Location: Phi Phi Don, Thailand
Woke up this morning and enjoyed a quick breakfast of cereal and leftover banana bread, then got both the dinghies into the water in no time so that we could get a longtail ride to our destination for the morning. Our longtails took us to the island used in the movie “The Beach,” Phi Phi Lay. The trip out there was a little rough and wet in the small boats, but it was worth it for sure. We spent over two hours exploring the island, climbing up rocky shores, and lying on soft sandy beaches. After we had our fill of time at this spectacular place, we hopped back in the boats to head for a small beach not far outside of Phi Phi Don. This beach had some very unusual inhabitants: monkeys! The drivers of our boats would throw these monkeys sealed bottles of water, and we would watch in amazement as the monkeys would open up the bottles without a second thought.
Upon return to Argo, we had lunch and then Marine Biology class out on deck. We are really starting to get into the full swing of classes onboard, and we are all getting the hang of the classification of different marine species. After the biology class, we had a recap of how to use our dive tables to calculate how long we could dive. Hopefully, we will all be ready for the upcoming test to certify us all as divers.
In our final class of the day, Oceanography, we learned about continental drift and plate tectonics. Once we had the concept of moving plates down, we took a trip up on deck to learn about “cake tectonics.” While it may seem like a bunch of cake lovers looking for an excuse to eat more cake, it was a really good example of the different types of plate movements. Once the demonstration of converging, diverging, and transforming cakes was completed, we all grabbed a piece of the cake tectonics and leaned over the water so as to avoid getting any crumbs on the freshly washed deck.
All in all, it was a very busy, informative, and tasty day!