DR JOHN: The morning started off with a visit to Dr. John. What an experience. I was told to get there early so I arrived at 7am. The sign said the doctor was in from 9 to 12. Other people arrived shortly after me. About 9am a lady arrived and opend the doors but said the doctor didn't arrive until 10am. About 10:15 he finally made it. The male nurse took me into the exam room through a maze of construction. He was wearing shorts, a green hopital type shirt and no shoes. It a little informal. The conditions are 3rd world to say the least. Everything seems to be just stacked around in dirty boxes. The instruments are used over and over. The thermometer came out of some sort of solution that I assume was a disinfectant but it was pretty wierd anyway.

The doctor has long stringy hair along full full facial hair. He's an unbelievable character like someone fr0m a sixties era rock band. He gave me a complete exam and we chatted for a long time. He constantly joked about me being the oldest divemaster trainee he had ever seen. He suggested that I had to attend the upcoming SUMJAM to show that I was really a part of the whole scene. I assured him I would not be attending one of the worlds largest drug fests.

Anyway, I got some anitbiotic and other pills to get my system working properly again and he asked me to get a stool sample. To my shock and amazment, they have a little lab at the medico store that has a small lab. They gave me a tiny bottle and a rubber glove. That would be loads of fun later. I finally got out of the doctors office about 11:30. I did get the sample to the lab and I pick it up tomorrow. (NO DETAILS ON THIS EVENT)

Now onto more pleasant topics. I passed another test today on Physiology. It was more difficult for me than any because it had a lot of medical terms with latin names. Anyway, I did well and that's one more off the list.

I was assigned a class to help out with as part of my internship. We have 4 students taking their open water (beginners) class. One is from England, one from Denmark, one from Germany and one from Ireland I think. Should be lots of fun. We'll do pool training tomorrow afternoon and then open water sessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

In the evening a group of us got together for another going away party. We went to a place called Daves. I couldn't believe anyone ever found this place. There is a little opening in the fence with a tiny sign above it. You walk through several private areas along a really long boardwalk, past some hotel rooms and other facilities for one of the other dive shops. It was probably 200 yards or more down this tiny walkway when it suddenly opend up onto a huge deck with various facilities including Daves. Dave buys whatever he can each day, prepared 2 or 3 items and then sells them until he runs out. Today was grilled pork chops or chicken with 3 different sauces. I want with Chicken with Orange Barbecue Sauce and it was the best meal I've had yet. It came with mashed potatoes, rice and a salad but the doc told me not to eat any uncooked food especially salads to I had extra rice.

There was another movie watching party later but I opted for a good nights sleep.

Sunday Funday Again: I really don’t know how to describe the days start. I woke up about 6am with some incredible cramps from diarrhea. It definitely took a turn for the worse. I made 5 trips to the bathroom in about 20 minutes and had plans to cancel the diving for the day. After the last trip I started to feel better so I waited another ½ hours and decided the worst was over. I went diving.

We had a smaller group of about 12 divers and we went to the north side for the better diving again. Two people got sick on the trip around the island but both were fine once we got into the water. The first dive was terrific and we saw green morays, spotted morays, spotted drums, turtles, lobsters and hundreds of schooling fish. We just drifted and the boat came to pick us up. A line got all tangled around the boat however and it took them about 20 minutes to get to us. Oh well, the sea was relatively calm so it was okay for everyone.

The second dive was ordinary and I didn’t see anything unusual. We went to the picnic spot again and a lot of people got really drunk. We had the same menu with grilled chicken, baked potatoes and beans. I decided to take it easy and only had 1 beer and one rum and coke. While most people played volleyball I found a nice hammock and just took it easy. We stayed until after 6pm so we got back pretty late. A quick rain storm came up but only lasted for 3 or 4 minutes.

We have really huge double cooler for the beer and we had a lot left over this time. We started to carry it back to the bar but it was really heavy so we loaded it onto a cart. A new girl (Cloe) tried to get it to the bar and she hit something and spilled about 15 beers into the ocean right next to the dock. A bunch of folks jumped in to save the beer.

They allowed us to drink the rest of the beer in the bar but I only had one. I ran to the apartment, changed clothes and then headed back to the bar to get some food. The gang was till here and even drunker but I’m just sitting at a picnic table entering the blog info. I tried to call Gerri but the Internet is down again so no luck.

