Surviving the Phuket IE

What a crazy weekend! I flew to Phuket (Thailand) Friday morning and came back Monday night. The IE (Instructor Examination--scuba diving) started on Friday, with all the written exams. Saturday were all the pool sessions (teaching Open Water and a skill circuit to see if we're up to the PADI standard) and Sunday ended with a rescue scenario and 2 skills to teach in the sea.

Walking in, I saw people from different dive centers sitting together, wearing their team t-shirts and chatting with each other and their course directors. Mostly teams of 5 to 10. Then, there was me... All by my lonesome. The only one without a cute little t-shirt. No course director to tell me what to do. And the only one from out of town that doesn't know what the **** is going on :-(

We were given an overview of the weekend and our different tasks (people had different skills to perform for the examiner). For Saturday, I had to teach "breathing from an alternate air source---stat.) and had 5 skills to show, without teaching them. In the classroom, I had to teach about rescueing a serious near drowning victim. For Sunday, I had to prepare the rescue of an unconscious diver at the surface, "recovering and clearing a regulator" (OK) and the final thing: rigging and lifting an object from the bottom. What the hell??? I've never done this before! You mean I have to TEACH this when I don't even know what a lifting bag looks like? "What do you mean, I have to provide my own lift bag????" Trauma!!! What am I going to do??? Then, "Hey, Cat, you've arranged for tanks and all for tomorrow, right?"
-"Don't you guys provide that?"
-No. Everybody's course director organized that.
-My course director is in Australia....
ARRRRGGGHHH!

Anyways, passed all my written exams and managed to borrow a lift bag and some rope off of one of the course directors, a tank and a weight belt off of another one, books and props for my lesson off of another girl and a "treasure" to retrieve (for my lifting bag---had to provide THAT, too!)

Saturday evening, just before the sun set, the beach was a bit less crowded. I entered the water with my mask and snorkel, my diving torch (my "treasure" for the evening) and the stupid lifting bag to try to figure out how the damn thing worked.... Didn't have a tank, so I just blew in it to see what it looked like.

Needless to say I was mortified on Sunday! Well, I scored a perfect grade!!! Who knew that could happen? Woo-hoo!!!

I was invited to a couple of parties Sunday evening (basically invited by everybody I borrowed stuff from!) I decided to start my celebration with a bit of spa action! Went for a 3 hour treatment. Divine! Only problem is, returning to my room, I fell fast asleep and never made any of the parties!

Monday, I went on a canoe trip North of Phuket. We visited James Bond island, a few caves and lagoons. All in all, a relaxing day.