Instead, we replaced the wreck dive with an underwater naturalist dive at a site called Lapus Lapus. In retrospect, the naturalist dive was a really good choice, especially at this particular dive site. The naturalist part of the AOWD course involves learning about the different types of marine life and how they interact with each other in the underwater ecosystem. During the dive, we then had to locate and identify five types each of plants or coral, vertebrates and invertebrates. Lapus Lapus was such a richly endowed dive site, however, that we easily could have found ten or more examples for each type.
So, after a navigation dive, a deep dive, a peak performance buoyancy dive, a night dive, and an underwater naturalist dive - and all the required readings that came with the dives - I am now a certified advanced open water diver! Strangely enough, four of the five dive guides I had dived with in the last month recommended that I do a divemaster course. Seems like diving is another thing I am quite good at :-)
After an afternoon spent relaxing, I went back to the dive center in the evening for the certification celebration. The dive center gives out a free, specially designed shot for every new certification gained. The shot was a layered creation, deep red on the bottom - red symbolizing my blood that hopefully nobody will ever get to see during a dive - a blue layer in the middle symbolizing the ocean, and topped by a silver layer representing the sharks that are the reason why everybody comes to Malapascua to dive.
Two happy hour Margaritas later, I felt so deadly drunk that I went back to my hotel and went to sleep immediately to avoid having to cope with the world revolving before my eyes like a carousel. Most people I've met became master drinkers on their long trips around the world - I became a master non-drinker, it seems ;-)