Its now an hour later and I finally got through to Gerri. She had a lonely and boring day and I feel so bad. Sometimes this is a lot harder that we had planned. I certainly couldn't do it without her support but there's no one to support her on a daily basis. I tried to cheer he up but its hard when she's there by herself. It takes everything I have just to keep from crying when I talked to her because she was so down. I know both of would like to be doing this together. Maybe when her time comes to retire, I can be there with her if she chooses something I can be a part of. I sure hope so.

LIVING A FANTASY: Today was a mostly do nothing day. I just sat around the dive shop all morning. I ran down to the ferry dock at 8:30 and 1:30 to see if the new BCD I purchased from Roatan arrived. I didn’t really know how to find out if it arrived but I checked at the post office and ferry office (both on the local dock) and neither knew anything about a package for me.

I ate a local place recommended by one of the dive staff and it was pretty good and very cheap. I had another couple of baleadas (notice another spelling) this time with refried beans and egg. Very good for about 50 cents each. I was the only non native customer and no one spoke English. The place was just a little shack by the side of road. I wouldn’t try one of these unless someone recommended it.

In the afternoon it was suggested that some of the trainees go clean a tarp under the water just off the dock. It is used for training so there isn’t as much silt stirred up by trainees. They gave us a broom. We decided to turn the huge tarp upside down to get the sand off of it. Things didn’t exactly go as planned. The 20 x 30 tarp was tide to the pier on one end and there were 4 lb weights all around the other edges. We cut the ropes but left the weights hanging on. Working under water is difficult enough but this was serious work. As soon as you start the visibility goes to about 3 feet and you can’t even see the other person working with you. The weights got all tangled up and we were really having fun with this. We thought we had it turned over but with the limited visibility we didn’t realize it was all messed up and just laying in a big pile.

We left for about 20 minutes to allow the water to clear and then tried to get it back in place. That was really difficult. Everything was either floating or all tangled up and the vis turned to zero again quickly. We messed around with it for about an hour and finally had it back in place but with almost as much dirt and sand as we started with. We tried the broom but that was pretty useless too. The entire project was futile and actually pretty funny. I’m sure we looked like a couple of crazies under water.

When we popped up I realized another ferry was coming in so I quickly changed some of my clothes and ran to the ferry again. Unbelievable but my package was on the boat. I asked for a box for Chuck Harrell and they said they had one for Charles Harrell. I love it when a plan comes together. Gerri was going to ship mine from home but the shipping was about $250 and the entire new BCD was only $350. I can’t believe it was this cheap. It cost more than $450 mail order in the US.

I had another pretzel dinner but tried a class of Chilean wine and it was okay. The owner talked to me for a little while and suggested I bring my laptop next time. They want to see if they can use a password system for wireless Internet access. I’ll try it one day. I told her I was looking for a place to bring Gerri when she comes down and she told me the Aggressor (our live aboard boat) eats there as a group already. Pefect!

The town is really packed for the last night of carnival. You can hardly get through the streets because of all the people and most are really drunk. I wish I could describe how strange and unusual this place really is. Maybe I’ll figure out how to post pictures soon. Tonight a huge party starts at 10pm with some local rich guy providing free beer for awhile. I’m not going.

There’s another festival called SUNFEST coming next week and it’s the worlds largest open drug fest. Apparantly anything and everything is available. I’m sure I’ll avoid that party at all cost. This place is just unreal. Its fun but really strange and much to crazy for me.

Tomorrow is another Sunday Funday with a trip around the Island for diving, a picnic lunch and lots of beer again. I’ll be going just to have something to do.

PUB QUIZ: Today I took the morning off. I went to Thomson's bakery for breakfast and had a couple of biscuits with egg. Their biscuits are large and flavorful and excellent. I took a little laundry to Johnnie's where we buy water. Some lady there does laundry. I have no idea what it will cost. Another lady has a dryer and does same day laundry so I visited her for the sheets on the bed. She was babysitting and couldn't do laundry today. Her son is the dive shop manager and he was out diving today for the first time in months along with his wife so grandma was in charge of the baby. She promised to do my sheets tomorrow so we'll see.

I did a couple of afternoon dives in the same places we did them yesterday. Much better today since there was no current. I went with Katie one of the newly certified divemasters. She is leaving the Island for a couple of weeks and trying to get in some more diving.

