My Divemaster training is progressing. I took some of the theory exams (physiology, conducting Divemaster programs, handling students) and I think I did OK on them. I'll take the remaining ones tomorrow. I'm also beeing graded by Gabriel on the practical portion of the course. I don't know the results yet, but Gabriel seems happy with me. I also took most of my watermanship exams, including the 400 yard freestyle swim (10min), the 800 yard fin/snorkel swim (14min) and the 15 minute water treading. I still have to do the tired diver tow, an underwater map of a dive site and do an underwater equipment exchange.
 
We took on a new student. She wanted to become NAUI Advanced Open Water certified (NAUI is a dive certification agency, like PADI). I again served as model for the skills she had to perform underwater, gradually improving my skills to "demonstration quality" level. The funny thing is that she doesn't seem to be very motivated. She complains about not looking forward to doing some of the requirements, saying that she'll do them "if she has to". Well, nobody is forcing her. She doesn't have to take her advanced certification. She has 40 logged dives, so she's already a fairly experienced diver. She doesn't seem to have major difficulty underwater, so I'm not sure what's motivating her behavior. Her husband is not diving, so she's probably not being pressured by him to do it. Some of the mysteries that Instructors and Divemasters have to deal with.
 
I did my first wreck dive today. For some reason, the opportunity to do one before had always escaped me. I almost dived the Rainbow Warrior in New-Zealand in 2000, but at the last minute the weather got too rough. Very good conditions today, though, and we went diving the C-53, also known as the Felipe Xicotencatl (I'm also getting better at my Mayan pronunciation). The C-53 was built in 1944 for the US Navy, then sold in 1962 to the Mexican Navy. It patrolled the area until 1999 when it was decommissioned, donated to the Cozumel underwater park and sunk in 82 feet of water off shore from Chankanaab Park. She's kept upright by eight anchors and she's starting to get overtaken by coral and algae. Unfortunately, a first layer of coral attached to the paint of the boat, which is now coming off. The underlying metal will be a better substrate and it should be a nice artificial reef a few years from now.
 
This dive ended up as a deco dive (that is, Gabriel and I exceeded the recommended recreational dive tables) and we had to do a decompression stop on our way back up. That happened because of our repeated diving, the residual nitrogen in our issues and the fact that our earlier dive in the morning was a deep dive at 111 feet. No more diving the rest of the day to give a chance to the accumulated nitrogen to leave our bodies.
 
Excellent dinner at La Choza, the best Mexican/Carribean restaurant on the island according to Gabriel. The guacamole and salsa de verdeo were unctuous, the sopa de pescado spicy, but just right and the filete de pescado a la Veracruz, a fish cooked with tomatoes, onions and peppers, delicious. For desert, I had an avocado pie, which was definitely an unexpected flavor for desert, but something one could get used to. Maybe mexican cuisine will grow on me after all...