1400 but somehow during the explanation I commited to going for a quick visit. She was far too excited to say no to and hopefully I would not be too late and get into trouble for this quick trip into the village. Adam was also invited and came with us, Jeff stayed back to ensure one of us was there on time and he had the task of eating both lunches we ordered (meals here tend to never fill us up). Just as we started down the dirt path, Mel linked arms with me and whispered into my ear all the food she had prepared. She was very excited to share her cooking with us. We followed the paths through the busy village that was still enjoying the festival until we reached our destination which was a few blocks beyond the village. This area was a little quieter and had a great view of the beach and ocean. All the houses seemed to circle around to face the same center point where there were a few pigs in the central open area. Based on the houses I have seen so far in the villages, this place seemed bigger. She invited us in and stated this was a simple house that her mother in law lives in. It had a sitting area for meals, a raised room for sleeping and a kitchen area with a place to cook meals on an open fire wood stove. It was simple but still very charming and more than adequate. I got to meet her baby, her brother, and many other family members. Her brother was very young himself, maybe 10 years old but he helped take care of his baby niece like he was much older. She sent one of the girls off to buy Sprite for us to drink even after Adam and I insisted water would be just fine. She had a huge pot of rice, another with a pork stew, and then she cooked up fresh spring rolls for us to dip in sweet chili sauce. I shared part of the spring roll with her brother as she had intentionally served us first but I figured it was a good gesture. Everything was delicious. I feared I would be rude to dine and dash but she was also aware of the time and told me I should get back. I was very happy she did not mind that I was on such a tight schedule. She made sure Adam walked me back through the village as she insisted that I would not walk alone. She also stated she would send some more spring rolls back with Adam for Jeff and the other interns. This was surely not necessary but she kindly insisted.

As I rushed back to the dive shop I passed by the dance group that practices next to the shop and this time they were practicing in full attire, a dress rehearsal. I asked when they were performing and they stated 1400, knowing I was edging on being late and steps away from the dive shop, the 1400 performance must be on island time as they were all far from the disco stage and did not at all seem like they were in a hurry. I reached the shop with one minute to spare, well worth it. The next couple of hours were spent learning how to take apart regulators, BCD hoses, and other dive gear. We also had to learn how to fix the potential defect and reassemble the equipment. For Jeff this was an easy task, as for me, it could have went smoother but in all I think I looked like a somewhat mechanically intuned female. Jeff, I think enjoyed this class and as for me I definitely would have gotten some award winning acting nominations for my performance as the girl interested in repairing equipment. It is an important class and I got some good information out of it but after the first hour I had to try not to get too squirely. Half way through the class, Adam brought in some spring rolls from Mel. He had given some out to the interns upstairs and then gave the rest to us. This was perfect, now I had a tupper ware container to return, in which I could leave a thank you note, candy, and some ChocoMucho candy bars. My mind raced about all the ideas yet trying to still seem engaged to the equipment class. After class, I put my plan in action and signed the card from Adam, Jeff and I. The girls at the shop were in charge of giving this back to Mel when she returned to work the next day. CiCi did not hide the fact she was reading the note through the tupper ware lid as I handed it to her. The ladies at the shop are a lot of fun.

It had been a long day and we called it an early night after some Nachos at Malditos. I did get a nice dinner guest as Maldito the cat snuggled up to me while we waited for our food. Some purring from Maldito the cat and a few sneezes from me, it was time for Maldito to play elsewhere. Soon our Nachos arrived, we ate and then headed off to bed.

A chick of a different color

Jeff had another early morning since Carrie had not seen any sharks yesterday she decided to make one of her advanced dives, a naturalist dive to attempt the shark dive again. He headed off to the dive shop at 4:30 am. When he arrived, he was happy to hear that they were diving on Old Monad which has been having a lot more activity lately. Just as they were loading up the boat, a man looking very confused was standing in front of the dive listing board. The instructor asked him if he needed some help. Come to find out this guy, Daryl, had spoke with the dive shop a couple of days ago and was supposed to be on the shark dive but was not listed. The instructor decided to help out Daryl and they got him some rental gear. Since all of the other groups on the boat were diving Nitrox, he was added to Jeff's group. On the boat ride out the instructor spoke to Daryl a little and found out that he had just recently done his open water and advanced courses. His total number of dives was only about 10, this meant they needed to keep a closer eye on him since this was a 24 meter dive. When they got to the dive site there was quite a bit of surface current, this is not uncommon for this site. What this meant is that they needed to hang on to the mooring line and descend quickly to get below the current. The instructor jumped in the water followed by Carrie, Daryl then Jeff. They were all at the front of the boat by the line and the instructor said "let's go". Jeff was keeping an eye on Daryl and as soon as he started to descend Daryl sucked in some water so he obviously needed a second to catch his breath which is fine if he hangs on to the line. Unfortunately, at the same time the mooring line came off of the boat due to the waves. The instructor and Carrie had already started down and due to the current they were pulling the mooring bouy underwater, Jeff quickly grabbed the end of the rope. He held on to the rope with his right hand extending as far as he could reach into the water while trying to get Daryl to grab a hold of the rope or at least Jeff's left hand. Daryl quickly started to drift away at which point Jeff informed him to swim back and grab the rope, Daryl swam back towards Jeff then just stopped, he would then just drift away again. This repeated a couple times till Jeff got impatient and told Daryl to give him his hand, but as soon as Jeff would grab Daryl's hand he would spit out his regulator and need his hand back. By this point Jeff was thinking "great what kind of dumpty is this guy" then when Jeff had finally had enough Daryl says "ok let's go". After that they descended grabbed the rope and followed it down, I have no idea what his problem was on the surface but he sure was a pain. The dive that followed that circus was a rather excellent dive, it began by seeing a thresher shark while descending, followed by at least 3 devil rays. They saw a couple more sharks then the grand finale rolled in, a giant manta ray with about a 5 meter wing span. It glided right over the cleaning station then buzzed along the side of the group very close to Jeff and Daryl. After the dive everyone was very excited about seeing the manta and Daryl did comment that he could not see the rope before they descended so he did not know what Jeff was talking about. The instructor did also comment that he was just about to come up and tell Jeff to put Daryl back on the boat. That would not have been a good dive to have to sit on the boat and miss.

