Location: Bonaire
My fellow sea dogs and I safely arrived in Bonaire last night, able to enjoy the fresh air of the blunt but aptly named island. It felt good to brush off my sea legs with a jog and a trip to the ice cream parlor with friends, ending the night with a healthy amount of chemical oceanography homework. Today was filled to the brim with activities. Half of the students went off to the other side of Bonaire to give windsurfing a go. Though I was a part of the other half, which went diving (and had an awesome time), the windsurfers returned with sunburnt smiles on their faces, describing the day as “epic.” Stephen caught some wind and then settled down at a cafe nearby where he felt better suited with their delicious crab cakes that he raved about all night. For us, the divers, the day was spent with multiple scuba excursions at 4-5 unique dive locations. An abundance of varied fish swam all about the first reef we dove at and made for some good pictures with Matt’s underwater camera. My diving research group, consisting of both Matts’ squared, David, and myself, returned to the boat for some snacks and homework, and then we went off to the next location, where we continued our study on Sea Urchins. After several more dives, a bunch more adult male parrotfish, long-jawed squirrelfish, and gazes over pressure tables later, we returned to Argo for dinner and chores. At nightfall, we returned to one of the dive sites to swim in moonlight and bio-luminescence. We practiced compass usage and flashlight signals while swimming alongside mostly parrotfish and a juvenile camouflaged octopus I came across. It was another wonderful day onboard Argo and underwater.
I’m looking forward to catching some wind tomorrow. I’m off to the ice cream parlor, so I’ll be signing out now to utilize my position as Captain Carter for another 2 hours.