I haven't said anything about the young folks taking training around here. I'm very surprised that while most are backpackers or on very tight budgets, their world experiences are amazing. A large number of them have traveled extensively especially in Central America. Several have been volunteers for various organizations. My house mate is had traveled to Napal, Machu Picco and other exotic places. He's only 25 but works at a real job for a year or so and then travels around the world till the money runs out. He is also living off some sort of inheritance. His next trip cost him $3000 for 3 months and he's going into the high mountains of South America to track condor's and climb some glaciers.

Last night was pub quiz night. Bundu's cafe and bar organized this about once a week. Various dive shops from around the island get together with 4 member teams to compete in a trivia contest. We had 9 teams last night. I stink at trivia but they made me join one of our 2 teams anyway. We had a blast. Some of the questions were about the US and I was able to answer those where as my teammates from England and Ireland were clueless. Some of the questions were on various cartoon characters of the past such as spider man, supermand etc. You had to identify the alter ego. Another section was on music where they played short clips of songs and you had to identify the title and musician. Talk about being old, I didn't know a single one. Still more questions were about sports and I didn't contribute to that section either. The other team from out dive shop won 1st place and the prize was a case or more of beer. (It cost $5.00 per team to play). They shared the beer with us (we finished 4th I think) and several other waiters, staff and game players. It was really a fun night.

We stayed and closed the place down about 11:30 and then the rest of the team went out bar hopping. I went home to bed and crashed. Everyone went to the bathroom before leaving and I thougth that was odd. I asked and they said the restroom at the next bar called Tranquilla was really poor even by Utila standards. In fact the men's room is just going off the pier. Its a really popular hang out however and I'll have to try it one day.

I'm still suffering from mild diarrea so I went to what passes for a drug store today. They didn't have immodium AD so the lady gave me something called GABBRORAL. I'm going to look it up on the Internet tomorrow.

PHYSICS: Part of the divemaster course deals with physics and how pressure of various gases effects the air supply and your body. There are various laws developed a long time ago that are used for calculations. We did a quick classroom review and then we were offered the test. I took a chance and took the test. Another HOORAY, another test passed.

I went on a couple of morning dives. The first was on a sea mount a bit out into the open sea whereas most are near the shoreline. Its basically an underwater mountain made of coral that stands by itself for some reason with open ocean and sand all around it. This one was probably about 100 feet tall and maybe 5oo feet across and was mostly circular. The current was ripping so the dive was pretty exhausting. This site probably had the most fish I've seen but I didn't really see anything spectacular.

The second dive was suppose to be on a small sailboat wreck but we didn't go deep enough to see the wreck. It was a nice easy dive along a coral wall like formation about 30 feet high. We saw a spotted eel and and green moray eel.

I went to the Mariposa for dinner again as my new housemate wanted to try it. The menu is pretty limited and I wasn't that hungry so I has this very salty home made soft pretzel. It was really good. Later we went to a going away party and the TREEHOUSE bar. Its really pretty neat. It was dark so I couldn't see exactly how it was made but it seems to resemble a very elaborate treehouse (built on a hill side I think) with lots of little platforms and sitting areas many of which contain swings. I only had one beer and then headed for the house.

INTERNSHIP: I passed the darn snorkel test today. Hooray. I got a 3 and only needed a 2 so I'm done with that physical stuff. I had to do the rescue test twice but I also got through that. Later in the day I also passed the water skills test. I'm now officially in the Internship program. That just means they can actually ask me to help out now and I it goes on my record as being a helper.

The young girl moved out today and a new DM trainee from England moved right in. Nice (in Honduran terms) apartments are hard to find. Joe is a pretty good diver that actually took the program in Thailand but never got the paperwork so he's doing it over again.

NAVIGATION: Today I did my morning practice swim and I think I did okay. I'll probably take the test again tomorrow. Later we practiced some basic skills on our own but we still need a lot of practice on that. One of them entails removing your BCD and tank both above and below water. I can easily do both but I look pretty clumsy and you have to do it smoothly. More practice.

For lunch I had chicken in coconut milk. It wasn't too good. It looked like left over parts to me. There were huge bone structure with a little chicken on the edges. Luckily it was served with beans, rice and mashed potatoes. A weird combination but I enjoyed the sides.

In the afternoon a couple of us went on the Navigation dives included with the specialty class on Navigation. It was a lot of fun. We did and out and back, a square, a rectangle and a triangle using our compass. I has pretty tricky because there was a strong current. We had fun trying anyway. We surfaced to find huge waves about 4 to 6 feet and the boat was not there. It had gone to another dive site to drop off some divers. It took several minutes for it to arrive and meanwhile we battled the waves and wind trying not to float to far from the buoy. I don't think they should have had to boat leave but I'm not in charge. At least one person was really struggling with the conditions and none of us enjoyed it. We did all get back safely.