After Jeff's amazing morning shark dive, we had a little time off to explore the festival.
The festival is now in full swing. We strolled through the market area which was now filled with stands selling just about everything. It was surprising to see and feel the hometown festival feeling I am used to with a Filipino twist of course. Very shortly after reaching the town and festival area, we came across stands with small plastic bags containing blue cotton candy, popcorn, and other usual festival foods. Then we encountered many tables set up with games and prizes to win. Close by this stand had dolls, toy guns, and other party favors. As we continued our walk, we were passed by at least 3 different men carrying about 6 dozen different ballons from disney princesses, sharks, and other animated characters. It was a bit of sensory overload with so many things to see in every direction. We only had a little time to take it all in before we needed to find a spot to view the boat parade that was to start at 1100. The dive shop also will have a boat in the parade. It was very nice to hear that the dive shop restaurant closed from 1100 to 1300 to allow the staff to be part of the shop's boat display. Some locals told us the best spot to view the parade is the beach in front of town. We waited by the beach close to town but at even 1115 new boats were still arriving and just starting to decorate. The parade was operating on island time. The sun was very hot and the shaded spots were very limited on this side therefore we were not sure how long we could bare the heat. Just then a man carrying a large woven box on his back walked down the beach while ringing a bell. I was certain that this was an internationally translatable sight and surely this was an "ice cream truck". Jeff a little unsure, allowed me to go with my instincts and sure enough for 10 pesos each we got a little ice cream treat with a light layer of chocolate and a few peanuts on the outside. To me this was definitely a festival and I was enjoying the sights and treats. Being desparate for shade we headed back to the other side to seek out a cooler place to watch the boat parade. As we ventured back through the festival, our eyes were caught by the sight of little baby chicks that were dyed pink, blue, and green. They looked fake at first, like toy bobble head chicks. Yet with a closer look they were truely real colored chicks. This seemed very odd but then I started to think about it and it is really not much different than our gold fish in a bag that could be won by carnival games in the states. The gold fish unfortunately never lasted long but a chick if well taken care of, could be quite a beneficial pet on this remote island.

Besides all the practicing dance groups, each group also had a little girl around 12 years old dressed up and practicing as well. Later to find out that each village was competing and the best princess would be queen of Malapascua. This seemed very much like a pageant practice that could be seen back home. Even watching the girls practice their pose and speechs while wearing beautiful yet dreadfully heavy dresses in this heat, I could not help but see the parallels from the Miss contests back home. I really hoped that I would be able to go to at least part of the princess or dance competition this weekend.

Jeff and I both were on the 1430 dive to Bantigue. I was on a fun dive, Molly was the leader while Garret and myself followed along. When the boat guy picked up my BCD to nicely help me into my equipment (they are not expected to help the interns but I definitely appreciate it) he commented that it was heavy and I may not need that much weight. During this internship my weights are always being adjusted depending on if I am practicing skills in 3 meters of water in which I am overweighted, or if another customer needs one of my 2 lb weights so I become over weighted since I use 3 lbs as a substitute. So when Edgar said I was overweighted I did not think too much of it as I have become more accustomed to diving with more weight than ideal. During the dive I did discover my bouyancy was a little difficult to maintain a comfortable balance. Later I realized I still had an extra weight on my tank that I should have removed, this was left on from my skills session the other day. It is impressive that Edgar caught the weight was off. Regardless, the extra weight did not interfere with my fun dive. Molly is great at finding all kinds of litte creatures such as pipe fish, mantis shrimp, coral banded shrimp, and many other marine life. I am still better at spotting the bigger more obvious things like the large cuttle fish I found on this dive. Really both sets of eyes are valuable to spot alot on a dive and there are so many creatures I am sure we miss even on our best spotting days. While I was on a fun dive Jeff was on his last assist of the advanced course with Carrie. They were doing the navigation dive, Jeff was there to swim along with Carrie as she navigated a reciprocal heading and a square. He was in charge of counting fin kicks and tapping her on the shoulder when it was time to turn so that she could focus on the compass. After her skills were all done, Jeff led the group around for a short tour. They found a whip coral shrimp and a cleaning station where a lizard fish was getting a thorough scrubbing. All in all it was a good dive for everyone.

