Iris' second entry about her Divemaster training. Well into her training by now, this is what she has been up to!
My second week begins and I´m reading and reading 115 pages to get the 5 chapters in my head. For me writing helps to remember, so I go shopping, office supplies it is! :-D It´s so much interesting stuff to study and I love talking about it with Jordan, discuss, think, understand and learn.
And of course I get to dive! I ask myself why sunrises have to be so early, but as soon as I see the pink clouds over our wonderful Indian Ocean, Mount Rinjani on Lombok in the background and the rays of sunshine in wonderful colors, the reflection in the waves, as the sun rises and we go down, I am wide awake and sooo happy I got up at this time. SO worth it EVERYTIME! As a plus I get Banana Pancakes between the dives and a nap after the second one.
After I finished the knowledge review of chapter 5, I´m allowed to assist in PADI Courses. I join the Instructors in the Discover Scuba Dives, make sure that one guest doesn´t get to shallow and feel like a very happy watchdog as I stay above him to be ready if he´s ascending accidently. The next guests likes to stroll around, so I try to keep him with the group, showing him on my computer how deep we are to get him a feeling of depths. And he sticks to the group after this – yes!
As the guests discover Scuba, I discover my love for the adorable Pufferfish <3 and learn, that they can just “puff” 9 times in their life, because it´s so exhausting! So better give them space and admire them from a safe distance.
Lucky us, our guest Beto, who works in Coral Conservations gives us a presentation about our Oceans, especially corals, what they do for us and what we can do for them. Did you know, that most sunscreens are killing the corals? I think I´ll do the PADI Specialty Course Project AWARE to learn more about how I can protect our environment.
After finally finishing chapter 8, I take the first exam and get a good result. Studying pays off ☺ I start reading chapter 9 of the Divemaster Manual, the longest and for me most challenging one, because it´s a lot of physics, medical stuff and technics. My lovely Mentor literally draws pictures for me, so I understand everything. And I have my Study Buddy Gede on my side, studying together is much better and we can enjoy Burgers together, as soon as we are done. Once more I´m so glad I picked Bali Dive Cove for my Divemaster Training!
And then it´s the day: we have two guests and one consumes his air faster, so when he´s at 100 Bar the Divemaster tells me to take him for the way back. We buddy up, wave Goodbye to the others and turn to see the other side of the Liberty Wreck, our most famous dive site. Slowly we make our way back, explore within our air limits, watch a school of 16 Bumphead Parrotfish at our safety stop and head back to the shore. I´m sooo happy and proud, when we ascent exactly in front of our place at the shore – and honestly I´m also relieved I found the way for the first time all by myself! (Just turn right 10 kicks after the seven stones with the orange anemone and the Clark´s Clownfish, pretty easy… ☺ ).
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