I'm a Divemaster! (and nobody puked!)

We did it, Chrissie and I are officially Divemasters now after passing the final exam, the "Snorkel Test" without any flying colours (i.e. nobody puked).

The whole crew from Blue Marlin gathered for dinner and drinks at 8pm yesterday.  Chrissie and I strategically ate bland food a little earlier than everyone else fearing it might come up later and should have some time to settle.  We also decided that the snorkel test would be less of an ordeal if we drank a few beer first.  At 10pm, they dressed Chrissie and I up in our costumes.  Sadly, the joke about us Canadians being Team America carried through and we were dressed in red white and blue.  Chrissie sported a stunning Wonder Woman costume and I was a modified Captain America in a blue toga with an amazing hand-crafted shield.  I will have to post more photos when I get some from someone else who was there, since I was worried about getting myself home, let alone remembering a camera after the event.  Once we were dressed, we had to put on a mask and snorkel with a funnel attached, then our mentors poured a litre of mixed booze down the funnel (I think it was orange juice, vodka, Joss - an energy drink powder, and god knows what else).  Both Chrissie and I finished all the drink and NEITHER OF US PUKED!  

I had one other skill to check off my list so after the snorkel test I immediately presented a full scuba equipment explanation and set up demonstration for my mentor, Ari, and about 10 other instructors... It was probably 5, I was already seeing double by the time I finished.  The rest of the night is a blur since that snorkel hit me like a ton of bricks and made me instadrunk.  Snippets I do remember are; Mike, another instructor telling me that Chrissie and I "need to throw that bear in the pool", then realizing there was a guy in the bar in a furry bear costume... Yup, we threw him into the pool, I also pushed Ari into the pool, threw Pong's room key into the pool, then ended up in the pool myself, I shed my costume and ended up dancing on the bar in my bikini along with everyone else there... there was literally no one left on the floor, everyone was on the bar.  I woke up on the floor upstairs in the bar outside in my damp bikini at 3am.  I put on my shorts and tank top and dragged my drunk ass home where I realized that the blue toga bled color all over me (likely after being in the pool) and I looked like I had some incredible blue bruises.  I spent all day today nursing a horrible hangover, watching movies with Chrissie in her bed, and scratching the 20 new mosquito bites I collected while passed out outside.  Uuuggghhhh, I'm so glad that's over.

We only have two more days here on Gili Trawangan before going to Bali on July 25 for one night and then flying to Labuan Bajo for our 6 day live aboard scuba trip to Komodo Island.  We have both requested 30 Visa extensions which will be ready shortly after we return to Gili Trawangan on August 3rd.  We plan to do our Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Theory course when we return :)

Ari, me, Pong, Chrissie, Deris, Esther, and Signe post snorkel

Pong and I post snorkel

Thanks Ari, sorry about throwing you in the pool and that wig looks amazing!

Wonder Woman

Dive masters!

I am Still Here

I am on the verge of completing my DMT (Divemaster Training) so I have been BUSY checking skills and requirements off my list, that's why no recent blog posts.

I will tell more tales soon and should have some horrible tales of woe after my snorkel test on Monday night... that is if I can remember enough of the evening after being force fed a Litre of booze to tell any tales!

In the meantime I'm off to do my third dive with a group of 6 Chinese kids and 2 adults.  They are doing great and despite the language barrier, have understood and picked up most of the course  material and skills thanks to translations done by their English teacher, Miss Lemon.  Underwater, with hand signals, it is amazing how language differences disappear and we can all communicate better!  An 11 year old Chinese kid who speaks a little English has the same look of excitement on his face and uses the same hand signals as an adult who speaks only French, Spanish, or English when they see a Moray eel or a turtle for the first time :)

Ciao

I've got Soul but I'm not a Soldier (actually, I'm a soldier fish ;)

I found Nemo x2 :)

Floods, Rashes, and Bicycles

We had a ridiculous rain storm here last night that flooded the streets to over a foot of water.  It was kind of fun wading home after a party at Blue Marlin.  Today, only a few large puddles remain.