The second dive at the same location was also in strong current. We did a little treasure hunt and it was loads of fun. The buried plastic plates in the sand with various compass headings and distances in meters or fin kicks. We had to plot it all out on a little underwater graph. It was challenging and really fun. We were able to follow all the directions and found the treasure. It was a little wistle for use above water to signal for help.

I tried another new restaurant for dinner. Its one of only a couple that are right on the water. It was on the second floor and had a great view. The menu of actual meals was a little limited but I had chicken chunks and they were terrific. They were all white meat and very tasty. They were served with huge spicey fries and a salad. It was expensive but I had enough leftover for another meal so it worked out just fine.

The Internet connection for the Island was down again today for a considerable time so was I late calling Gerri and posting this blog.

STAMINA TEST: Well it didn't go as hoped today. I did the 400 yard swim and got one point out of 5 but that was expected. Next we did the 800 mask fins and snorkel and that's the one I thought I'd do well in. My snorkel broke about 90 meters into it. The purge valve was leaking and eventually just fell out. I drank half the ocean on the next breath. I obviously had to stop. I was pissed to say the least. I had a hard time even getting back to the dock because I was tired and frustrated. I rested a bit and then did the 15 float. I was able to score a perfect 5 on that one by holding my hands out of the water the last 2 minutes. It was easy but boring. Next came the tired diver tow for 100 yards. I'd never tried it before but I tried as hard as I could and scored a 4 out of 5. I was very pleased with that. I have 10 points and need 12 so I think I can do that next time they test me which should be Wednesday.

I did know but we also had to do a skill in which we rescue a non responsive floating diver. We had to try to get his attention, flip him over, listen for breath sounds, yell for help, and then put a rescue breathing mask on them and pretend to give rescue breaths. Then you have to count out loud for 5 seconds and give more breaths. While doing this you need to remove all their equipment and your own while towing them to shore. I didn't to real well and they want me to try that again too. Oh well.

In the afternoon, I practiced some additional training skills but that didn't go well either. It was just a frustrating day.

I showed my extra room to another candidate today since Marlies is moving out today or tomorrow. I'm not sure if he's interested or not. Marlie left her keys in the dive shop a couple days ago and had to come find me to get into the building. Last night her door blew shut and locked with her outside. This all happened after I had gone to bed so I found her on the couch this morning. I didn't know why until I saw her later in the day.

The guy I talked about meeting (Brian) that is into herbs had his wife come down to the dock today and give me a bottle of herbs they claim will cure my enlarged prostrate. I'm not sure if I'll take them or not. She left a business card and I now see that they seem to sell various herbs. I sorta hope I don't run into them again but this is such a small island I'm sure I will.

FUN DIVING SUNDAY: Sunday around here is usually a little slower than other days and I took the morning off and just hung around the dive center. I had my first restaurant breakfast at one of the more popular places called Bundo's I think. It was pretty good but I would have preferred the special of Chocolate and Banana Pancakes. I didn't notice it until I had already ordered my scrambled eggs and toast.

LAST NIGHT they had the big parade celebrating some festival week. It has a small marching band (loosely defined) with about 20 kids. Next came some fellows in uniforms that I guess are some sort of navy trainees or something similar. There were about 12 of them. Next came the queens and I'd say there were 8 to 10 of them and that was it. I heard the queens get selected based on the amount of money they fund raise during the year.

Back to Sunday - I went diving in the afternoon. I watched one fellow get a scuba tune up which is basically a class for someone that hasn't been diving in a long time. I then did a little exploration with another new DM trainee. On the second dive, I went with a new DM and she showed us the area in a little deeper water. We saw a spotted eagle ray that swam by very slowly so we watched him for a long time. Minutes later we spotted a very large hawks bill turtle and watch him chomp on coral for several minutes. I has joked about not wanting to lead the dive because my navigation skills are useless. The newly trained DM said it was impossible to get lost. We didn't get lost but we came up to the surface a really long was from the boat and had to swim forever. I guess I won't be the only one with a poor sense of direction.

Tomorrow is the big day. I will try to stamina test. I'm really hoping to get through all of it in one day so I don't have to think about it any more.

