Hope

Before we get to today, let's talk about last night. After dinner, we rafted up with the dive side boats. However, before we could go hang out, most of us had to take our divemaster exams. Matt and Riley took the full 120-question Divemaster exam while the juniors took the shorter version. Luckily, everyone passed! It was a huge relief, and everyone was excited to finally relax, say hi to friends from the other dive side boats, and celebrate finishing the end of that book before heading to bed.

Now onto today!

This morning we thought we were going to wake up to Monty and Leah's pancakes, but the Divemasters had other plans. Before breakfast, Matt, Riley, Gillian, JJ, Stepan, and I geared up with Parker and Siena for our final Jr. Divemaster Candidate dive at the Willy T. We completed our underwater mapping project, including the fake skeleton, and Stepan even spotted some shrimp hiding around the wreck. Matt said it ended up being one of his favorite dives of the trip, and it was a great way to finish off our diving for the trip. After finally surfacing and putting our gear away, we got to enjoy the pancakes that Monty and Leah had made, and they tasted even better than we thought.

Then we packed up the boat and motored to Road Town for some shore time. Everyone was excited to get their phones back to call home again. We grabbed lunch at Burgers and Crepes; Gillian shared some tamarinds and guineps she bought from a fruit stand; Will enjoyed a passionfruit smoothie; and JJ got "attacked" by a very friendly dog in a dive shop. Before long, it was time to head back to Hope and continue our day. Once we got back on Hope, Caroline took the helm while the Divemasters completed our EFR workshop during the motor. When we arrived, Leah, Riley, and Ari made sure to enjoy our last ocean shower before we made dinner, where we completed our last normal squeeze of the session. After eating, the Divemasters completed our EFR exams before we all started writing cards for everyone on the boat, including one to ourselves that we'll get back around Christmas.

It was a really nice way to end the day and reflect on all the memories we've made together over the last few weeks. It's hard to believe our adventure is almost over, but today was another awesome day filled with diving, laughs, good food, and great memories.

See you all soon enough,
Tobias