Day 188! Apologizes in advance, there won’t be many pictures today. The dives we did weren’t picture worthy andddd I left my phone in my motorbike when I went onto the boat today. But more on that later.

Today I had the morning off! So after a nice day off, I got even more sleep and slept in till around 8:30am. Not crazy late, but still later than 6am.

After getting ready for the day, I wandered over to Taco Shack where I got a muesli bowl for breakfast. Kit also ended up showing up so we enjoyed breakfast together, chatting and also reading more Science of Diving.

We had a bit of time to spare after breakfast, so we both went back to our apartments and I took a nap. I also had a bit of time after my nap so I strummed on my guitar, even though it’s still missing a string. My guitar tool should be coming in soon though so I should have a fully stringed guitar in the next couple of days.

It was then time to dive! But first lunch and helping put away equipment from the morning boat.

I thought today was going to be navigation with Kit and Chris… but today’s dive sites were at two sites that weren’t very exciting to navigate. This keyed Kit and I into that we were going to be going through our stress test today.

I obviously knew this was coming soon, but not this soon… and I (both of us) definitely was not ready for it.

As we got on the boat and left the pier I had the sudden realization that I left my phone in the cup holder of my motorbike. Luckily my friend Chelsea picked up when I called her on Kit’s phone and she went and picked it up for me.

We set off to Aow Leuk to see what we were in for. Chris gave us a bit of a run down and time for us to plan but even that wasn’t going to fully help us.

The dive started with Chris taking us to shallow water to practice our skills. Specifically practicing how to show a class the skills. We ran through all of the basic skills to help prepare us for teaching refreshers in the future. Chris was pleasantly surprised with where we were at with demonstrating the skills, which was nice to hear.

But this didn’t give us any brownie points for what was to come.

The stress test is not an SSI mandatory (or probably condoned test), so please keep that in mind. I willingly said I would participate in this and know the “dangers” of what could come from doing it, but I’m here to work on bettering my diving and getting over whatever stress and anxiety I’ve been experiencing.

So with that disclaimer, I’ll share what I experienced (I of course will also preface, I’m totally okay and look forward to taking another stab at conquering this test).

Chris brought us down to a very shallow depth (around 2m). He gave us a 3 second countdown and then it was go time. The stress test is this: you and a partner only have one working regulator, so only one of you can breathe at a time. But you’re not allowed to hold your breath, it’s the number one rule of diving, so you must exhale slowly. With that criteria, you have to switch your fins, weight belt, BC, and mask to complete the test.

Now if it was just that, it would be a cakewalk… but of course, it’s not just that.

While we’re trying to communicate about needing air and switching gear, Chris is messing with us… hard. As the countdown starts, he immediately kicks up as much sand as possible to make it so communication is harder. Then at every second possible he’s filling our masks up with water, taking off our weight belts, putting air into our BCs, anything to make it so we have to stop and focus on some other task that isn’t sharing air or changing gear.

It was freaking nuts.

We tried three times, but each time some part of our plan and communication failed resulting in us not providing air and going up to the surface. I’ll be completely honest, it was chaos. I’ve never experienced anything like it before and if we can ever pass it, I’m sure we could roll with any punches thrown our way.

But this time around we weren’t successful. In the three attempts, I swallowed a fair amount of salt water and sand and of course got sand covering me from head to toe. I’m still finding it in my hair as I’m writing this.

I didn’t think it’d be a cake walk, but I wasn’t expecting just how crazy it was going to be. As of right now, I don’t think I have the skills to beat this test, but by the end of my dive master I hope I can and look forward to trying again.

I asked Chris afterwards if he thought we were going to be able to do it and he said no… which did make me feel a bit better for not getting anywhere close.

Here’s a couple new pictures that Chelsea took from the other day! More to come!

With that craziness out of the way (for now) it was time to relax, and debrief, before starting our second dive.

Our second dive was a lot more chill. Chris is getting us to a point where Kit and I will go off on dives of our own and lead each other around dive sites. So today, Chris followed Kit and I as we navigated our way through a dive site right next to Aow Leuk.

We took our slates and drew out the dive site, made a dive plan, and then set out on the dive.

We descended right next to the boat and headed towards a wall of coral that would be our dive site. When we reached the wall, we made a mental note of the surrounding to know when to turn back to the boat on our return. We then headed down the wall for a bit using our compass and map, before turning off towards an artificial reef, and then making our way back down the wall and turning off where we remembered to.

It’s a fairly lackluster dive site, but we killed it! Within a 61 minute dive averaging around 10m, we made our way back and forth and came up directly next to the boat! We also saw a big Bat fish, a cool flat nudibranch, and a moray eel.

Tomorrow, we’ll go even deeper with Chris on bigger dive sites to practice our navigation and getting comfortable with getting a little lost.

We got back to Taco Shack and I immediately went home to shower before heading back to Taco for dinner. I got two chicken tacos but I still didn’t have my phone, so no pictures of them… but you’ve seen them before.

After this it was time for a going away shindig for my friend, and fellow DMT, Till. He just finished his dive master training and is leaving the island tomorrow. So we all went to High the Moon to celebrate and send him off.

Kit and I are quickly becoming some of the more experienced dive masters… which is a wild thing to think about!

After a lovely night, I went back home and stopped into Taco to fill up my water bottle. But when I arrived they were just starting round 4 of trivia, so I took over for Yi and finished out the trivia night! It was a blast getting to do part of it again. But I was very tired, so after I wrapped it up, I went back to my room and went to bed!

It was a long day and even though we failed the stress test, I learned a lot and I’m excited to pass it next time it’s thrown our way. I can’t say it was fun, but it was an extreme challenge that will feel very rewarding when completed! It’s also so crazy that soon it’ll just be Kit and I exploring the big blue!! We’ll see how tomorrow’s dives go!

– Elie