After cleaning up from the dive and eating dinner we headed over to Oscar's above the dive shop. Since Carrie had now completed her advanced course there would be a shark bite shot for her tonight. We intended on staying only for the congratulations but before we knew it it was nearly midnight. We both had shark dives in the morning and had intended on calling it an early night. This tends to be far more difficult than one would think since everytime you turn around someone is trying to talk to you about something and wants to have just one more drink. Eventually we made it out of there and crashed on the bed when we got to the room, another long day.

Edging on week 3 of being on Malapascua island it has surprisingly become very comfortable for both Jeff and I to live here. It is very interesting how almost anywhere can feel like home especially if a daily routine is set up and as locals start to acknowledge us as neighbors. People start to really get to know each other and are able to notice when I am not acting myself, nervous or sick and in the same the people know when I am in a great mood. The dive shop restaurant, bar, boat, and equipment staff all know me by name and I know their names as well. The little inside jokes and fun chatter has just begun. Having the comradery with the interns along with new local friends, makes everyday a more enjoyable adventure. The little room we sleep in and the zigzag dirt paths we take each day, now put a smile on my face as we pass the same little children playing. We have become regulars at the same 2-3 restaurants we like best with our favorite servers. The little shop across from our place knows us and we know them since they weekly wash our laundry and we provide steady business for ChocoMucho candy bars and the occasional refreshing beverage. The puppy I play with at the shop next door, the cat at Malditos restaurant, and the puppies that playfully chase me on my walk back home, all adds to the day. It is really quite interesting how quickly a place that only 3 weeks ago was a huge culture shock for me, is now my little home in Malapascua, Philippines.

Is it cold in here, or is it just me

I was not feeling quite right throughout the night. Restless dreaming and at one point I actually was cold from the fan and wanted Jeff to cuddle me. For the last 3 weeks in the heat of the Philippines I am annoyed if anyone even touches me since it is so sticky and warm. The nights are no different, it does not cool down, so this was very out of the ordinary. In the morning I felt a little dizzy and still very sleepy. Jeff woke up early to swim with the sharks and I was only awake for a few seconds until he shut off the alarm and then I was sound asleep again. To be sound asleep with roosters, dogs, pigs, and my husband rustling around to get ready is not normal. A couple hours after he had left, around 6, I had wondered if he had set an alarm for me as well or if I should just wait until he comes back to get ready. It should work out that he would be back in time to wake me for a quick shower before breakfast. I had signed up for a morning dive around 9:30 but would not know until I got to the shop if I was on the dive. What a pity to waste a sleep in day if I am not on the dive. Beep beep, Jeff did set an alarm for me around 6:30 which I hit the snooze button until 7ish. Finally I was persuaded by beeping to get up and shower. Just as I was finishing up in the shower, I heard the gate shake and Jeff call for me. With only one set of keys, the logistics are quite difficult as I have to make sure I listen for him at the gate. No matter how I try to plan, it is inevitable he is at the gate when I am in the bathroom.

Jeff's shark dive in the morning was part of his advanced course assist. There was only one advanced student, Carrie she was a rather new diver and was very excited to see the sharks. Oscar had also decided to do the shark dive and was put in Jeff's group for the one dive. Due to some minor slow ups on the boat they were the last ones in the water, just as Jeff was jumping in a thresher shark jumped out of the water about 20 meters away. Unfortunately, Jeff did not get to see it but both students and the instructor did. This was a good start to the dive, they had seen a shark before they even went under the water. As the dive continued Jeff watched as Oscar who only 2 days ago was swimming off by himself like a mad man was now paying very close attention to Carrie (they were buddied up together) and ensuring everything was ok. They did not see any sharks on the dive but it was still an interesting dive as they saw a few large trigger fish and garden eels among many other things.

