From the Valenza Trip Journal

Day 18

As the last few days on Valenza approach, our crew decided to get as many dives in as possible. We started the day off slowly, and then we geared up to descend on Moon Shadow, a spectacular reef at 85 feet. We spent 40 minutes enjoying the reef and then ascended. Natalie and Ben brought out the cereal and the oatmeal for the crew. As clean up finished, people went off to their quiet spot on the boat to relax and study for the rescue test.

As Tiff and Joe filled tanks they decided that a rescue scenario would be fun. After they made a lame excuse to go diving, we all prepared to make a rescue. Joe and Miriam suited up to do a search pattern while Sarah, Maggie and Ellie snorkeled looking for Joe, our “unconscious diver”. Ben and Trevor looked over the surface for bubbles. Scott, Peter and Natalie were on the boat reviving Tiff from her “near drowning experience”. Emma was there recording all the actions of the “victims”. The rescue went off with out a problem because of great leadership by Logan. As a group we went over all the steps to the rescue and the things we did wrong.

We knew the rescue test was coming, so our last minute cramming took place. Then Tiff handed out the sixty question test. We spread out over the boat and went to work. The test was finished, and the crew went for a swim or began reading their books where they left off. Sarah, Miriam, Trevor and Ben cleaned the dishes from our late lunch.

We set our gear up again for a dive at Paradise Reef. The dive was one of the best dives on trip… The aquatic life was amazing! Peter and Scott spotted two lobsters boxing. Between all the crew on the boat we found about eight eels. As we hit the surface everybody was saying what a great dive it was.

The scuba gear was stowed away as were prepared a great meal of beefy ravioli and quesadillas. We pumped tanks until we had enough for our night dive, and then descended to finish our last dive towards our night dive specialty. Our skill on this dive was a three minute lights out to play with the luminescence. After the three minutes were up, we were allowed to go free with our buddies. The dive lasted twenty minutes to a half hour.

Another day ended on a good note and we all went to sleep.

Trevor