NAVIGATION CLASS: Today I started a class on underwater navigation. I'm taking this class with Chris a new Divemaster that is just going some specialties. We tried to learn how to use a compass and a little device that aids in mapping or tracking. We had a short classroom session and then started some practiced exercises. We were both pretty clue less and Peter (the head Instructor) had to get us started. Rather than start out underwater, we just did an above water exercise to MAP the dock system. After a rough start, I finally figured it out and did pretty well.

We went into the water and took a 30 meter tape with us. We laid it out under water and used weights to hold it in place. Then we swam from one end to the other at least twice to measure the time it took, the number of fin strokes it took and the amount of air we used. These measurements are used in navigation. The fin stroke count is the most accurate and we'll practice using it next week.

Tonight I'll eat at the Barracuda (the attached restaurant) and then watch the jam session again. Tomorrow will be a fun dive in the afternoon and relaxing. Monday is the stress test that I MUST pass.

SLOW DAY & OLD NEWS: Today wasn't very exciting. I did the morning practice swim and then studied for a while but the test was postponed till tomorrow. I sat in on a pool skills test for a couple of other trainees today. I tried to take notes underwater but its pretty hard to do and I can't see worth a darn anyway so I don't know how effective it was.

Last night I bumped into Brian and Linda the couple that bought my breakfast the other day. They were up here at the bar having dinner. I sat with them and we talked for a over an hour. I paid back their kindness by picking up their tab. Brian talked my ear off about is ideas on Western medicine, herbs and fruits and veggies. He and is wife are pretty committed to that lifestyle but they do eat out frequently.

Thursday's are free movie night up here but I didn't get into last nights movie. I was some sort of thriller but I missed the title. Last week it was in Spanish so I didn't watch that one either. They usually get between 15 to 20 to watch and drink beer.

I did get a housemate yesterday. Its a very, very young girl from England. I haven't actually talked with her much but I know she just got our of high school and has been traveling in Central America with friends. Today she told me she is thinking about moving to another school and apartment with a large group of people her age. Its probably a good decision for her. She is just waiting to see if the school will refund her money.

I forgot to mention the jelly fish from my dive a couple days ago. They were everywhere and everyone was freaked out. It turns out they didn't sting (most of us) so we got in the water anyway but it was really creepy and I hope it doesn't happen again. It was really weird. They were gone on the second dive about an hour later.

Gerri and I talked for a long time tonight. She is really hanging in there considering she's by herself most of the evenings. It would drive me crazy but she's started needle work again to keep busy. She continues to be extremely supportive. I don't know if I mentioned it before but she will be coming down here on Sept 16 so we can spend a week diving together on the local liveaboard dive boat. I can't wait.

FRIDAY NIGHT: Every night is the same around here and it really doesn’t matter what day or night it is. In fact, it’s hard to keep track.

Anyway, I visited a new place to eat and I don't even know the name of it. I’ll try and get a picture to post at some point. It’s a little place directly on the road. When I say on the road, I’m talking close to the road. The 5 steps up to this place are about 3 or 4 feet off the road. The restaurant is basically the front porch of a house. A guy has a grill setting on the side of the road and he prepares the meat and a kitchen in the house prepares to other things. They have a pretty complete menu and the side dishes are pretty good. I had rice, beans, carrots and potatoes along with chicken.

I had another cat keep me company at dinner.

A couple of young girls were sitting next to me with a Spanish dictionary. They were speaking Spanish but one was oriental and the other appeared American. They spoke to me later and I found out the oriental was from Virginia and the American was from Europe. So much for my guesses. Anyway they were trying to immerse themselves in Spanish and were surprised that many people speak English in Utila. They were attending a total immersion Spanish/American little school on the Island. We had a short but pleasant conversion. The Oriental young lady did most of the talking and she was preparing to go the Chapel Hill (UNC) to become a lawyer. Somehow I mentioned I was from Indiana and she asked where. When I said South Bend, she immediately said she heard it was one of the most boring college towns anywhere. She chose Chapel Hill over ND. She was married so I was surprised she cared about party atmosphere. I guess I’m just getting old.

The road by the way in basically a single lane running up and down the part of the Island I live on. Most of the vehicles are motorcycles, bicycles and golf carts. I suspect there are only a dozen or two private vehicles on the island. .I am not even sure what side of the road they are suppose to drive on because they just drive wherever they want. Its far more dangerous than anyplace I’ve ever been for pedestrians. You have to watch every step.

MORE PRACTICE. Well today I did the morning swim things again. I can't tell if I'm improving or not but it seems a little easier even if the times don't improve. I feel like I'm getting a cardio workout anyway.

