Hello from a newly qualified rescue diver!

So today I finished my final day of the Rescue Diver course and managed to pass my final exam (100%) and the practical rescue scenario without too much difficulty.

It has been quite a chilled course, spread over 3 days, when it could have easily been completed in 2. There is a lot of theory (like all the PADI courses) backed up with some practical exercises in rescuing divers from the surface and from underwater.

The first day I had to wait whilst one of the guys going the course finished off an adventure dive for his Advanced so had plenty of time to start reading the chunky book outlining the course. Once he had finished we started practising how to give rescue breaths to a casualty whilst in the water and the different methods for towing them to safety. We finished up with what to do with multiple casualties before hitting the books until the boat transfer arrived back to KK.

Day 2 was quite slow. Having been told to finish the book, and all the review questions at the end of each chapter, I had dutifully been up past midnight hunched over my book. I then arrived to the boys not having started chapter 3 and with the whole morning dedicated to allowing them to finish. Actually it was quite nice to have a bit of a break and I lazed in the sun and did a bit of snorkelling in the shallows until lunch. The afternoon was busy with learning evacuation methods for unconscious casualties (with me trying to haul a poor girl up the ladder to the boat) and watching the videos that accompany the book (yawn).

Today was much more active. Getting straight in the water once we arrived we learnt the protocols involved when a diver is reported missing and how to perform different search patterns on the surface and under the water. We practised using a pocket mask in the water and how to lift casualties onto the jetty as well as techniques for carrying them out to the beach once the water gets too shallow to tow them. This was followed by our practical skills exam where we had to work together to find and rescue a lost diver, calm a panicked diver and evacuate a non-breathing casualty to the boat in order to start CPR. With all going well we retired to the shade of the dive centre for tea and biscuits.

Before lunch we went through the knowledge reviews before sitting our final multiple choice exam. Since it only took me 10 minutes to complete I asked if I could join the final dive after lunch to the Coral Gardens. All approved I suited up and jumped aboard with my camera and snorkelling gear and had a good dive to end the day, seeing massive pufferfish, razor fish (see picture), pipe fish and a cuttlefish, my favourite!! I returned to find I'd aced the exam and had just made my first dive as a Rescue Diver!

To save some money I've moved to a dorm room at Lavender Lodge where I met Jackie (there is only the two of us in the five bed dorm), and tomorrow we are going to see HARRY POTTER at the cinema. Unfortunately Emma and Nadiah are heading to a rural clinic in Sarawak tomorrow morning so we said goodbye as I headed off the bed.