Almost done with Open Water scuba certification! (Obviously snorkeling in the pic above but you get the point). We have three of five dives completed so by Tuesday I’ll be able to dive up to 30 feet. We saw some sea turtles yesterday which was pretty cool.
Yesterday morning I also got to join on a field study trip. We took a boat to a local island and the students here had the task of snorkeling and measuring lengths of coral underwater and observing how much coral was dead vs alive and noting the species of fish that they saw. This task made me realize a few things-
-I don’t know shit about fish. Each time I went down and returned to the surface, someone would ask what fish I saw, to which I would respond something like “a blue one? A small orange one with a stripe?”. People here are great at identifying all types of marine life, so I’m hoping to pick up on that because I was pretty much useless. At one point I surfaced and told the instructor that I saw the clam he was pointing out, to which he responded “uhh I was pointing at an eel”.
-What I considered being able to hold my breath long underwater is also nothing compared to these people. As I would surface after 10-15 seconds, the other members of my group would swim the whole length of our section in one breath. Apparently this also gets easier after some practice? We’ll see.
-Don’t fuck around with the sun here. I’ve been pretty good about slathering myself in lotion everyday, but made the rookie mistake of missing the tops of my ears and hands. On a Jersey beach this can slide, but after two hours on a boat and snorkeling yesterday, I’m left looking like I have some kind of rash.
-Even thought the area we were in had tons of live coral, there were hardly any fish. Someone in my group explained to me that most of the islands around here are completely over fished. The ongoing trend around here seems to be that the local people are so desperate for food or money that any respect to the marine life is completely disregarded.
Last night there was a beautiful sunset that a bunch of us sat on the dock and watched. Not bad for a backyard view.
Today is “Sunday Funday” where only fun dives are scheduled. Since I still am not certified I can’t go on any, so I have nothing on the schedule. Monday’s are dry days, so Sunday nights are when people turn up around here. Booze, the beach and free time sounds like a good combination to me so it should be a fun day.
Half-Seas Over 