My dive buddy, Tyco and I worked on our use of the dive tables and wheel today. The wheel is a PADI device to plan safe dives similar to a table but more like a sliderule. Its not too hard to use.

We went diving the afternoon and got one of the new DM's to help us practice the skills we didn't do well on the other day. I'm still not confident at all but its really a required piece. You basically demonstrate various diving skills very slowly and exaggerated to students can see what you are doing. Its actually fun but challenging and a bit hard to remember all the steps.

I really learned that this entire program is pretty much at my pace today. I just tell them what I'm really for next and they help me get through it. I think I'll do the stamina test next week as well as a couple more knowledge tests.

PEAK PERFORMANCE BUOYANCY. I practiced for my stamina test again today and did ever worse. There was a lot of wind and some current so its a challenge.

I took a class on buoyancy in the morning and then went out to perform a bunch of skills to practice what we learned. There were 5 of us. It was a lot of fun. We did such things as learn to lie motionless in the water (or try), swim through small hoops under water, knock things over on the sand without touching the sand but hovering really close to it. There was no test or anything. The point was to improve you skills and learn to be a better diver. In my case, using rental equipment made it a little harder because I'm not used to it and its not as well made as my own stuff. It was fun and I learned a few things anyway.

Tonight the head instructor is having a party at his house which is right across the street from the dive shop. We are all bringing something to share as well as our own item to grill. Should be fun. I'm sure I'll have more to say on that tomorrow.

No Diving Today! Today I started the day by doing a quick review for a test I was taking in the afternoon. It was an open book test so I didn't study long. Basically you just need to know where to find things in the huge book or in my case the book on DVD.

I went to practice the mask fins and snorkel test again. This time was slightly better but still far from my times at home. I tried the 400 yard swim again (on my back) but gave up early. I was attempting this about 9:30 pm so I put sun lotion on my face and wore a dive skin (basically a girly looking pair of body tights). I got into the water and onto my back and started swimming. I suddenly realized how hot it was already and how bright the sun was. Suddenly the sun lotion was in my eyes and they were really burning. I turned around and came back to the dock and gave up. I'll never in improve my times any so I'm just trying to stay in shape a little bit.

I just hung around the shop till lunch and watch one beginner class to stay amused. I had a great fresh tuna filet sandwich at lunch even though most people won't eat them here because the fishermen fish the reef and the fish aren't refrigerated well. It didn't kill me and it was actually pretty tasty.

In the afternoon I took a test on the things a divemaster can do. I passed. I think I'll go swimming one more time a little later.

LEARN THE ROPES. We learned how to load the boat as well as tie it up today. We learned how to attach to buoys. Its different on each boat and not easy on any of them. You more or less hang over the boat with a rope in your hand hope to push it through an eye hook ranging from about 4 inches to 6 inches in diamter. I didn't actually try it - just watched.

We then did our dives on the Halliburton wreck and then Moon Hole. I don't know much about the wreck other than its in 100 feet of water with the top deck at about 75 feet. We looked it over from the outside. At moon hole we just watch some beginning students practice boyancy control and we tried it too. Signed up for a class after that.

At lunch I tried to buy some roles for breakfast and the lady didn't have any change for me and all I had was 100 limps (about $5). A really nice couple saw my predicament and bought them for me. I stayed and talked with them for about 15 minutes. They were from Austin Texas and had just retired. I couldn't thank them enough.

In the afternoon we did some skills practice and I really need a lot of practice. The instructor would demonstrate and then we were suppose to demonstrate it back. I did very poorly and need a lot of practice. I was pretty discourged at how many things I forgot.

It got worse when I went and practiced the 800 yard mask fins and snorkel event. I added at least 2 minutes to my time in the US so I need to work on that some more. I'm not going diving tomorrow but practicing on skills instead.

Sunday Fun Dive Picnic. Well today was just a fun day of diving, eating and drinking. For $20 we got 2 dives, a great picnic and all the beer, rum and cola you could drink in about 3 hours.

The diving was fun and I buddied with a very experienced trainer (John) and he tried to teach me a few things. This was the first time I was totally prepared, relaxed and using some of my own equipment so things went better. The 3 or 4 months of working out really paid off. I was able to dive with 3 lbs less weight and I don't use as much air as I used too. I think I'll easily be able to lead dives without being embarrassed by running out of air. Getting lost is a totally different matter. John tried to help me out with navigation but I still got mixed up on the second dive.

