Friday, November 23rd

Stayed at Palosanto Hostel

Dear Obiwan,

Today was the second day of my Open Water diving course. Today was the first day out to sea Obi! We left at 6:30, and actually right on time (which did not happen in the Galapagos). We were going to dive first at ‘the rig’ which is an oil rig right by the dock where all the boats are.

First off, there are Green Sea Turtles here Obi! And there were people swimming with them and you could pay to swim with them! But it was SO different than the Galapagos, here the people were letting you touch them and they lured the turtles with fish…they said green sea turtles eat fish? But someone told me they actually don’t? I don’t know…it was interesting but also a little upsetting to see people just grabbing these turtles, I don’t think they like it.

But here are the green sea turtles!:

Oh and then on the other side of the dock was just the land of birds and pelicans!

After this we loaded the boat and were off. It was me, July, Grace, a Spanish couple, and three American women. The Americans actually had our boat turn around because they did not know we were diving at the same sight as they dived yesterday. They were very upset and quite rude at first, but they were nice once we dropped them off.

After this we went back to the rig and the Spanish girl was on her last day of her Open Water tests and her boyfriend was on his first day of his advanced course, along with Grace.

The first thing that happened Obi was the Spanish girl was supposed to do her last tests with Juan while I awaited holding onto the rig under them. It seemed like something went wrong because Juan and this woman kept going back up to the surface and eventually just Juan returned, no girl. It was under water so I could not ask him what happened. But I was a little worried.

Next it was my turn to do some of the tests I needed to pass. The 3 tests I had to do today was:

1) Take my regulator out, continuously blow bubbles, put it back in my mouth, clear it out, and continue breathing.

2) Halfway fill my goggles with water and empty my goggles of water by tilting my head up and pushing hard onto the goggles in between my eyes, then blow with my nose.

3) Fully fill my goggles and empty them by tilting my head back and lifting the goggles from the bottom and blowing hard with my nose

I did the first two tests easily, but the third was one of the ones that scared me in the pool. So I centered myself, took some deep breaths, and then went for it, and did it on the first try!

Then Juan gestured that I did it and we did a celebratory water dance and then I could freely swim without having to have my hand held (which you have to do when doing Discovery Dives which I did in the Galapagos)

After this we went to a natural reef for more tests. While on the boat to the next place I was informed by Grace that the Spanish girl became very scared doing her last tests, the full mask removal, with the strong current and she ended up going back to the boat, and I guess then cried :(.

Soon we were at the natural reef and I had to do the two other tests:

1) Buoyancy test

2) Full mask removal test where you have to take you mask fully off, look at Juan, then put it back on and clear it whichever way you prefer

I did the buoyancy test easily and it is so fun because you literally feel like you’re in space, just floating and weightless. Then I did the second test without inhaling water! I was so proud Obi!

After this we swam around but the sea was very rough and murky so Juan grabbed onto me to help me.

Also, July struggled as a well and did not do her discovery dive. It was a rough day!

However back at the dock the Spanish girl passed her tests!

Here are some photos from the day, me and July then me, July, and Grace eating burgers at Smoking Brother’s!:

After returning to the hostel Margaux was feeling a lot better! We went out with some of the hostel workers and had a great night!

Alright tu Madre needs rest for my last day of the diving course Obi!

Goodnight lamb,

Carly