Yesterday was filled with a lot of learning, some practice tests, and sitting in a classroom for 3+ hours, which I haven’t done in almost four years. Although the classrooms here consist of an open gazebo and and a wooden hut with open windows on all sides, so that was a plus. Us four newbies learned about the history of TRACC, the animals in the water that may be dangerous if we encounter them, and then did three chapters of introduction to our Open Water scuba certification. At the end f the day we had about an hour to snorkel off of the beach, which was pretty cool. I was surprised to see as much marine life as I did so close to our beach.
It was interesting to hear about the purpose of this whole organization and the ongoing issues that they face. TRACC is a conservation group tbt strives to repair the reefs that have been destroyed by the local practice of “bomb fishing”- throwing dynamite in the water to catch as many fish at a time. Locals took up this practice once they realized they could get a large yield of fish quickly, by in return have obliterated so many of the reefs around here. With no reefs, fish are left homeless and migrate to other areas, leaving these areas wastelands. In addition to this issue, we also learned about how the simple practice of recycling has been a challenge. Our science instructor, Alessio, told us about how recently TRACC has not even been able to dispose of their own trash and recycling because the mainland landfills are completely filled with no where to empty them, so they are completely shut down. With structural issues like this, their hands are tied in a lot of ways.
Last night I hung out and got to know some more of the other volunteers. We got talking about the differences in the countries that we come from, like schooling, food, expectations from parents, and weddings (everyone thought Americans put way too much effort into these, not a knock on you Kelsey lol 😉). It’s interesting to hear about these differences and think about how much your life is impacted just by the country you were born in.
We also have two island pups here, Joey and Monsoon (Monsoon is below). They’re no Riley but they’ll do.
Some things I haven’t done since being here:
-gone inside: there is literally not a building to go inside of. Showers, bathrooms, kitchen, sleeping are all done in outdoor structures
-looked in a mirror: I think there may be one mirror here? I probably look like Tom Hanks from castaway at this point so I’m okay with that
-sat on a dry toilet seat: the showers here are within the bathroom stalls, which makes the toilet seats wet all the time. Slid off that bitch like a slip n slide on my first bathroom encounter
Off to learn more and hopefully get some diving in today!
Half-Seas Over 