Sunday, July 18th: Certification's the name of the game

Mourning till lunch
I stand to get certified today, yet we have breakfast in silence. On the way to breakfast we see Kim and Garth climb into the Congoola and leave the island. We're too far away for them to notice us.  We're the only guests now. Steve and Sarah are also a bit sad, I can tell. There's good news though: a new family will arrive today.

The rest of the morning is spent sweating over the final, comprehensive exam, I pass it with flying colours, only a few remaining dive skills stand in the way of my first PADI title. The first set of skills we do just in front of the Tranquillity resort jetty, for the last ones we'll need to take the boat out in the afternoon.

Afternoon
Blandine comes along on the boat for the afternoon dive on the Bottlefish Caves site. We dive at 15:22, 35 minutes later I'm officially certified. Crack open the champagne if you have any, captain! There's no alcohol on board, so we settle for the free coffee. All this diving has made me real hungry, I can barely wait for dinner. And to see the new arrivals of course.

Evening encounters
Meet Natasha, or Tash for short,  loving hubby Greg and their 10 year old son Tom. They're a happy family from Newcastle, Australia out on a diving holiday here. Correction: Greg is. Tash can't dive because she's pregnant and Tom is really eager, but still too young to get certified.  Tash's father, a longtime diver, stays in a nearby hotel on the mainland and will come out on day trips to dive with us. We introduce ourselves to each other and before I know it I'm having fun playing cards with Tom while Blandine chats with the adults about her job at Caritas. The evening passes by in a jiffy, the excitement of my achievement still makes my blood pump faster. It's our last day on the island tomorrow, so I simply MUST take advantage of my time here and go on as many dives as possible, without alienating Blandine of course. We are on this island together after all. So, tomorrow I'll go diving in the morning, then after lunch - if the weather's decent enough we'll take out the sea kayaks for a little cruise, then get back in time to say goodbye to Moso island and take the boat to mainland.