Up Until The IE

So......it has been a while. I have quite a lot to talk about though, so I will try to keep everything brief. We have been working hard in the dive shop, and the owners and everyone is starting to trust me more and I believe that they see I'm not such a bad guy. However, I am still picked on because I am American. I have no idea why but they really do not like Americans very much here. They are constantly saying derogatory things about America or stuff about Americans. Half of it is just joking, but you can still tell they kinda mean it. I am trying not to let it get to me to bad. However, I am proud to be American, and at times I just have to leave the room.
Speaking of which, we went to Angelina (the boss's daughter) 5th birthday party. We arrived just as the kids where leaving and the adults were going to take over the party. Of course, the first thing that Angelina says to me is “I think I love you“, so yeah, I don't think the boss took kindly to that. Supposedly, Angelina doesn't get along with everyone and this was only the third time of her meeting me. So know the boss has it out for me. Haha! So anyway, at this party was a lady that was from upstate New York. Everyone was telling me I should meet her and talk to her because we were both from America. Of course the moment I met this lady I knew something wasn't right. When I said that I was from America, her eyes immediately narrowed. And when I mentioned the South, I knew that my time was up. I was asking about how long she has been outside America, and things of that nature. She made sure to let me know that she no longer considered herself American, and that America to her was “The Man”. When I say “The Man”, I mean the one that is suppressing man and brainwashing society. It was kinda funny because I started pushing her buttons and really getting her going about how horrible America was. After a while, she was catching on that I was just goading her, so I started to agree with her and throwing out even more BS. The entire time I was laughing inside and could not help about thinking of my sister Sarah. You would have loved to meet her and give her a piece of your mind. Luckily, I managed to escape without getting harmed in the process of talking to her.
So back to diving......I have been given a little more responsibility, and have been given charge of several groups of divers. I also have been in charge of making sure new interns and workers knew what to do and to show them the ropes. The funniest moment happened when I went to assist a instructor that had four students. Two of them where Norwegian kids ages 11 and 13, another their mom, and the fourth was a pipe engineer from Belgium. I was worried about the kids mostly, but that ended up being no problem. The problem was with their mother. She was so worried about them that she forgot what she was doing. Then there was this moment of recognition on her face, when she realized that she to was breathing underwater. There was this moment of shock, awe and then fear that passed across her face. She froze and wouldn't respond to anything. Marcus (the instructor) would signal to her and she wouldn't move, then he waved his hand inches from her face and still no reaction. Eventually, he got a response when he grabbed her and told her to go to the surface, which was only 6 inches above her head. I stayed with the other students and waited for them. Eventually they came back, and Marcus arrived first to make sure everything underwater was fine. Then all the sudden I look up and see the mom trying to dive down. She had forgotten how to descend properly by deflating her jacket. She was still floating but trying to swim down. Pretty awkward. She ended up rolling around on the surface right above Marcus's head. He looked up and in the process got his snorkel caught in her hoses. She was thrashing around, which caused him to be jerked around by his head. This happened so fast all I could do was watch and laugh, which I did. It was pretty funny. Anyway he grabbed her and stopped her from freaking out and eventually untangled himself. We finally ended that session without any more incidents.
So he later decided for me to take the Belgian guy and do all the Open Water Skills with him since he was progressing rather quickly. I did not ask any questions, which I was told not to do with instructors, so I took the guy out and taught him all the skills. Later both Marcus and I got in trouble cause this was violating PADI standards. Of course, I had no idea, but that did not stop them from throughly laying into me. I was not to happy after that. However, they said they understood and they just wanted to make sure that it would never happen again. I think they were really mad at me because as an instructor candidate, I am supposed to have just finished reading the 250 page manual and know all the standards. Haha, yeah right! However, we moved on and I was back to just doing a divemasters job. I was leading more dives and doing some course work with student that I was allowed to do. The diving has gotten better, with the water slightly warming, along with the visibility increasing. I am getting familiar with the dive sites and getting used to spotting the different creatures. Lots of octopus and really amazing nudibranchs. The other day I found a neon pink one with gills all along its back, then even a bright purple one just like the other. Really amazing! Of course the divers got back on the boat asking why I was pointing out underwater flowers. I really had to stop my self from being sarcastic and asking them when was the last time they saw a hot pink flower underwater. REALLY?
So we also were studying for the IE and everyone was getting slightly nervous. I was probably the most calm, telling everyone we were ready and that we were all going to pass. They of course thought I was just being the over confident American. However, we just finished the IE and everyone passed. However, I will have to tell you about that later.

Same Stuff

So not much has been going on. I have since finished the IDC and have just been working around the dive shop. I don't get to go on to many dives, but mostly clean and organize the shop. I also am in charge of getting the boats loaded in the morning and getting the ready to be launched. It is not that much fun when you know that you will not be out on them for that day. Last week we had several groups of divers, with around 8 people in all. They were a great group and it was fun getting to know them. I did get to lead a few groups for about two days. On the very first dive, my computer gave out and would only show the low battery sign, nothing else. It made no sense that it had enough battery power to display this message but not enough to show me important stuff like my depth and dive time. It was slightly frustrating. I managed to get a new battery later that day and as I went to change it I managed to break off a piece of the computer. It could not work without this piece and I thought for sure I would end up having to buy a new computer. However, I found some electrical tape and somehow worked out a way to get the computer working again. I don't know how long it will last, but as long as it is working for now. I hope that it lasts long enough for the IE.
One of the dive sites that I did get to dive on was the Croatian Blue Hole. It was pretty amazing. It was a large cavern that had two large holes in the roof that allowed light to penetrate. It was quite a sight and hopefully I will be able to go back and spend more time there. The cavern is in the side of a large wall that goes down to about 150 feet and all along the sides of the wall are huge sea fans and red branching coral. It is so gorgeous. The water is finally starting to get warmer, but only on the first 20 feet. Once you get farther down you hit a thermocline. The crazy thing is that you can see the thermocline before you feel it. Sitting in the water is a slightly hazy line and you know that as soon as you hit this line the temperature plummets. I like to float just above this line.

I haven't seen any great water life. Lots of octopus, a few lobsters, and tons of nudibranchs. There are plenty of fish and everything, but they are not so abundant that you take notice, nor are they quite the lookers. I was talking to Bobby (the boss) and he was telling me how there used to be so much more here to see. They used to have seals, but they were hunted to extinction. He also started telling me about the sharks and everything. Supposedly, there are quite a few great whites in the area (their breeding ground is off the coast of Italy). He also went on to say that one of the largest great whites (the one Jaws was based on) was seen and caught on one of the neighboring islands. Then he informed me that last year his boat captain had a 5 meter white swim under his boat and that only one island over a free diver lost his leg to one. I am just slightly on edge now whenever I enter the water.
Not much else though. We are still waiting for the season to really start. They are guessing that no one is going on vacation until the World Cup is over. Supposedly as soon as that tournament ends business really picks up. Of course this is after I have finished (and hopefully passed) the IE. I am not sure I will be ready to instruct as many people as they say are going to show up. We will see.