Tag: Video

Take a Trip to The Everglades

Sava is out of the water or “on the hard” in boat jargon. We’re living on her while she is on land getting her hull painted. So while we are on dry land, we’ve rented cars and explored southern Florida. The latest was a trip to the Everglades.

About The Everglades

Wow. I can’t believe we waited to visit this amazing park. The Everglades is a national park, which is fortunately still open despite the government shutdown. It is a huge park, covering 1.5 million acres of the tip of southern mainland Florida. The Everglades’ marshes, mangroves, and flatlands are home to many different species, common and endangered. If you want to see crocs and gators, turtles and birds in Florida, this is a good place to go! It’s possible to see manatees but better to go to the best places to see wild manatees in Florida.

lily pad water, Florida Everglades
What’s lurking beneath the lily pads?
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Almost An Instructor

So I should be an instructor by now.  The Instructor’s Exam was just under two weeks ago. What happened?! I didn’t pass all of it. I failed a section. It was challenging. I will try again.

Taking the Instructor’s Exam

The PADI instructor’s exam, or IE, for short, takes place over 2 days. On Monday night, we all – all the candidates – gathered together and met the examiner and received our assignments. The IE is divided into multiple sections:

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Day Trip to Roatan

On Saturday, I took a trip “off island” for the day. After 5 weeks on the tiny isle of Utila, working hard to complete my DM training, a day trip to Roatan sounded like a fun change of scenery.

GROUP OUTING TO ROATAN

This was not a solo trip. Instead, UDC arranged it and a bunch of instructors and DMTs took the early morning boat from Utila to Roatan. We did 2 dives and spent a few hours walking around another island with cars and lots of shops! A big change of pace for me to go to the big island, and a nice escape from the studying.

GOOD TO GET AWAY

It’s amazing how exciting it was just to be somewhere else. I love Utila and it’s laid back atmosphere, but it was still fun to go somewhere with a gelato place. And to dive new dive sites. Day trips are a great escape!

DIVING IN ROATAN

The dives were great. From my limited experience and what I have heard from other divers, the diving in Roatan is better than Utila. Apparently the marine park has been protected for a longer time, and I could see the difference in the coral health and especially the size of the marine creatures.

For our dives, we visited a wreck and a site with cool swim throughs, and saw some much larger grouper than we see on Utila. A nice eagle ray and a swimming turtle completed the fun morning of diving.

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