Location: Denarau, Fiji
This morning many of us woke up early to call home before our long passage. However, just after breakfast, we were notified that we would not be departing for Indonesia just yet and that we would be hanging out at the dock for the day. After breakfast, we split into three groups to visit Jack’s by the Sea, an incredible souvenir shop at the port. It was wonderful talking to the people working there, and they had some incredible sales skills, and many of us purchased more than we intended to. Jack’s by the Sea has been closed during COVID, but they heard that we were looking to go shopping and opened up just for us, which we are all quite grateful for. A few of us also stopped by the dive shop to pick up other miscellaneous pieces of dive equipment before leaving. Lolo, Ian, and I were in the dive shop, and when we were ready to pay, we went on an adventure to the building on the other side of the parking lot because the credit card machine was in the office building instead of in the dive shop itself. After all the groups returned from shopping, we had an amazing lunch prepared by our head chef Will. Following lunch, we had both Oceanography, where the second round of presenters presented as well as Marine Biology where we learned about the classes in the Phylum Gastropoda. After classes, our laundry finally arrived, and we are all super excited about having clean clothes before going underway! We then had some more free time before dinner, and many of us hung out on the martingale where Cole was telling us about every person who lives on his floor, to which we were all listening so intently. Chloe also gave Pierce, Cole, and Max haircuts today, and they both really wanted a before, and after picture for the blog, so they are pictured below. After we had dinner and did the squeeze, we broke into groups for another night of shore showers! After showers are done tonight, there will be a competitive game of Mario Kart. All thanks to Gabe for bringing his Switch on the trip.