The antibiotics seem to be starting to clear up my weird rash so I'm headed back into the ocean tomorrow at 9am for a dive :)

I had a lovely day planned today... biking around the island...until my bike broke, yet again, this time it was really serious since the derailer bent upwards, twisted the chain, and ended up in between the bike spokes!  I limped the bike to the bike repair shop and gave the fellow there a piece of my mind...in a nutshell; "you sold me a garbage bike that was on the verge of breaking 2 weeks ago and now I want it properly fixed or replaced, I don't want to come back here for another repair in two days!".  After some negotiation, he swapped all the good components (basket, pedals, kickstand) from my old bike to a new bike frame for $15.  So far, much better than the old bike.  knock on wood.

After the ordeal of trading up my bike, I swapped my only fiction book for a new book at the Hostel, found a nice spot for lunch (a Tempeh burger and a fresh coconut/banana juice), read my new book, then biked around the island asking door to door at dive shops to find out names, numbers, and how many litres of oxygen they all have.  This is to create an emergency assistance plan booklet as part of the requirements for my Divemaster training.  Overall a nice day with some lovely scenery.

Traveller Taken out by Tropical Disease?

Calling all Doctors!  I've developed a rash of large water blisters on my hand and back with a few isolated blisters on my leg and arm.  I've been to the travel medical clinic and was told that its an allergic reaction to something...not sure what.  They prescribed an antihistamine and antibiotics (oral and topical) to prevent infection.  The doctors advice: "Don't scratch and keep it clean". It's pretty hard to keep anything "clean" in the tropics but as a start, I'm planning to lay low and not dive for a few days to allow my newest strange skin condition time to clear up without the constant threat of infection from the pool, the gear room, and the ocean.  I'm hoping that with a few days in drydock and taking my meds will show enough improvement that i can hit the water again.  Wish me luck!

My right shoulder blade...what the hell is this?!?!?

Chrissie was worried It might be contagious so she kicked me out of our shared room (I don't blame her, this rash looks horrible!).  I've moved into my own room at the same homestay (about 30 steps away from my old room) now and have a lovely garden view with chickens and bananas right outside my door.

As Predicted

My bicycle pedal fell off again today.  Repaired at a different shop for $5.  Grrrr

Indonesian Repairs Are Ridiculous

Exhibit A: The hook that holds our shower head on the wall is screwed to the wall through a small piece of wood.  The wood piece broke in half one day and, instead of replacing the piece of wood entirely, the guy that works at our bungalow took a smaller piece of wood and used that to hold the two broken pieces of wood together and nail it back up again.

Exhibit B: The bicycle I bought for $50 is held together by random pieces of wire.  Yesterday I was pedaling along and my pedal fell off.  This was the third time the pedal fell off.  The first time a nice guy in the street screwed the pedal back on for me, the second time the pedal actually broke and was dangling off but not off entirely... I took it to the bike repair "shop" where the guy replaced it... the very next day it fell off for the 3rd time.  I was standing beside my bike holding the pedal and joking with some friends here about how crappy my bike is, when, as if on cue, the basket fell off!  I'm not even joking!  I walked home that night and when I got back to Blue Marlin (the dive shop) I saw that the basket was tied on with a bit of twine.  Later that day, I went back to the repair shop and he replaced the pedal which had no threads on it (no wonder it fell off) and put two old rusty nuts onto the bolts that are supposed to hold the basket on.  I pedaled about 30 feet away and THE PEDAL FELL OFF AGAIN!  I took it back and he put a bunch of grease in it and screwed it back in again.  I'm sure it will fall off any day now.  Most of the bikes on the island look as though they are on their 50th reincarnation and are held together by bits of wire, chewing gum, and shoelaces.