Jeff had not seen any sharks on his morning dive at new Monad Shoal, I am convinced that old Monad Shoal has her groove back. Regardless, we headed to the dive shop for breakfast and to find out if I had any plans for the day. One of the instructors approached us about our diver lead for the discover local diving workshop. I had thought we were both signed off for this but come to find out we need to conduct a briefing and local guided tour. Feeling crummy today I was not excited to check something off my list that I already thought was completed. I decided to do the dive briefing first and lead the first part of the dive. This way I could muster up the little energy left and then be a sleepy assitant for the rest of the dive. This was technically far more work up front but seemed to coincide with my current energy reserve, after this burst I would be spent. This is a very easy dive spot as we just settle in at the edge of the wall for awhile at each section in hopes to see a manta ray. My dive breifing was thorough and I helped set up the "customers, ie two DMTs and one instructors" gear. As I was leading the group down the line, I realized I could not see the drop off and determine which direction to lead the group. I knew where the technical diver group was trying to go and based on this and a huge amount of gut intuition, I chose a direction and found our spot. Jeff later told me he was very happy I was leading as he would have went the other way (Jeff had also not been at this site as much as me). I really think my underwater navigation is far superior to that of city streets. The direction of current was much different than our morning dives which could have mislead me but I still found our route quickly. The dive itself was quite boring as we sat and watched for nothing to happen only to move and sit and watch for nothing again. I was right about to move the group at one point but a different dive group had the same agenda which lead me to abort this mission. Jeff took over for the remainder of the dive. He did bring us back to the right morning line and the right boat which is good. At the end of dive, prior to our instructor feedback, Jeff also gave a dive briefing. The instructor seemed disinterested during the briefing which come to find out he acted the same way for mine. He is tricky though as he seems oblivient he caught every detail we missed. He did tell us that our dive was spot on and one of the best briefings. He said the tone of our voice is interesting and confident which makes it easy to listen and follow the briefng which is a hard technique to teach. He said my discussion on air pressure verus no decompression time on the computer got a little dicey yet still easy enough to follow. Jeff also asked the instructor what the little school of long silver fish he had pointed out and I had stated baricudas (these look a little differrent then other barricudas we have seen) the instructor verified that yes indeed these are baricuda. I have learned a lot of fish and marine identifiction mostly from Jeff and some from always asking the dive master. It has actually been apparent during the dive master internship to the instuctors that I have a good grasp on the identities which is very cool as I have come along way to get here.

By the time we got back to our room, it was time for Jeff to head back again for his night dive. He is much on the same schedule difference I was on last week yet there is one clear defining line. I do not think Jeff would hide out in the room but instead would gallavant with the rest of the crew that are seeking out sun sets and happy hours since they are not on the night dive. As for me, and with festival coming up soon and more people in town, I know my mom would rather me be bored in my room then running off alone to meet up with the other DMT crew. Same thing goes for the nights I do not have morning shark dives, I am still governed by Jeff's curfew. Safety first, I do understand. Making sure the couples are treated as individuals is necessary as well. Yet it does make if quite difficult for Jeff and I.

Jeff headed out for his night dive as part of the advenced course. I spoke to his student Carrie earlier in the day and she had told me that the more she read in the book about night diving the more nervous she got. I told her it was not scary at all but actually more interesting and several people prefered them. She was not convinced, it sounds like her nerves showed when it was time to start the night dive. Fortunately it is still light out when they first get in the water for the dive so one eases into the darkness. Once they convinced her to get in the water and start the dive she started to lighten up and it was evident she was enjoying it. On their dive they found all kinds of crabs, spotted 2 mandarin fish, a cuttlefish, 2 bobtail squid, and countless other little creatures. By the end of the dive Jeff had to nearly drag Carrie out of the water because she was enjoying the dive so much she did not want to leave. She was so excited about everything that she saw, the instructor later commented that Carrie was one of his favorite students in a long time because she was so enthusiastic.

Everyone was kung-fu fighting

Today was a very long day. I started the day with 4:30 AM shark dive which was amazing. We saw a few thresher sharks that got pretty close. As the group was moving to a new spot to wait for sharks, I got a glimpse of a devil ray coming up from the deep drop off to my far left. I grabbed Jeff's arm and as he turned to look the ray glided right over us. I thought it was awesome. We also saw another devil ray a little later, along with about 4 thresher sharks.

After breakfast, Jeff was off to assist on the ending of his open water course. Mack had decided to have Sam take the morning off that way Kate could get caught up and they could finish their course together. They headed out to Dakit Dakit, while Mack was working with Kate (dive 3), Jeff was showing Oscar (dive 4) around. Oscar was very excited about all of the fish he saw and pointed everytime they came near a blue starfish. Oscar had come a long way since dive one when he was all over the place, this time he spent most of this dive playing with his bouyancy. Jeff would see him nearly crash into the coral then at the last second he would take a huge breath and float above it, he had really begun to figure it out. Kate on the other hand really didn't seem to be enjoying this very much. It can be rather difficult to work with someone that is not overly interested in what you are trying to teach them. She continued to stay in the same positioning and do the same things over and over. It did not matter how many times Jeff or Mack would tell her to lean forward to get horizontal in the water and straighten her legs to kick better, she just would not do it. After the dive was over, they got back in the boat and there was a big congrats to Oscar as he was now an open water scuba diver. They then head back to the dive shop for lunch.

After lunch they headed out to Ka Osting for Kate and Sam's final dive of the course. They both performed their skills and it was off for a fun dive. Agian they were rather lucky and got to see 3 cuttle fish, several lion fish and even a sea snake. Sam really enjoyed the dive while Kate just got through it. This was a very interesting class for Jeff to assist on as he got to see people go from awful to really getting a grasp on it. While also seeing someone just go through the motions and not really care about it.

