I am a DIVEMASTER!

Wow I can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since I updated! I am so sorry about that, but this has been my first day off since then, so I guess an update is over due. 

Anyways, it took a little longer for me to finish my dive master training due to having to do a visa run in there.  A couple of weeks ago I had to take a trip to Malaysia for a night in order to get a visa which allows me to stay in Thailand for an additional 2 months with a possible 1 month extension.  The whole thing was kind of crazy and involved 9 strangers packed into a van overnight for way too long with some really awkward “frank exchanges of ideas”` (not involving me, but the strangers were fighting). 

So back in Thailand I finished up my dive master training, which was a ton of fun, but also really hard.  Again, I learned a ton about diving, and I feel like I really have improved as a diver. But now I am officially a Divemaster!  After that we had a BBQ out on our lawn to celebrate and also to say wish a happy birthday to our friend Dima, who has unfortunately sine gone home.  We had a new girl from India move into his apartment that will be joining me for my instructor training. 

After that I took a course on diving with nitrox/enriched air, which is interesting. It involves breathing more oxygen and less nitrogen.  After that one-day class I spent the next week just fun diving.  It was pretty awesome to just dive for the love of diving.  I saw cuttlefish, squids, sea horses, sharks and… sea cucumbers and blue starfish! (Below is a leopard shark)

So a random note on photography and videography of the underwater world.  I have been carrying a little gopro in my pocket when I am diving and whenever I see anything especially cool or rare I bust it out and film it. So yesterday I uploaded all of my videos to my computer and I realized I am awful at photography.  So unfortunately there weren't many usable videos or photos, but when everything is all said and done I will put together a video of all my favorite 2 usable seconds of underwater creatures. 

So now I have some time to just relax and study before my classes to become an instructor (IDC) starts.  Next Monday I will be in the classroom for a couple of weeks, and I will take my 3 days of exams right when Christine comes to visit, so she will be here to celebrate the completion of my scuba studies!

I think the highlight of this experience for me so far is all of the diversity.  My neighbors are Australian, Indian, Iranian, Japanese, Thai and French. Also everyday on the boat is such a wildly diverse group.  I find myself frequently sitting around conversing with people from all over the world and all walks of life.  Also all the diving has me thinking about lessons learned and life parallels from each dive experience.  This must be a throw back to my wilderness staff days in camp life and doing debriefs about everything.  Hopefully down the road I will put some good life parallels in my blog. 

An easy one is about protecting the things we love…Everyday I find garbage on the ocean floor, which means there is someone on a boat somewhere throwing garbage over the side.  The places we go to are protected areas only visited by divers for the most part.  So if divers are polluting the places they are about to swim in they are basically taking the things they love for granted. It’s abhorrent, and heartbreaking.   In life it’s easy for us to take for granted the things we love around us everyday, but when we do that all we are doing is throwing garbage in the ocean, and at some point there will no longer be a beautiful ocean to visit.  So go tell someone you love them today!  I love you Christine!

Thanks for the prayers, and keep it real.