Location: Nevadra Island, Fiji
As skipper, I had to make the difficult decision this morning about whether to wake people up at 7 a.m. in an evil way or a nice way, but since I had just gotten a full 9 hours of sleep since
I was off duty for night watch, I ultimately decided on gently shaking everyone awake. After a lovely English breakfast cooked by Jen, half of the open waters and the advanced divers set out to dive in the beautiful nearby reef
while the other half finished their written tests. For lunch, Jen made these amazing Mediterranean bowls that everyone agreed was one of their favorite meals of the trip so far (thanks Jen!) and as we cleared our bowls, some
of us discussed whether the blacktip sharks would enjoy the quinoa as they circled our boat. After lunch, the other half of the open water group went out to dive or take their written tests while the advanced students were doing
navigation dives. In our free time today, many of us chose to snorkel out to the nearby island and explore the beach and reef, which was beautiful! Snorkeling over the reef on the way in was a magical experience and even the more
experienced divers were saying that it was one of the most beautiful/healthy coral reefs they had ever seen. My favorite part of the reef I saw while diving was this huge wall of flat coral that was maybe 20x15ft, quite striking. The island
was a blast to explore and I collected a lot of cool shells along the beach, except everytime I picked up one that seemed incredibly beautiful and perfect, I realized I had just woken a hermit crab from its slumber. When we got back from the island
in the evening, we discovered that our crewmate Shay had brought back a goat skull from a cave on the island and everyone concluded that it had bad vibes, including the captain, and so Shay had to return it back to the island in case it was
cursed. In the evening, everyone had a quick intro to marine bio session before dinner. Beacuse I won’t be taking that class as a 40-dayer, I chose to spend the evening watching the sunset from the nets at the bow, and me and Alyssa discussed
old disney shows/movies for a while. I was reminded that Teen Beach Movie existed, and now I can’t get those songs out of my head. The only other notable thing from the day is that a lot of us (including me) decided not to wear sunscreen for some
reason and are now banished to shirt jail because of our sunburns :(. As I’m typing this, a few of us just started fantasizing about how cool it would be to say you got bit by a sharkthe blacktips here are harmless and honestly pretty cute. Many people
have been discussing shark tattoos…
Signing off,
Holland
PS: Hi mom and dad! I love you! Everyone here knows how to play Dutch Blitz, and it’s awesome.
PS from Susie: Happy birthday, James, and Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!! Love you all.