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My name is Irina and I’m from Austria. I arrived at Reef Doctor about a week ago and I’m enjoying my stay a lot. The thing you do almost every day, accept the weather is bad, is diving. I tried to do my Open Water Diver in Austria, but I didn’t have the time to finish it, so I continued it in Madagascar with Dean, who is one of our Diving Instructors. The first three days I had to finish my Pool lessons and after that I was finally ready to explore the sea. We went to Rose Garden, which is about 5 meters deep and where you can see a lot of different fish. At first I was a little bit scared, because the water was much deeper than in the Pool and I didn’t want to touch anything or break anything with my fins. But after a few minutes I got relaxed and could really enjoy my first dive in Open Water. I was amazed to see so many fish and corals, even though the visibility wasn’t that good. After the first dive, we had a break on the boat and stayed at the surface for a few minutes to rest and to get our energy back. Drinking is very important, so make sure to always bring a bottle of water with you. The second dive wasn’t as much fun as the first one, because we had to practice some skills under water and on the surface, but we had a little time left to go explore the reef. I must say that I don’t really have difficulties while diving, because my buoyancy is very good and I try to breath very slowly to save energy, but there was one thing that really was hard for me. It was taking of the mask for one minute and then put it back on. I don’t really know why I had problems with this exercise, but probably the reason was that I didn’t see very well and that it is a different experience, you just have to make. Dean was very patient with me and always kept me calm. He is a very good Diving Instructor and Buddy as well. I really enjoy diving with him. It makes a lot of fun. Today, the 9^th of November, I finished my Open Water Diver and I’m really proud of myself. On Friday, I’m going to start with my Advanced Course and I’m really looking forward to it.

The thing I like most about this country is that you are making a lot of different experiences here and you can explore new things every day. Unfortunately time is passing very fast and I’m only here for another 4 weeks, but I’m looking forward to diving a lot and enjoying the days until then.

-Irina (Volunteer Nov ’11)

 

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