Many of the staff and guests got wasted today at the picnic. I think we had about 6 cases of beer and a bunch of rum for about 20 people. Everyone had a great time however. We had baked beans, baked potatoes and fried chicken and everything was great. A lot of folks played volleyball but the sand flees were eating me alive to I avoided as much sand as possible.

We all made it back safely and I found out I have to help with the boat in the morning at 6:30am. Damn, that's early. I think we are going on a wreck dive with some students getting some special training. We'll just be diving for fun.

The web site to see the boats we use is at http://www.utilalodge.com/html/webcam.html. Gerri has seen me a couple of times and that' incredible since I'm only there a few minutes a day and I never know when though I'm sure it will often be at 6:30 in the morning.

Since we ate late this afternoon and had lots of beer so no dinner required. Hopefully its and early night and I can get some sleep. I'm up in the bar to use the Internet but not drinking anything. A presentation just started on Whale Sharks similar to the one I attended during a class.

Stay tuned.

Diving & 1st Test. Today started out with me acting like an idiot or newbie diver. I forgot I was suppose to dive this morning. I ran back to my apartment to get my gear which meant I missed breakfast. I got on the boat and realized my personal regulator didn’t match up with the BCD provided by the school. I got frustrated and just got off the boat. I went into the office to “bitch” and they said “just grab a school regulator”. Wow, why didn’t I think of that. I grabbed one, got on the boat and realized my backpack with my money and other essentials was missing. I ran all over looking for it and was about to remove my gear from the boat when I realized it was mixed in with my gear. I was embarrassed for holding up the parade.

The boat left the dock when I realized I didn’t have a weight belt. I always use integrated weights so getting a belt was new to me. I found a belt on the boat but then had to ask for weights. One of the newbie divemasters running the dive was a bit nasty and said that I should have gotten them from the rental shop. I was pissed at the time as no one had told me how things are suppose to work. Anyway, I found some extra weights and got a belt ready. I was finally ready to go – looking like a complete idiot in front of the paying customers. Oh well.

I found a dive buddy. The guy was from Peru and was a recent divemaster graduate coming back to take advantage of lifetime free diving. We had a nice easy dive but found nothing special but it was nice to be in the water. I guess we did see a sting ray in the sand that just kept kicking up the sand. On the second dive we swam with a turtle for a long time which is a bit unusual. We also saw a Queen Angel and a French Angel.

I had a quick lunch of Baliadoras (not sure of the spelling or pronunciation). I mentioned them before.

I studied for about 30 minutes before meeting with the course director to go over the 1st 3 chapters of my Divemaster Manual. We watch a slide show and discussed the material and then took a test to my surprise. I got 18 of 20 on one and 19 of 20 on another. Two of the errors were simple reading errors caused by the dim light and small print and on the well worn test booklet.

I ran out to buy a quick case of beer and had it delivered to my apartment for a total of about $11.00. No too bad. I didn’t have any small bills to pay the entire bill so the guy just told me to come back tomorrow to settle up. I doubt that would happen very often. I stopped at the only ATM but it was out of money which I guess is pretty normal. I ran to one of the larger stores and stocked up on some essentials like detergent (as least I hope that’s what it is) and some dish soap and groceries. I’d like to save a few dollars and not eat every single meal out.

I then talked to Gerri again and that was fun as usual. It makes me sad that she sometimes get a little lonely but we both enjoy the phone calls.

Off to dinner and I finally got pizza at Mango restaurant. It was excellent and I brought half back for another meal.

It was too early for bed and I realized I hadn’t done the blog for today. I have to go to the dive shop restaurant called Barracuda to get onto the Internet. I’m having a beer and listening to some local talent singing and playing guitar. Actually kind of fun and a great way to pass the time while writing.

I'm finishing this up one day late so I'll finish up from last night. The Internet was down so I just stayed and had some more beers. Wow, I was out of it. Got home and slept for about 3 hours and then woke up wide awake.

WHALE SHARK. I can hardly believe it but I went out on the boat for the first time today and we actually saw a whale shark. We were able to get into the water and snorkel with it for several minutes. It was a female about 15 or 16 feet long. Look them up on the Internet - they are the largest fish in the sea and really cool. Many people have been here for months and have never seen one. Since I've completed the class on whale sharks now I can go out and assist some time and hopefully see another one.

