Welcome to the conclusion of my summer journey. I flew in last night and thought that maybe you would like to hear about the final third of my trip before I head off to school. So here is what I have been up to for the last two weeks.

After getting off of the boat that I lived on for the first three weeks, my new home was the Caribbean headquarters for the company that I was doing my internship with. Calling it a home might be an overstatement, though. I lived in a small tent outside on a wooden deck with four other people. Luckily, three of the girls slept outside, so Jeff and I shared the tent with the girls’ bags.

This facility is referred to as “The Pad.” It is a building that houses the main Caribbean office (a small room with a couple computers, but most importantly, air conditioned) and stores all the scuba and sailing gear while the boats are not out on program. I have to say, I definitely preferred life on the boat to life at The Pad. The only upgrade was from salt water plunge showers to fresh water pulse showers.

I studied in the food storage room. It was actually pretty amusing: you might expect that an open building would become infested with cockroaches or ants. But these conventional nuisances were outnumbered by crabs! It was so bizarre sitting with my nose in a book, and then get poked by a crab. Most were small, but there was one big one that took residence between the salsa and the marshmallows.

For these last weeks, I have been taking an Instructor Development Course which prepared me to become a scuba instructor. Each day, we woke up to hop on the boat for a full morning of water skills at 8am. Then we had a lunch break, and spent the afternoon in a classroom doing presentations and lectures. Our instructor was a really cool guy from Holland. We had lots of fun, and learned a whole lot. And I finally got to use all the huge books that I lugged to the Caribbean.

The IDC is all preparation for the Instructor Examination which is a two day evaluation of our skills in the water and in the classroom, as well as some dive theory exams. The Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) sends in an Instructor Examiner who spends both days with us going over a selection of skills that we have been working on to make sure we are up to their standards as professionals.

The whole process is a lot of work, but it was actually very enjoyable. There were about a dozen of us, and we spent every night together preparing the next day’s presentations and studying for exams. On the night when we all passed our IE, we went out for the unofficial final exam: the snorkel test. For the snorkel test, you wear a mask and snorkel, and fill the snorkel with beer. The mask makes it particularly difficult because it doesn’t allow you to breathe through your nose when you are drinking.

Once I passed the snorkel test, I became a real scuba instructor. Thanks to everyone who wrote to me, it was great to hear from you all. After a long day of diving, it was so nice to get to a computer and see what you are all up to. One more week until I get back to school! I will spend that week watching the olympics and drinking wine with my family. A lovely way to relax before getting back to work.

Over and out.

We last spoke after a sail from St. Maarten to St. Barths, so this tale begins where we left off. The longest sail of the trip was a full day from St. Barths to Nevis. It was a long day, but we passed the time with activities ranging from throwing up to riding the tramp, which is the net that stretches between the port and starboard hulls of the catamaran. The sea was so rough that the entire bow of the yacht was submerged with every rolling wave. So we repeatedly dunked ourselves in the deep blue, which was quite refreshing compared to the stuffy cabins.

In Nevis, I finally found the fruit that I remembered from a previous trip to the Caribbean. It is called a genip, and I have craved them ever since I first had one. Basically, its a large pit surrounded by sweet and tangly orange flesh that you suck on. Delicious, and really fun to eat. I will miss you, genips. Speaking of delicious, there is a beverage here they have on all the islands called Ting, which is basically carbonated grapefruit soda. I get it at every opportunity.

From Nevis, we sailed to St. Kitts, then to Statia, Saba, and Tintamare. Now I am back at St. Maarten at the office. I am on night watch duty to make sure the kids on my boat don’t use the last night to get drunk and make babies. That means I have to stay up all night and check on them periodically between these paragraphs I am writing.

The end of my internship aboard the kids boat also marks the end of my scuba diving portion of the trip. I think at this point I am a Divemaster, and I have a couple days off before I begin the instructor course, which takes place in classrooms and pools as far as I know. I am excited, but I have heard that the course is pretty demanding. Some of my scuba diving highlights…

I saw my first seahorse. It was so big, and looked just like coral. In fact, if I didn’t have the good fortune of randomly looking directly at it, I would never have seen it. I said to myself, “Hmmm, that coral is kinda shaped like a seahorse. Oh wait. It is.” And what a delight that realization was!

