Location: Navadra
Today was the first day of the Mega Wheel (aka the job wheel with both students and staff rather than two separate wheels). I went around the cabin waking everyone up at 7 am, which was a rough wake-up for many, as we had a late night dive last night, followed by cake for Ansleys birthday. Everyone gathered in the cockpit at 7:30 for our breakfast of yogurt, berries, and granola prepared by head chef Garrett and sous chefs Ben and Jack. I attached some photos from breakfasts clean-up. Clean-up is always a fun time accompanied by music and goofing around.
After breakfast, the group tried to complete their advanced certification prepared for our underwater naturalist dive. Luna was my buddy for this dive, and we had an amazing time. This reef is amazing and so healthy. Some highlights included a spiny lobster, a white tip shark, and this super cool clam that we thought was a camouflaged octopus I am still not convinced it is not an octopus. Before we dove, Ben told us he would give biscuits to whoever found the coolest thing. Now we are in a debate as to whether my and Lunas finds are cooler than Ryan and Jasons orange slug. (Ryan and Jason are obviously on team clam not octopus because they did not see it).
After the dive, we had a wonderful lunch of chicken salad and scrumptious homemade rolls again prepared by the chefs. The afternoon was pretty chill for most, except for the people completing their open water certification. They took the dinghies to the reef to complete another one of their open water dives. They are getting so close to completing their certification, it is so exciting and special, it is in such a beautiful place.
Afterwards, Mac and Sam took the extra certified people (Celeste, Tougy, Noa) on a fun dive where they saw a sea turtle. While this was happening, many of us got to relax on Vela, read our books, and nap in the sun. When four oclock rolled around, it was time for our ocean showers, which always include soaping up and doing some fun jumps off Vela. Kat did her first backflip off the bow! And Maddy had some pretty entertaining attempts. Arden showed off his famous frog dive. I am sure many of the other skippers touched on the black tip sharks that have been swimming around us on the boat, but they are awesome! I attached a picture.
After we fresh water rinsed, Ian kicked my butt in chesstwice. By that time, it was time for another delicious meal of stir-fry. My squeeze question for the night was, would you rather take on 10 monkeys in a jungle or a polar bear on an ice berg? It was interesting to hear everybodys reasoning and, of course, their appreciation as well. Now everyone is finishing up clean up, and the 80-day students are getting ready for their marine bio class; however, I will be heading straight to bed!
Hello to everyone at home! Im having an amazing time, but I sure do miss everybody. We get our phones back today, so we will be calling home soon once we get some service <3