While Jeff was assisting on the open water courses, I got to go with all the other interns to Calangaman for a diving day trip. To make up for the busy dive shop and limited amount of fun dives that the interns were able to get on, Dan (operations manager) decided to send most the interns to the day trip for fun dives. We were even all on our own boat and did not have to take care of any other divers or feel watched by instructors. I really would have liked for Jeff to have went with but this internship is not about paying attention to keeping couples on the same dives but completing all the requirements on time which left Jeff behind to tend to the course he was assiting in. I sometimes felt a little like the odd girl out with the group of interns since they were all used to being a group and this was the first time I was fun diving with the group without Jeff. Who would my dive buddy be? There were 9 of us in the group so one group would have to be a group of three. I was hoping someone would want to be with me. Right before we got ready to jump into the water, Molly and Max, two of the instructor interns made a loose dive plan and buddy teams. I was to be with Max and Rick it made me feel comfortable to be with Max since he seems like a very good diver. Clangaman consists of an island that is surrounded by beautiful coral reef walls. At the top of the reef there are also wonderful corals and colors, a perfect place to make an extended safety stop around 5 meters. As we swam along the coral reef, I counted our group every once in awhile to make sure everyone was there. A couple of times I thought we were missing someone but they usually were just a little shallower or in one case just slightly out of visibilty. Right after I would find the diver I thought was missing I would notice Max was looking around trying to find someone as well. I would point in the direction of the diver that was a little further off and he gave me the ok symbol. It was nice to know that we were on the same page. After diving around the shallow top of the reef for only a few minutes, we reached a sandy patch which suddenly broke out an unusual string of events. The interns that have been here longer all of sudden took turns taking off their fins and starting a tag team event of kung fu fighting with matrix style moves. It was hilarious to watch them act out fight scenes in this arena of altered gravity. I was one of the two with cameras and became the paparazzi of this scene. It was fun to just let loose and enjoy ourselves.

Between dives we had a huge barbeque lunch with 2-3 times more food then we needed. Pork, chicken, salad, fruit, noodles, and more. During our surface interval we also played frisbie in the ocean. Both dives were in the same area and we all enjoyed swimming through the larger than life aquarium. The second dive also ended with a little mischief as well but all within safe depths and performed by highly trained divers, do not try this at home, reads the disclaimer.

After we got back to the dive shop we had the rest of our Thresher shark specialty to go over. It mostly consisted of information on the Thresher sharks, why they are in Malapascua and how to tell the different types and sexes of threshers (as Mack put it, whether or not they have dangly bits) . After the classroom work was done several of us went to Ging Ging's for a cheap dinner. They have very good and inexpensive chicken and fish curry there. Afterwards it was off to bed as it had been a very long day.

Ohh how quickly we learn

Jeff had the busy day today, he was continuing his open water course with the 3 students. Their agenda was to start the morning off with open water dive 2. This dive would consist of a short session of required skills followed by a 45-50 minute dive. They went to Lighthouse reef which is a calm simple dive site, very well suited for new divers (this is where I went as well for some of the open water diver classes). Unfortuntely, the dive did not start off simple in anyway. The students were to descend down the anchor line to a depth of about 5 meters where they would have a short swim to a sandy patch for skills. The descent was a mess, some students going too slow while another was too fast. Jeff did everything he could to get them under control but this was no easy task. Kate ended up being one of the students to descend too fast and ran into an issue with her ears because she forgot to equalize. This ended up being a big enough issue for her to conclude the dive and return to the boat. That left only 2 students to manage. The skill session went rather well only a few minor snags which is to be expected. Then it was time for the dive, Oscar had slowed his pace quite a bit from yesterday which made him much more managable. He still had a bit of an issue of just swimming ahead and not paying attention to everyone else, but was obviously improving. Half way through the dive it was time to turn around and head back to the boat. Mack motioned for Jeff to lead the dive, he had never dove this site before but had payed attention to where they were in relation to the boat. Regardless, this can be a bit of a nerve racking task to navigate new students back to the boat at a site you have never been to before. Thankfully with Jeff's tuned navigation skills they made it back to the boat safe and sound. After lunch, it was time for open water dive 3 (or dive 2 in Kate's case since she is now a dive behind the rest). This was a similar routine in which they went down to a sandy patch performed a few skills then continued with a dive. This time Jeff was in charge of leading around the other 2 divers while Mack worked with Kate. The divers behaved rather well as Jeff toured them around showing them the corals and fish in the circle around the sand patch. After all 3 were done with their skills, they continued the dive. The students saw all kinds of new things on this dive that they were very excited about. This included an ornate ghost pipefish, several different clownfish, coral banded shrimp and Sam even found a Demon stinger fish, which are quite rare and well camouflaged. After the dive was over, they were all very excited to meet at the restaurant above the dive shop to look through the fish ID book and point at all of the cool things they had seen. This was a more rewarding open water dive for Jeff to help assist with. While Jeff was playing open water assistant, I had a practice run with my 20 skills. I was with Max and Molly who have excellent skills and are both about to start their instructor course. I was happy to have the extra practice. Some skills the three of us would complete simultaneously for the instructor to grade us all at the same time. I use the word simultaneously lightly since like I said Max and Molly are quite good at the skills and part of having great skills is slowing them down with good demonstration quality. I would be giving my signal that my skill was completed only to see from the corner of my eye that Max and Molly were only 1/3 to 1/2 way through their skill demo. I knew my speed would not be viewed positively. It was not because I was that good, but had missed a step or simply went too fast. After the skill set was over, we all got tips from the instructor. It was nice that Molly said she was impressed by how far my skills have already come and they will be tip top soon enough. This means a lot coming from Molly as she already looks and acts the part of a divemaster or instructor. She is always enthusiastic to dive and show others cool marine life. It is great to dive near her as she is always spotting creatures. Around 1700 most of the interns met with Mack in the dive shop to start our Thresher shark diver specialty course. This is a free course that they give to all of the DM interns if they want it. It basically is a course that teaches you about different types of sharks and how to tell what and how a shark eats based on its body shape and the shape of its teeth. We then learned more about shark finning and other threats to sharks existence. This class also included some specifics about the thresher shark. That was the end of day 1 of the specialty course. We all decided that we would do the first of our 2 shark dives for this course tomorrow morning. This meant 4:30 am at the dive shop for us. Knowing we would have an early morning we chose to go to the other place and get cheese burgers then call it a night. Big surprise they were out of cheese again, at least they still had burgers this time. So we each had an excellent burger then shared an order of fries and called it an early night.