Lots of sharks and barracuda. I wouldn’t say I feel endangered by either, but I have to say, a one foot barracuda scares me much more than a five foot shark. They are so scary looking. I don’t know if this is too personal to share, but we are all friends here right? I haven’t used the sailboat’s toilet since I have been here. I use the ocean. I just prefer it for some reason, and I encourage you to give it a try before you express your disgust. I think its a wonderful experience, but the reason that the “aqua-dookie” belongs in this paragraph is because of the barracuda. I swear, there is one barracuda that follows me to every dive site just to intimidate me when I am trying to have a personal moment in the ocean.

And the jellyfish! They drive me crazy! There were not too many for the first half of the trip, but once we got to Saba, they were everywhere! Suddenly bathing became a horrific chore, and the kids would come back from dives covered in bumps from stinging cells and sea wasps and little jellies. From the boat, it was easy to chuckle at the screams, but as soon as I got and got my first sting right on my face, I tried to dive curled up in a little ball to minimize the surface area for them to sting me.

We have also spent some fun time on the islands. There are some gorgeous hikes around here, but they are really difficult too. These islands really just shoot up out of the water, so getting from sea level to the rim of a volcano is no easy feat. It was always worth the hike, but I was convinced some of those steps would be my last.

I think one of the things I have enjoyed the most on this trip has been the stargazing. I try to spend an hour or so each night on the tramp (that net I mentioned at the bow) looking at the stars. There are no cities around, and on a clear night, you can literally see dozens of shooting stars per hour. The sunsets are also really pretty, so my usual routine is to watch the sunset, shower (jump in the ocean, shampoo and antimicrobial soap, jump in the ocean, 5-second fresh water rinse), then air dry on the tramp under the stars. It’s cold, but my towels got smelly early on, so air drying became the fresh smelling alternative. We get a light rain every day, but I adore the heavy rains. They only last about five minutes, but its as close as we get to a shower and gear rinse, so we take advantage of them.

So at this point, I have a couple days of working at the office and helping clean and load boats before the instructor course begins. I am back home in two weeks, then in St. Louis the following week. I am very excited for this upcoming semester. Living with a great group of guys, taking interesting classes. It has been a long summer, and I am really looking forward to being back at school. Thanks to everyone who sent me an email while I have been gone.

Miss you all, and hope to talk to you soon!

I am about a week and a half into my scuba trip, and I have finally found internet access, but unfortunately I only brought $10 to the cafe, which will last me about half an hour. So I will be brief and cross my fingers that my next trip onto land will be less expensive. Oh and please excuse my typing difficulties because I am working on a French keyboard and I don’t know what any of these computer menus say so I am clicking blindly.

I began my trip with an overnight flight from San Francisco to Miami, then on to St. Maarten. We spent a few days there to begin working on scuba skills and taking exams on dive theory to prepare me for my divemaster internship. I am one of four interns on this particular trip, and thus far we have all been together on a catamaran with our instructor, another Matt. Today, as soon as I finish this post, I will be transferred to a bigger boat with about a dozen teenagers and two instructors for the next segment of my internship. That portion of the trip will last a couple weeks, after which I will take a two week class to become a scuba instructor.

I learned early that sunscreen must be applied liberally on a regular basis, especially because I spend a good portion of my days underwater where the most recent layer comes off, no matter how waterproof the lotion claims to be. So, while I may be a little red now, I plan on being brown when I get back. So far, my job has been a lot of lifting, moving, carrying, etc. I have, however, been gradually entrusted with more responsibilities and less grunt work. But I will never be free of it because I think I am the biggest person with the company.

The Caribbean is beautiful, I am in good company, and the food has been tasty. When I move to my new boat today, I will be eating food made by 15 year-olds who smell bad, but the Caribbean will still be beautiful. I have met the kids actually, and I think we will get along just fine. And who am I to complain about smelling bad? I do have a delightful stick of deodorant, but a Caribbean shower consists of rubbing myself vigorously in the ocean, which can only accomplish so much.

My time is running out, and I didn’t get to tell you as much as I would have liked to, but St. Barths is expensive as heck. Don’t come here unless you are French and wealthy. I will hopefully find another island cafe in the near future to tell you fun stories. I miss you all and if you want to send me a quick email I would love to have something to read next time I make it on land.

Much love.