Location: Fam Island, Raja Ampat
This morning, I went on a sunrise swim at 6:30 to the reef by the beach. It was so beautiful, and I saw a black tip reef shark and a lot of glowing dinoflagellates. Lainey and Beck went on their Divemaster dive at around the same time. We ate breakfast made by Lexi at 7:30, and it was one of the best breakfasts so far: cinnamon rolls and bagels. After breakfast, we all got in the dinghies and headed to the beach we went to yesterday for a leadership challenge with Tomer. We divided into two groups and our first challenge was to make a circular rope into a square while blindfolded. Both teams did a great job and completed it easily. Our second challenge involved two ropes laid on the ground with a few pieces of driftwood and a leaf. The goal was to get everyone across this “river” without touching the ground. If a limb touched the ground, you could no longer use it. Someone also had to be constantly standing on the driftwood or it would not be able to be used. The catch was that one group member was blindfolded, so we had to help guide them across. My group finished last because we had some technical difficulties, and Sidney accidentally fell in, so she couldn’t use any of her limbs. Our final challenge was to create the tallest freestanding structure that supported a water bottle. My group tied a bunch of palm fronds together and supported it with rocks and wet sand. Every few minutes, one group member would go mute and not be able to talk, so that made teamwork more difficult, but it actually went pretty smoothly, and we made an impressive structure. The other team had a really big piece of driftwood that would have been taller, but they weren’t able to support it, so they ended up just having Iain on top of Austin’s shoulders, holding it. After we completed our challenges, we took the dinghies back to Argo and had lunch, which was Mediterranean-style hummus bowls. After lunch, we cleaned up, and 40 A took their Marine Bio exam while Anabelle Reagan and I did our EFR training. After that we started some passage prep while one group went on a scuba dive. When they got back, my group went. It was a little chaotic because I had Baby Blue as a tank, Kelsey was using Kackie’s used tank, and Austin forgot his fins. It ended up being really fun, though, and we saw a sea turtle and cute clown fish in a perfectly perched anemone. We also did flips with no fins underwater with Gabe. When we got back to the boat, we finished putting the boat stuff away, took the dinghies up, and then took showers. Dinner was pasta with lentils and salad. We are leaving Fam tonight and motoring overnight to a different island. Shoutout to my amazing parents Tyla and Jenny I miss you! -Kylie