Location: Les Saints
The Hip Abductions’ “We’ll be alright” started the day for the crew onboard Vela this morning, and a very chilled, yet productive and fun, day ensued.
The students are getting down to the wire on their oceanography group projects, so after their post-breakfast fish ID quiz, they spent the morning turning their data into scientific papers and preparing to present their findings to the group during class tomorrow. Following lunch, Emma, Kyler, Perry, Joey, and I put on an absolute show of a panic diver/rescue scenario for the students’ final rescue diver exam. In the scenario, Emma had lost her buddy (me) while diving and was in absolute shambles as she cried and yelled out for someone to help. On the other hand, Perry was very casually telling everyone that he saw a dead person 20 ft under (also me), before he went into total shock. Kyler, by some other coincidental freak (and fictional) accident, was found unconscious on the surface a few feet off the bow. The students sprang into action, getting the swimmers and divers out of the water (carrying us all the way up the ~10ft ladder) before performing emergency care such as CPR and treatment for shock. They killed it and will be so much more prepared to act in an emergency situation should they ever find themselves in a position to help someone in trouble.
The final PSCT presentations were then held, where Hannah Y educated the crew on the wonders of the EPIRB and SART (locator devices used in a distress situation), while Henry spoke about marine refrigeration. We had yet another beautiful sunset before the students kitted up and headed to the reef for their final night dive of the semester! Last year, we saw octopi and other super cool things here, so hopefully they see some good stuff tonight.