Exhibit C: The lock on our patio door is missing the bolt so our "bolt" is a rusty nail :)

Exhibit D: This one is actually kind of ingenious...  The place where we are staying had an old water tank on concrete "stilts".  The guys that work here took it down by hand, then broke it all up into concrete rubble by hand, then dug holes in the street and buried all the rubble.  This happened over about 2 weeks with a different 5' deep hole in the street every day.  These holes were large enough to trap a bear and Chrissy and I joked that we would be biking home one evening and fall into a hole.  They always had them filled in by the time night fell and a new hole was dug the next day.  This was ingenious because when it rains here, the streets don't drain and the water gets ankle or deeper.  The guys thought that besides getting rid of the rubble this method would help the street to drain.

I see some little silly thing every day that makes me laugh.

Canada Day Eh!

Canada Day happened to coincide with the weekly Blue Marlin Monday Night party.  This party was actually a Hawaiian theme but I had brought some Canada flag tattoos for the event which were well received, and everyone wanted to sport maple leaf that night, particularly the Indonesian restaurant and bar staff.  It was also a huge party because this is the last Monday party before Ramadan begins and no parties will be held out of respect for the Muslim population who are fasting.  The only parties on the island during Ramadan need to be “silent discos” which means there is no music but everyone has headphones that give you your own personal music… sounds funny and interesting.



Chrissie and I got into the Canadian spirit by wearing some flags and maple leafs on Canada Day

One of the DMT’s (Divemaster Trainees), Arne, finished his program and officially became a Divemaster that night also.  The culmination of his training was the stress test in the afternoon which he and Chrissie did in the pool.  The stress test involves two divers having to fully exchange their gear underwater including BCD, tank, regulators, mask, and fins while only breathing from one regulator and not surfacing.  This means that you breath two breaths, pass the regulator to the other diver while you hold your breath and remove some article of your gear then take the regulator back to take two breaths while your buddy removes a part of their gear, then repeat until you have completely exchanged your equipment.  This must be done within in 10 minutes.  Blue Marlin builds on this and adds in the requirement for DMT’s to also exchange wetsuits while fending off hellish underwater attacks by their mentors.  The attacks included shoving a full cylinder of air under their legs and opening it (lots of bubbles and confusion), taking their masks off them, turning off their air (the worst), taking fins, inflating their BCD’s so they float up and a myriad of other abuses.  This hazing went on and on for 45 minutes until they ran out of air.  I felt so bad for Chrissie and Arne!  This was definitely cruel and unusual punishment.  But they did it!  I don’t think I would hold up for that long.  My stress limit is a bit less than that.

Chrissie forgave her mentor Signe later that evening.

The true culmination of the DMT program is the Snorkel Test.  This is even worse than the stress test in my opinion.  Arne’s mentor dressed him up in a ridiculous costume (in this case, a Viking) and put a snorkel and mask on him in front of a crowd of onlookers.  Then his mentor poured 1 L of mixed booze and juice down the snorkel straight into Arne’s mouth.  This might not sound that bad, but remember, Arne was also wearing a mask which covers his nose so he wasn’t able to breath.  When he needed to “come up for air” he had to spit out the snorkel and whatever was left of the booze.  Awful.  The cocktail of choice… also awful…. Vodka Joss and Orange Juice.  Joss is a powdered energy drink similar to Redbull and it is a “thing” on this island to do Vodka Joss shots (you take a Joss powder packet, pour it in your mouth, take a shot of vodka, shake your head to mix, then swallow and it tastes terrible).  Needless to say, Arne puked within 5 minutes of drinking it.  So awful.  I’m really considering asking to be excused from the snorkel test.  Not to be a party pooper but I’m not 21 anymore and that does NOT look like fun.

 

Arne in his Viking costume

The crowd of onlookers

The snorkel test

After the hazing was complete, the party continued well into the wee hours of the morning and included a limbo and hula-hoop competition, lots of dancing, buckets of booze (literally), and lots of fun… maybe too much fun as evidenced by the photos below ;)

Chrissie and I goofing around

I swear I didn’t drink that much, I’m pretending to look smashed with one of our Advanced Open Water Students.


Ru Paul?!?!?


Most of the DMT’s (Daris in the bandeau bra, Nina, Chrissie in front, Adrian in green, and fundiver Phillip

Pong a visiting Divemaster from Koh Tao, Thailand slaying the limbo competition and he didn’t even win!