The boat captain, Willie, is a native and really knows the waters. He was very helpful today in finding the shark. He said I can run the boat sometime which is another skill I want to develop. The boat is the one on the Utila Lodge web cam closest to the camera. Its really funny that I was getting things ready and waiting for customers and Gerri actually saw me on the web cam today. I was only there for about 5 minutes so that was really pretty cool.

I also did my first aid class this morning and got a score of 100% on the test. I'm now an EFR or Emergency First Responder.

I had my first duties as a trainee today. We got back from the whale sighting about 6pm and I had to do the put away of all the equipment. It was no big deal and only took about 1/2 hour.

I found out I can work on this blog from the bar above the dive shop so I'm not getting eatin by bugs. I just finished a shrimp dinner and a couple of beers. I also SKYPED Gerri tonight and used the web cam so we could see each other. Its free and its lots of fun to be able to stay in contact like that.

Tomorrow I hope to get some food for the apartment to save a few dollars (limperas). I have my first divemaster class or review tomorrow at 2pm.

THE FUN HAS STARTED. Well I made it to Utila. The flights more or less went as expected. It was fun in La Ceiba. The plane was not there and no one spoke a word of English. The weather looked to bad to fly but eventually the plane showed up and I got here about 6pm. The flight takes about 10 minutes to go the 18 miles. The weather had improved and it no problem.

Peter, the course director, met me at the dive shop. He explained a couple of things and then took me to what they call a hotel. I've stayed in some dumps before but this place was truely awful. The room was small and had absolutely no storage for clothes. There was a second bed so that became my closet. There was no toiler paper and no towels of any kind. Luckily I didn't have to go.

I got settled in and decided to walk the town. Its probably about 2 miles through the entire cove so I walked it all. Many things were closed but several bars and eateries were open. I ate at the dive shop bar/eatery and had a few beers. The beers were a buck and the fish sandwish was about $2.50. Not as cheap as I had hoped.

A nice storm popped up and it poored for awhile. I waited until it slowed down and made my way back to the hotel about 8 blocks away. The room was leaking badly. Water was puddled in the middle of the room right were the electric fan was sitting. Needless to say I carefully walked around the water and avoided the fan. I climded into bed (it was dry) and tried to sleep. I think I finally faided away about 3am and got about 4 hours sleep.

I thougt I had really screwed up at this point. I walked the street again about 7am and found a little bakery where I got a giant and very fresh bagel. At least I wasn't hungry. I started looking for apartments and found a sign indicated some were available. I walked down the street but couldn't figure out which person ran the apartments that I never saw. I walked away and down the street to look for more. Nothing was close to the dive shop so I walked back to the sign. This time the owner saw me wandering around on this back alley and asked me what I wanted. I indicated an apartment. The only one available was on his farm in the "bush". He took me there in a golf cart and it really was on a farm. Lots of local veggies and fruits along with this little shack. It was okay inside but it was in bug heaven. I'd have to walk through several hundred feet of farm to get there. He cut a fruit from a tree and gave it me and we ate some strange tiny black fruit from another tree. It didn't taste very good to me.

I told the man I wante to walk back to I could check the distance. It was pretty far and to hard to find so I have up.

I went to the dive shop and told them I needed to move NOW and we found a poster for another place. ROSA met me about an hour later and showed me a place about 3 blocks from the dive center. It was nicer and big - 2 bedrooms with full kitchen, cable TV and it seems secure. I took it on the spot for $430 per month. As we walked back to the dive shop another couple stopped us and wanted to see the apartment. ROSA said Charlie has just rented it.

Rosa picked me up at the so called hotel about an hour later and took me to my new home. I unpacked and got settled in.

Lunch was at a little road side stand and was about a dollar for two home made pita's with refried beans and some parmesian cheese. Not too bad for the price.

I took a specialty class on Whale Sharks that afternoon and it was fun and intereresting. Plans are to go looking for them tomorrow after I take a first aid class.

I got my wireless connected at the dive shop but it closes about 7pm so I'm outside with the bugs writing this story.

Spaggetti with shrimp and calamari was dinner and it was great.

STAY TUNED>

Study - its the 4th of July and I've done lots of studying. I've received 22 lbs of books and materials I need to review. I'm about 1/2 way through the Divemaster manual and I've read several sections of the Padi Enclopedia of Recreational Diving. Topics have included the "Chemistry and Physics of Diving" and the "Physiology of Diving".

I've completed the instructions and sample problems for the eRDP. This was easy compared to the reading and problems in the Divemaster manual. I expect the "wheel" to be much more diffiuclt.