Location: Palaulau
Good morning, afternoon, or evening, whatever time you are reading this, hi! Today was a time and a half. It started off with a 7 am wake-up to the song “Sound of Sunshine.” I was met with groans and tired faces wondering why I was running down the halls yelling to wake up (no one was very cooperative). Breakfast was chocolate chip pancakes by our head chef Ry-dawg and her amazing sous chefs. Dopo la colazione we had two classes: Oceanography and Leadership. Leadership was very interactive, and both were entertaining. Right after our classes, we were ushered into town and stopped at a local dive shop, where we were given free Palauan flag pins with our purchases. Next was the best meal we have had in ages. I had pizza balls and spaghetti bolognese with some pineapple juice. While we were eating, two dogs played around us, and a cat was just chillin’ (pictured below). Right after lunch, we loaded back into the vans and went to PICRC (Palau International Coral Reef Center), where we listened to three presentations. Afterward, we split into port and starboard cabins. We went on separate tours of the PICRC ocean acidification labs and the Palau aquarium, where we saw a baby sea turtle and tons of juvenile fish. Afterward, we crammed our whole group into the gift shop for ice cream and cold drinks that refreshed our souls. Once we were all checked out, we were on our way back to the ship. Once we arrived back at the dock where we met Megatron and Nopadone, and some people got to use the wifi. We ended the night with amazing food and a great squeeze question (I think I did a pretty good job) where we got to compliment our fellow crewmates. Overall today was summed up in one word, pancakes.
1. The best dinghy group is the last dinghy group
2. Provisioning madness
3. garden eel (not liked by one of the staff)
4. Baby sea turtle
5. Amelia, Grace, Matt, and Lucia
6. Seahorse!!!!!
7. Mad fish
8. A true pinky promise
9. Happy dog!!!
11. Port cabins in the OA lab
12. Everyone selfie
13. Gabe.
14. Cute cat!