Swimming With Sharks
Location: Kuata Island
Today began well, with banana oat pancakes for breakfast. They were delicious (thank you, Rhianna and sous chefs—you did an amazing job as the first all-student meal team). Immediately after breakfast, we all got our gear ready to go for a hike, hopped in the dinghies, and sped off to the trailhead. The boat ride was quite bumpy, with those sitting in the bow of the dinghies (and, eventually, the rest of us) receiving a thorough soaking. And then some more soaking. And some more. After a while, it was revealed that the boat ride had become so long due to difficulties locating an acceptable landing spot. The decision was eventually reached to abort the hike, as there was too much surf to land the dinghies safely. We headed back to Argo, receiving another dousing along the way. We filled the time back on Argo with an impromptu safety class, but spirits were understandably dampened (just like the students!). After tuna pasta for lunch, said dampened spirits were lifted again as a plan was formulated for an afternoon hike. We once more crowded onto the dinghies, with a different, more easily approachable beach as our target this time. The dinghies couldn’t get especially close to this beach due to coral, and so our students’ advance up to dry land was akin to the storming of the beaches of Normandy. A short swim, holding our dry bags full of electronics aloft, followed by a short stumble through waist-high water. Finally, it was time to hike!
Our trail was narrow, overgrown, and extremely steep. After only a few mishaps, we reached the top, took some photos, ate some snacks, and turned around. The way down saw a few more tumbles, but it was all made worth it when we arrived at our real goal: the island resort’s smoothie (and ice cream) booth. I, as did almost everyone, enjoyed a delicious mango and pineapple smoothie (for GL+D: while enjoying said smoothie, I achieved queen bee on the NYT spelling bee). Wading out to the dinghies for the way back involved less normandy beach storming and more actual wading, as we got picked up from the spot we initially intended
to land at. What a day. And it wasn’t even close to over. After dinner, those students who hadn’t gone for a dive the night prior, a group which included myself, geared up for our turn for a night dive. Despite the late hour, the water was still rather warm, and we all enjoyed a nice swim from Argo out to the dive spot. Once there, we headed down with our flashlights waving about systematically. My group’s dive ramped up in excitement very quickly, as we caught the tail of a white-tipped shark darting away from us. Soon afterward, we found a turtle attempting to sleep on the seafloor, although our lights made that a little difficult. We left quickly so as not to disturb it overly much. Then came my favorite sighting of the night: another white-tipped shark, but this time a complete view for a longer time. Shivers went through my body. One of my fellow divers, Shay, spotted a sea worm. I’m a little glad to have avoided that disgusting sight. If all we saw on that dive wasn’t enough, while gazing up at the Milky Way on our return swim to Argo floating on our backs, a shooting star lit up the sky. What an incredible day. I’m off to bed now, goodnight everyone.
Huge love to Mom, Dad, Gavin, Emily, Grandma, Papa, GL+D, Grannie Annie, and all their ilk,
Maxwell