Saturday, November 24th

Stayed at Palosanto Hostel (Night 5)

Dear Obi,

Today was the last day of my Open Water Course! We returned to the same two places to dive, the rig and the natural reef.

Here’s some green sea turtles:

Here are some shots of what the diving boat looks like:

At the rig I had to do the buoyancy test again, with much rougher currents, and the full mask removal test again.

AND OBI- I did it!!! The full mask removal also wasn’t as terrifying this time. I felt confident and I knew I could do it. I also had done it wrong so many times…I knew what to do if it went wrong, I kept repeating in my head “don’t swim up, you have to stay and figure out it, you can do it, DON’T BREATHE IN THROUGH YOUR NOSE.” And also I finally started only breathing through my mouth!

After this me and Juan swam deeper down the rig than we did yesterday. It gets COLD down there Obi! But man was it incredible. The rig is just a living creature. Tons of coral and squishy living stuff all over these huge metal bars that hold the rig. The metal bars also make big X’s and it is so fun to just swim in between them and flip upside down and which ever direction you want. Diving is the closest thing to flying I will ever experience, and I can’t wait to do it more and more.

I still have to return tomorrow to finish the videos I haven’t finished and then take the paper exam! After the rest of the diving Grace and I had lunch together at Cafe del Mundo, which was next door to my hostel.

The evening was fun at the hostel! We played beer pong and a huge Jenga game.

After that we went to the infamous Loki hostel that is known for it’s amazing parties. We got there with a large group of us from our hostel. Loki was beautiful but it was just very obviously a hook up place. I went on the dance floor and felt like a small little fish with sharks all around. I was grateful we were in a group of people dancing, but I just wasn’t into Loki. After some beer pong I was exhausted from waking up at 6am and diving. Patti who works at Palosanto was also tired and we walked back together. Patti is so warm and nice. She told me about her daughter living in Boston!

Finally it was bedtime Obi.

Hope you’re sleeping well Obi, I still find it hard to sleep with out your snuggles,

Love tu Madre,

Carly