We’re certified in SCUBA! We finished our last two open water dives on Monday. It was great. Now we’re really looking forward to going and scubaing for fun instead of for a class.
In fact, we like that idea so much, and this little bit of Panama so much, that we decided to stay here a couple of days longer than planned.
Bocas Del Toro is a bit of an island paradise. Who wouldn’t want to stay?
I remembered to bring the defog for my mask this time, so that made it much much more enjoyable. We got to see lots of great sea critters including a bright green eel (with yellow spots), an endangered fish, and lots more. We also did a small navigation “test” as part of our certification. We were given a compass and told to swim away from our instructor for 15 kick-cycles (just an up-down motion of kicking your feet), and then turn around and come back. We passed.
We’re even more excited to scuba now!

Also, we’d thought that our first dive (on Sunday, our first ever open water dive) was at about 20 – 30 feet.
However, I found out that we really went down to 60 feet!
We called the airline this morning to ask about changing our flight (we were supposed to leave this afternoon, but again we’re staying a couple of days longer than planned). We’re obviously not the first people to do this (stay longer than planned in Bocas Del Toro).
There was no change fee or penalty. We just told them the new date we wanted, and that was that.
I think all airlines should be like that! It was so incredibly easy, and we didn’t have to pay a penny more.
Anyway, now we’re here in Bocas del Toro, Panama at least until the evening of Oct. 30th.
But, if we like it, we might just stay.
Check back again for more updates.