Location: Portsmouth, Dominica
Hey, blog fam! This is Claire, and today, I will be sharing Day 15 on Ocean Star with you. We woke up in Dominica at 6:45 A.M., and Ben helped me wake sleepy people up by blasting Cant Hold Us by Macklemore. We had chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes with fruit made by Rhianna for breakfast. We cleaned the boat up and then had a thirty-minute taxi over to our excursion for the day. Owen and I grabbed coffee at the dive shop where we were, which had a store, cafe, and cute seating area. After we signed in with our diver certification numbers, we had an hour and a half of informative presentation from the owner of the shop. He showed us the coral they have been saving and even showed us their outdoor labs. This nongovernmental organization we visited was called Oceans Forward. Wendy and Simon, the owners, introduced us to their passion for preserving coral reefs all around the world. With a group of researchers and divers, Oceans Forward collects damaged coral and nurses it back to health with little to no funding. They were very informative and welcoming people, and the whole group enjoyed this learning experience. We then split into groups of advanced and open water divers. The open-water divers started by cleaning the coral tanks to remove algae from the corrals that had been saved and tagging the coral. The advanced group did the same thing, but during their scuba dive, they used toothbrushes to prevent algae from spreading. Chloe, Nadia, and I got to see more of the data and research about the results of their coral tree successes. The coral trees are floating scaffolding for corals to hang so they can regrow, and this program has seven different coral trees in various ports with various corals. Afterward, the open water group got to do our beach dive, walking in with all our heavy gear for the first time instead of going from a boat. We went about 70 feet for 45 minutes, and for the first time, we also got to use our GoPro cameras, as this was not considered a training dive. Many photos and videos were taken, to say the least. We got to see the coral trees restoration project underwater, as well as a snake eel and various beautiful fish during our dive. We all then headed back to the boat for a very late lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup, which was delicious. We started our three-hour passage to Portsmouth during our oceanography review and then had a test. After the test, we had a 45-minute lecture in the salon to end our day of learning. Chloe and I shared a very scrumptious mango on the top deck while watching the islands and sunset. We arrived in Portsmouth and dropped the anchor at the very end of the sunset. We had a late dinner at 7:30, which consisted of pasta and salad, and we had our daily squeeze question. The question of the day that I chose was what your favorite karaoke song was, and mine is Bennie and the Jets; of coursethe night ended with an ocean shower with Robert and Will. I also included some photos from the 14-mile-long boiling lake hike that Chloe, Will, Owen, Ben, Allie, and I did yesterday. That was quite an adventure but very worth it.
Thats all for today 🙂