I got wrecked

It is very difficult to be a couple on this internship since we seem to always be pulled to different dives based on the opportunities and timing to complete our requirements. Today I was going to Gato on a day trip while Jeff stayed behind to assist in an open water class. I was actually completing my advanced course but since they were going to Gato meant I got to go to Gato. I had heard great things about the Gato dives even from Jeff as he went there while I was assisting on an open water class. My dive plan for the day consisted of first completing the wreck dive with the advanced students on Dona Marilyn and then diving Gato after lunch. I had not heard much about the wreck and really did not think much about it until I entered the water. The surface current was a little choppy as the group of us (father, son, instructor, and I) entered the water and approached the anchor line. It is best to start the descent as soon as possible in these conditions to decrease surface anxiety with the crashing waves and to ensure the group descends close together. The father, as usual was reluctant to descend right away yet this time he did not have a clear issue to communicate but instead just stated he needed a minute before he would be ready to descend. I unenthusiastically waited for him at the surface and finally the descent began. The instructor had stated the maximum depth was about 30 meters which is about 100 feet but I did not expect that we would be dropping right down to max depth and not be able to see the wreck until we were nearly on top of it. I guess I should have realized that it is a wreck and since there is not much else to see, we would be reaching the wreck bottom target depth at the beginning of the dive and then circling around slowly getting shallower. To descend from the surface while holding onto a line, looking only out to a constant blue, gives the mind a bit of time to wander. By the time the blue finally broke, I was a bit anxious and worked up. Were the advanced students skills good enough, would I calm down, I really don't like this, I think my hands are trembling, should I just go back up, were only a few thoughts racing through my head. We finally reached the wreck and it was time to swim around and explore. Do I concentrate on my eratic breathing and trembling hands that my mind produced on the way down or do I calm myself and proceed. I had remembered the instructor stating that when the boy got the jelly fish sting on his hand he had perceptual narrowing and no longer looked around to see the beauty underwater. I used this information to shift my focus onto the wreck and marine life in an attempt to cast my fears away. It really did seem to work but above all of this, I was surely back on track once my divers were in need of assistance. The boy once again got stung by a jelly fish which I made sure the instructor was aware. Last time this made him quickly deplete his air supply since his breathing changed from deep, controlled breathing to rapid, shallow, anxious breathing. The instructor signaled back to me that he knew and pointed to where the incident had happened. The dad possibly unaware that we were turning around to head back to the anchor line, was off in another direction. By this time we were the furtherest point from the anchor line on the wreck and definitely needed to head back in case the boy starts to rapidly consume his air supply again. I stayed at a position to be visible by both groups and motioned to the dad that we were heading back to the boat. We were able to slowly make it back with completing a view of the wreck. The instructor did not seem at all impressed that we were the last group off the boat and first ones back. He was not annoyed that he had missed dive time but instead that the boy still really needs to work on his perceptual narrowing which could be dangerous if the group would not know how quickly he can consume air during these times. After the dive I asked a few other divers if this was a good dive, this is what I usually ask. I was surprised by the amount of people that did not really fancy this dive. This made me realize I was not alone but push come to shove, I completed the dive and still assisted in caring for other divers by putting aside my own comfort level. I would say all in all, it was job well done. Between dives, we enjoyed our surface interval while eating sandwiches and talking on the boat. I almost missed it when it was my turn to get my sandwich since the name on it was Jeff Bonnie. Since our bill at the restaurant is Jeff and Bonnie it must have been misinterpreted. Luckily, one of the open water students, Keith, that Jeff started a class with recognized this as my sandwich and motioned to me. Keith was very nice and we had talked for awhile during this trip amongst talking to many other guests. Keith is in a group with two other guys in which we had noticed they all wear survivor Tshirts often. Our intern group was discussing this the other night but we were unsure if they had been contestants, had an affiliation with the show, or just like wearing the shirts. I ensured our group I would find out the answer. The Gato trip with Keith was a great opportunity to find out. It was very neat to discover that Keith is a camera man for the show and the other guys in his group are affiliated with the show as well, one in audio and the other a producer. My mom, an avid survivor watcher will be pleased to find out this news. Keith seemed leary to discuss too much, maybe afraid to spill any secrets, I'm not sure but I respected his reluctance and changed our discussion back to vacation and diving? The son and the boy from our advanced class, nicely brought us ChocoMucho bars for dessert (the local candy bar). What a great way to end lunch, I think it has been over 2 weeks since I have had chocolate. Our next dive was around the island named Gato since the island is shaped like a cat. I really did not see the resemblance until the boat captains explained it. Yes the island looks like a Gato but you Got to be looking from the right angle. The dive around Gato was very pleasant. Part of the dive is actually swimming through the island via an under water cave. Just as we approached the exit of the cave, we could see the sun shinning down and the very beautiful blue water full of soft coral reef and fish. Sometimes sharks including baby sharks can be seen at the exit but they were not in sight today. Even though there were no sharks, it was still a very pleasant dive, like swimming in an aquarium. Meanwhile Jeff was starting his open water assist portion of the course. He had 3 divers, Sam, his wife Kate, and a 44 year old Filipino man named Oscar. The way they run open water courses here is they put confined water dive one and open water dive one together. It starts by getting them in the water with the gear on and letting them get used to breathing underwater. After this, we all kneel down in about 5ft of water and performed some basic skills. This is where the divemaster earns his keep. These students are all over the place floating up, falling over and waving their arms like crazy. As a DM Jeff's job was to basically hold down the 2 students the instructor was not working with at the time. This can be a very challenging task. Once all of the skills are done then they go for a dive. Depending on how the divers are with their bouyancy determines if the instructor or DM holds on to the person during the dive or lets them swim with very close supervision. Sam was very content in the water and was allowed to swim along. Kate did not seem to be enjoying this very much and Jeff had to keep a very close watch on her but as the dive progressed so did her comfort level. Oscar was going nuts looking and pointing at everything, the problem was he was swimming so fast we kept having to get him to stop and slow down. When it came to kicking he only had one speed superfast. Fortunately, everyone made it back to the boat safe and sound. After lunch, it was time for confined water dives 2-5. This is where the students have to perform the skills in a little deeper water and also have more complicated skills to complete. Jeff spent the entire dive behind the divers holding them down, than when needed picking them up and repositioning them, sometimes without them even realizing what happened. Everyones skills improved on this round although it will be interesting to see what tomorrows dives will bring. After the day trip the whole group of interns had to be at a 1700 meeting to discuss fiesta. We were told that the small island was going to get very busy as many of the residents on the main island and other islands would be arriving for festival. It was explained that we should enjoy this experience but be street savvy. This was a time to watch our belongings a little closer, not flash around expensive phones, enjoy our selves but go home at a decent time. The boys were warned this was not the time to get into any fights and the girls were told to make sure to walk home at night with a buddy preferably a male intern. Usually there are not any issues but the dive shop would like to keep it that way. Later that night I went to watch the advanced students get their certificates and shark bite shots for completing the course. The dad had asked if I would be there and I did not want to let him down. We chatted for a little while after they received their shots but then it was time to turn in and get some sleep as the days are becoming very long. We also have not had a day off in about 2 weeks. I am hoping that during the festival the shop will be a little busy and we can have a much needed day off.

