Instructor Exam

I finally can call myself a PADI scuba instructor! I will start from the beginning. The IE was going to be held in a town called Selce, which is in the north or Croatia really close to the Italian border. We took the early ferry into Split and from there we had to drive around 4 hours following the coast the entire way. It was amazing to see how the scenery changed so drastically. It was completely different from the rocky hilly land of Vela Luka. Instead it was really green, with really large mountains. We even drove through evergreen forests that slightly reminded me of Colorado. It was really gorgeous.
We eventually arrived in Selce, and found the place we were staying at. We then went straight to the place where the IE was going to take place. All the paper work and exams were going to be in this hotel, and all the diving was of course over at the dive shop. We all gathered at the hotel and met the rest of the candidates. There were four from Germany (and only spoke German), two Croatians, then the three of us (two from Poland and then me). Everyone was real nice, but you could tell they were nervous. We had a short orientation and then it was time to take the first set of exams. There were 5 total, ranging from equipment, skills, physics, and more. We had exactly and hour and a half to finish it which was more than enough time. I finished early and when I left the room I was in for a surprise. As soon as went out of the testing room I was bombarded by people in charge of running the IE. Supposedly my physical I had back in October was not valid in Europe because my papers only had the doctors signature and not his official stamp. They were afraid that I wouldn't be able to complete the IE unless I got that doctors stamp put on it. I had no idea what to do, and I highly doubted that my doctor even had a stamp. The people in charge finally realized it might be easier to get me to see one of their doctors and get a quick physical in. They ended up calling people and asking for favors. They eventually got me in for the next day to have a doctor take a quick look at me.
The next day we started with classroom presentations. We had the night before to prepare for them, so giving them was quite easy. We all did real well and all passed. Then I had to go to the doctor for my physical. I of course had no idea what was going on, and the person who took me spoke limited English. They ushered me into a room and soon this old doctor came in. There was no talking of course and he poked, prodded, and listened to everything. Then he had me lay down and he started connecting wires to my wrists and ankles. Then he placed about 8 suction cup devices on my chest. At this point I was about ready to bolt, because I had no idea what was happening. Luckily, nothing happened, I wasn't shocked or anything. I checked out with perfect health and we went back to finish up the exam.
In the afternoon, we had to do our skill assessment and our confined water teaching session. For the skills we had to demonstrate how to hover, perform the controlled emergency swimming ascent (CESA), regulator recovery and clearing, on surface BCD removal and replacement, and mask removal and replacement. There were no real problems, and I believe that I had the highest scores out of all my group. The in water teaching went really well, I managed to find the problems given to my “students” and correct them. We then gave the debriefing and were done for the day.
The next morning all we had left was the open water teaching sessions. I was really nervous for some reason, and I started freaking out. My briefing was really bad, and after that I was afraid to go in the water. However, once underwater my nerves calmed and I was able to pass with no problems. After this I had finally become a Open Water Scuba Instructor. I couldn't believe that I had finally accomplished what I came to Croatia for.

We quickly packed up the car and drove insanely fast back to Split to catch the evening ferry. We arrived with plenty of time, which I was slightly disappointed. I was hoping to drop them at the ferry and then be on my own to enjoy my evening. I was not going back to Vela Luka because I was going to go to Dubrovnik to meet up with my parents for one day. I was so excited to see them.