Day 231! Today’s my second to last day as a dive master in training! Once today and tomorrow are completed, I’ll be a certified Dive Master! Pretty crazy to think that 2.5 months ago, I was just starting to learn everything about this extreme sport… but now I’ll be a “pro diver!” How cool is that?!

Today brought another morning of fun dives. My fun diver was Tom, who I led the other day! He’s an open water diver so no deep dives this morning, but I was still able to show him some cool sights.

Kit was also tagging along as a fun diver since there weren’t any other fun divers to take. In fact, it was just us three, an instructor, and her student on the morning boat today.

Our first dive was to No Name Pinnacle & HTMS Suphairin 313, the shipwreck. Originally it was Shark Island but the wind picked up even more than yesterday so we knew there’d be current again.

No other diving boat was at the dive site. This, I think, was the first time I’ve had the dive site all to myself (we got in the water before the instructor’s group) or at least the first time with good visibility. It was really freaking cool being the only group floating around this giant shipwreck. Usually there’s a number of groups blocking views or we’re having to avoid.

After floating around the shipwreck, we made our way to No Name Pinnacle and circled that for a bit too. I went searching for a pipefish that allegedly lives in a crack on the pinnacle. I didn’t find it, instead I found a small pufferfish that had crammed itself into the crevice. It was very cute.

Our second dive was to Twins. It again was a very empty dive site which was very nice to have!

We spotted a very large snapper, scribbled filefish, and a sweet lips.

It was a very pretty and shallow dive. With that I completed my second to last day of diving as a DMT!

It was a rocky and wavy boat ride back to the pier, which made this picture tough to take.

Once I got back to Taco Shack, I helped clean gear, went home for a shower, and then came back to Taco for lunch.

I spent the rest of the afternoon lying in bed, taking a nap, watching some tv, and playing guitar!

I went to the hostel for a little bit and I received a message from a guy wanting to buy my old pair of dive boots. Finally! He came by and was sold immediately. It was nice to finally get them off my hands… or feet?

I then played some pool against the American named Evan I met the other day. While we were playing, a person came in to sign up for her refresher course. This person actually met my friend Aaron, who lives on Koh Phangan and he sent her my way for diving! So I helped her get all signed up and ready for her refresher with me tomorrow afternoon!

I went back to my apartment for a little bit and then went to a new viewpoint bar for sunset. This new bar (for me) was called Sun Suwan, and my mentor, Chris, was there with his girlfriend.

The three of us chatted while we watched the sunset. And then it was time for dinner.

I split off from Chris and made my way to Buddy restaurant to meet up with DMT Tom, Sina, and instructor Chelsea. Of course also to see my favorite restaurant owner on the island, Bee!

I enjoyed another yellow curry from this amazing restaurant. And after some lovely chit chat, it was time to head home and go to bed!

But first a few games of pool at Taco Shack… and then bed!

It was a very nice and chill day today! After tomorrow I’ll be able to make money from diving all across the world! It’s a very amazing skill to have and I’m so happy I had the opportunity to do this course!

– Elie