My shark is bigger than yours

It was an early morning dive with the sharks for the advanced course students to complete both their deep and first nitrox dive. Several days later, I would discover that this dive was significant for me as well since this was my 100th dive. With all the requirements and daily activities, Jeff and I had become very behind on logging our dives. Down the line we went, into the blue, hoping to see sharks and manta rays too. It started out amazing seeing a thresher shark circle in the cleaning station from the time we descended. The shark was quite content and circled around for awhile, then it left us so we moved to another site along the line. To keep the thresher sharks comfortable, there is a line along the cleaning stations that divers can not pass. During this dive we saw many Thresher sharks and some circled very close to the line to allow us a good look. The happier the sharks are, the more they stay around and get closer which makes for happier divers. This was by far my best Thresher shark dive yet, at one point we had 3 sharks in view at the same time. It is a burst of adrenaline when it seems as though the shark is coming right at me than at the last moment it turns to continue its cleaning ritual. At times I am not sure if the burst of adrenaline is from excitement or maybe just a realization of how small and exposed I am in this giant ocean. Towards the end of the dive we even got to see a devil ray off in the distance. Both rays and sharks are marine animals made mostly of cartilage and enjoy the cleaning stations of moon and blue wrasse fish. These cleaning stations lay right at the deep drop off, which almost seems bottomless, one never really knows what kind of creature may pop up out of the darkness. Once on the line to start our ascent, I noticed the boy was holding his hand and seemed preoccupied by this. Later I found out he got stung by a jelly fish which is not poisnous but uncomfortable. The instructor explained to me that he was doing great on air supply until the sting and then perceptual narrowing and anxious breathing set in which depleted his air supply in a hurry. The instructor was aware of what was occuring and kept the dive safe with the boy still returning to the boat with adequate air. Back on the boat we all shared our stories and decided we saw about 5 different sharks and one quick devil ray. We had constant shark action throughout the dive which was impressive. With diving and how light is refracted in the water differently than air, it gives the diver a scientific reason for always overestimating how big and how close the shark was. It is not an overexaggeration but actually how our brain interperted the encounter therefore it is not my fault my shark was always closer and bigger than yours.

