Location: Drawaqa, Yasawas, Fiji
I got the pleasure of waking everyone up at 6:30. I enjoyed seeing everyone’s face as they woke up to me yelling “HELLO!” and realizing that I had robbed them of an extra 30 minutes of sleep. We woke up early so we could all get a morning dive in, so after breakfast, we got our gear in the dang-dang and went on a Fish Identification dive. Our mission was to figure out which family the fish we observed were in, what they were doing, and how many fish they were with. After that, we had some free time before lunch, where many of the students spent time on deck. Once we were done clean up from lunch, the crew members took turns losing to me at ERS (a card game). Then, Elle taught us the physics of sailing. It was interesting learning that the sails use lift to propel the boat forwards. Then we arrived at the most anticipated part of the day, the search for Mantas. The first wave of students left the boat in mega-dang-dang (Megatron) and nopa-dang-dang (Nopadone) and was out for around half an hour, but alas, they could not find any mantas. The two dang-dangs returned to Argo, and the second wave of students left the boat. Nopa-dang-dang was able to get to the manta spot before us, and we’re looking for around 15 minutes when the rest of the second wave and I arrived in the mega-dang-dang. We spent 10 minutes looking for the dark shadows in the water and were starting to give up hope when all of the sudden, the crew of the nopa-dang-dang started waving their hands wildly; They had spotted a manta. Like navy Seals, we silently slipped into the water as to not disturb the manta. I was swimming in the water looking for the mantas and was sad that I had maybe missed my opportunity when Jennifer grabbed me and pointed me in a direction. When I turned my head, `there it was! a giant manta ray was swimming in front of me majestically through the cloudy water. After the dark shadow left my vision, I was called back to the dang-dang, where I was told by Steph that the name of the manta I saw was Flappachino. We hurried back to Argo so those that hadn’t had the chance to see the mantas may have another chance. During that time, I got swim lessons from Pierce and raced Jennifer around the boat. When the other students got back, we learned that, unfortunately, the other students had not been able to see Flappachino. But we haven’t given up hope, and we will continue the search!
Pictured:
Picture one: Ian retrieving sunscreen he had dropped overboard
Picture two: Will, Jennifer, Max, and Annie enjoying their free time on deck
Picture three: Cole and Ian chilling on the deck
Picture four: Tyler, Megan, and Pierce getting work done in the salon
Picture five; Ian, Morgan, Max, and Lolo going out for a dive on mega-dang-dang
Picture six`; Jennifer, Cole, and Pierce working on group swimming