Somehow the time on Nicole's alarm clock got set wrong and since I don't have one we ended up getting to the dive center an hour late - and very confused - we thought we were getting there early. There'd been a hippo on the beach that morning and no one knew where it had gone to so we had to do our dives over on the island (it's too deep for hippos there)!
We had to do two rescue scenarios for the end of the Rescue Diver course. Absolutely blew the first scenario - missing diver (the propeller again) - didn't even find it. Nicole and I made a plan, got in the water, changed our plan (mistake one) - originally we'd planned on running a U-pattern search parallel to shore, but in the water since the bottom was relatively flat decided to run it perpendicular to shore - thus being able to follow the contours of the island easier. I set the compass on the surface and we submerged. At the bottom while getting lined up with the compass I realized that the compass bezel was broken and turning freely (don't know why I didn't notice this at the surface when I set it). I thought I remembered the approximate bearing so decided to continue (second mistake). It turned out I didn't remember the correct bearing and we weren't even searching the right area. Obviously we didn't find the missing propeller. Plus with all the depth changes involved in the search pattern my ears were really starting to bug me.
Back at the boat the second scenario started - Craig went "unconcious" and we had to bring him up from the bottom, get him in the boat, and pretend to do rescue breathing on him all the way back to the beach - and at the same time direct everyone else to help (two open water students, and the two Peters). It was pretty difficult because I could hardly hear anything because of the water in my ears. Even so only made a few mistakes getting him into and out of the boat - basically we did well.
Back on shore took the exam (sixty questions - only missed one!) and then we were done with the Rescue Diver Course as well! Had a well deserved final piece of chocolate banana cake, said goodbye to everyone at the Scuba Shack, packed, said goodbye to everyone at The Gap. Then spent nearly two hours waiting for a pickup truck to Monkey Bay - luckily Nicole waited with me so it wasn't too boring. I realized fairly quickly that there was no way I was going to make it to Lilongwe tonight, and started to wonder if I was going to even make it to Monkey Bay. Finally managed to hitch a ride with some botanists (I think) to Monkey Bay. Got in to Monkey Bay around five so just got a hotel room and wandered around the market. Had a couple cold sodas, some fresh bread, and chips with chilies for diner. Hopefully I'll be able to catch an early morning bus...