My next dive for the day was the navigation dive with the advanced students. It is interesting that right as the instructor submerges under the surface the dad always comes up with a question for me regarding his confidence in the equipment or something else. It never fails, yet I have found all of his concerns very manageable. He really just wants reassurance which I confidently provide him with. One thing this course has taught me is that diving is very much mind over matter. The dad must have had an issue in the past, possibly with his descent right while breaking the surface and now, every dive he is very apprehensive at this point. With just a little reassurance, he is off diving with little concern. After I had fixed this dives surface issue, we were off to complete some navigation skills at the lighthouse wreck where I have dove many times. It was nice that the instructor allowed me to work with each student during the navigation of both the reciprical and square while the instructor stayed in place. Then they both completed the natural navigation which relies on distinctive properties of the reefs and coral heads to navigate in one direction and then back to the starting point. The boy basically lead this skill and pointed at different anenomes with different species of clown fish and other distinctive properities to make his way back. They overall did well in all the navigation skills. Now it was my turn to lead them around for a bit and then navigate us back to the boat while the instructor collected our dive set up tools from the bottom of the ocean (ok maybe bottom is a relative term, it was about 5 meters deep). I thought the instuctor would come back quickly but it appeared he was taking his time. I showed the students a dog faced puffer, baby nemo, pipe fish, sweet lips (very fluttery brown fish with white poka dots), and much more until finally I knew it was time to complete our safetly stop and return to the surface as they both only had 50 Bar of air remaining. I went to the edge of the wreck to see if the instructor was in sight. With him just barely visible, I motioned they had 50 Bar and we were heading up. He gave me the ok and off we went.

Jeff's day unfortunately did not go as planned, he was supposed to be assisting on the first dive of an open water course. This becomes a little hard to do when the student does not show up for class. Once again with the last minute change of plans which has become far too common. Now instead of working towards checking off needed activities he was given the morning off. At this point Jeff found out that 2 of the other interns were going out to practice skills so he decided to join in. Mack told Jeff that the student may show up and they would go on the dive in the afternoon, if the student didn't show up there was a discover scuba session he could assist with. By the time Jeff and the other 2 got ready and swam out to cemetery, Jeff only had about 45 minutes before he had to head back. It was enough time to get half of the skills done then he left the group and headed in. Upon returning to the shop he discovered that the student had not shown up and the discover scuba had been given to another intern. This basically turned Jeff's attempt at a productive day into a complete waste. Oh well if the open water student shows up tomorrow we can try again.

Later that evening back at the dive shop bar my advanced students and I discussed many topics. The dad is very talkative and well versed in history it seemed. We discussed why America uses the imperial system, driving on the right side of the road and writing dates as month, day, year versus day, month, year like the rest of the countries. He explained how there was a huge debate if America should be English or German speaking and English won out. They asked us about 9/11 and how the son was taught in school that after this disaster the emergency phone number was 911 and not before. All in all it is very interesting to hear another countries point of view as long as it is done over a couple beers in a friendly fashion.

The town scene keeps picking up in preparation for the festival. Everyday there seems to be more people on the dirt roads. Instead of disco a couple days a week it was now disco everynight. As I walk around my normal route from the place we stay and the dive shops, I have found many more smiling faces and waves. Every now and then I also hear, Disco... being muttered under their breath. I think my couple of disco days have made me quite a few new friends in the villages. Disco and dancing seems be on the minds of many of the locals lately. There are many children groups just in my short transit that are practicing daily for the festival dance competition. One group practices right next to the dive shop which allows us to glimpse over the fence and watch the dance routines as we clean up our gear. This group has about 15-20 boys and girls ranging in age from 7-14 years old. The leader of the group is what has been termed a lady boy which is what Americans would call a cross dresser. Regardless, the leader is quite intense when critiquing the group and making them start over often when one child gets out of sync or does not put enough attitude into the moves. The routines are fairly long including many large movements and mixing it up by changing the childrens order and formation throughout the routine. Another dance team we encounter on our walk home has about 15 boys in the group. Both groups seem to practice for many hours a day. Besides dancing, other locals have been spending a lot of time sweeping off the dirt paths around their homes with what would resemble a short homemade broom. It is odd to see them sweep off the dirt paths as we would our household floors. It does actually make the paths look nicer to remove any leaves or garbage from them. Locals also use the brooms to clean up the grassy areas as well. By the time of the festival, the normal paths and places we pass did have a noticeably cleaner or tidy appearance.