The IDC is officially behind us, and what a great ending! Yesterday morning started with any exam resists that people needed or wanted. Everyone improved and we are on our way to kicking butt on the written portion of the IE tomorrow.
In the afternoon we went out on the boat and had two great dives. Georgia always stresses that fact that dive professionals need to dive for themselves periodically and just bubble around, so she took us to a great site for just that. We splashed in at Snapper Rock for my first dive on this site. It is a very deep site, and we were all eager to buddy up and explore. My buddy and I went to 110ft and then swam around a shallower pinnacle at about 75 feet. The life down there was amazing! After bubbling around for a bit we started our ascent and realized that we all ended our dive at the same time with the current carrying us together and so all of the IDC students made their ascent and safety stop together. On the safety stop Marta called for us and we saw a beautiful cow nose ray swimming angelically alone at about 30 feet. We all surfaced with a renewed sense, and Georgia was happy that just bubbling around was effective.
For the second dive we went to Pixie Rock and practiced knots and lift bags for the IE before having another opportunity to bubble around. Everyone appreciated the opportunity to step back, observe, and swim around, and we were all reenergized.
Today is our day off to relax and rest our brains before the IE starts tomorrow night. We have orientation at 4 and then the written exams from 5 to 9. On Saturday we have our classroom presentations in the morning followed by our open water presentations in the afternoon. Sunday morning is our confined water presentations and then time to celebrate (knock on wood) and watch the Super Bowl! But I need to take it one day at a time, so my first priority is getting ready for my relaxing day on the beach today. Wish us luck in the IE!