Day 67: Gameplanning

Vela Luka, Croatia

I planned to send a package home today from the post office. I had with me some diving manuals, wetsuit and diveskin that I won’t be needing anymore.

I decided to also rid myself off the Pacsafe Wire Mesh 85L that I brought with me. I couldn’t justify lugging it around. It’s too much of a hassle to assemble it onto the backpack and disassemble later. Another gear that I wasn’t too sure about was the Foldable Sink. However, I had been using it quite a lot this past couple months. The washing machine at the staff house had been broken, so from time to time, I handwashed my clothing in it.

The morning was pretty much spent on updating blog entries, playing catch-ups. I was also on email with Marjolein. Basically, neither of us would cave in. She demanded 950 euro from me before she’d submit the certifications for the courses I had finished to PADI.

So essentially, as it stands now, I’m still an Open Water Diver. But I had been leading numerous dives, bringing guest divers to 30 meters. Technically, per PADI standard, an Open Water Diver can only go as deep as 18 meters. Furthermore, On the invoice, it said that I led dives “under supervision,” which was so untrue. Some times, my mentors weren’t even on the boat let alone in the water supervising me.

Marjolein wrote that she also forwaded the email and invoice she wrote me to PADI to justify her refusal to give me my certifications. I, in turn, wrote to PADI’s Quality Management department in regards of a few issues I had with the Divemaster internship (working at the dive center owner’s house, tourist paper not sorted out, courses not taught up to standard, etc.) It beguiled me why Bobby and Marjolein chose to play hardball. It is true that I would like to get the certifications, but they really do not matter much for me as I do not plan to dive for a living. I just thought it’d be cool experience to do this Divemaster internship and also to learn something during my travel. I made it clear to Marjolein that I had not the slightest intention to mar the dive center name on purpose, but at the same time, I plan to blog as true to my experience, thoughts and feelings in regards of everything.

Anyway, due to the timing mishap, I failed to post my package since I missed the post office’s operating hour. I also realized that I would be stuck in the island for at least until Monday when it opens. This gave me time to plan my next travel route. I was thinking something along the line of: Bosnia – Serbia – Bulgaria – Turkey and then fly back to Split to meet up with Elly on August 1^st.

Croatian phrase of the day:

Ulica = Street