Florida Sea Base News

No offense intended, but speaking Spanish with a Texas drawl becomes a language all its own.  Back home we call it Texican.  Being here just a couple of days, some of my high school Spanish (43 years ago) is coming back.  The problem is I struggled to earn a C in high school Spanish.  I seem to be very effective at making the locals laugh.  But they seem to appreciate my efforts.  Strangely, I have not met anyone named Isabel.  In high school, all of the dialog was about a girl named Isabel.  ”Hola Isabel.  Como esta?”

I forgot to mention that I had met two other candidates at breakfast Monday.  Dan is originally from Ohio and works at a PADI shop in San Diego now.  Bill is from Kentucky.  I also met the group at the dive shop (getting weights) but there were too many too fast to remember the names.  I met everyone else today.

We have been broken into 6 teams by colors and then assigned a number within the team.  I am Orange six.  The team color and your number within the team is used for assignments and other logistical issues.  Our first task was to come up with a team name to replace the color designator.  The selected name cannot have been previously used in the CDTC.  So follow this logic if you can.  Orange.  Scuba diving.  In the Pacific Ocean lives a bright orange fish called a garibaldi.  But garibaldi has been used.  There is a lady on our team from the UK.  She said that garabaldi is not a fish, but a type of biscuit in the UK.  (I think a biscuit is what we refer to as a cracker but I’m not sure).  So we decided to be Team Biscuit.  I think we can all agree that it has never been used before and it will never be used again.

I did “ok” today.  I passed the Standards and Procedures exam, but didn’t score 100%.  I scored all 5s (on a scale of 1 to 5) on my pool skills except for one 4.  Wednesday (tomorrow) we will perform more skills in confined water in a nearby bay (bus trip).  I feel pretty optimistic about that part.  Then we will be scored on rescue scenarios.  I expect to do okay but am sweating it.  There is no make-up.  It’s show time!

Its 21:15 (9:15 pm) and I am pooped.  We are scheduled to go very late tomorrow evening so I don’t think I will be able to post.  Have a great day.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
In Punta Cana, R.D.