Location: Direction Island, Coco's Keeling
We started on the morning in two shifts, one last group heading out for dawn dive (very, very cool, you can see the fish wake up), and the rest of us just in time for breakfast. For breakfast, we had a pancake bar with lots of toppings. After breakfast, Ruby and Jackson worked on their rescue diving certification with Jake while Wes and Staff Allie worked with Steph on their divemaster certs. The second Navmaster group of Griffin, Ben, Lucia, Margaret, Ava, Lina, Finn, Kasey, and Daniel had their first lesson doing chart work. Once they were done, they joined the rest of the group in a productive morning. Laundry was done, marine bio was studied, and challenge course essays were worked on.
We then had a great lunch of teriyaki ramen and veggies, thanks to chef Kasey and her sous chef Margaret. We cleaned up lunch and then got ready for our afternoon. Wes continued to work on his last divemaster skills (go Wes) with Steph, Allie, and Jake. The rest of the group headed to the beach for one last day on Direction Island. Griffin drove the dinghy in with a great park job, and we dispersed on the island. Ayden, Nico, and Griffin went fishing and caught some coral trout, sweet lips, and giant trevally. Cristian took out one of the rescue boards to paddle around the island, Jackson went fishing, Daniel walked around the island, and Finn went swimming. Ava and Zoe went for a run around the island and then came back to the picnic tables to work on school things with Lucia, Siena, Allie, Lina, and me. We listened to music and went swimming or walking around the beach in between work.
We then got a visit from a school of dolphins, first to Vela, where divemaster activities became swimming with the dolphins who were passing around a pufferfish. The dolphins then paid the dinghy’s on the way back from the island a visit, and two groups of us in Smash’s dinghy jumped out to swim with the dolphins. Margaret, Ava, Ben, Siena, and I saw a dolphin jump out of the water and do a backflip. The dolphins hung out around Vela for the rest of the night, and there were many appreciations for the day.
Back on Vela, everyone was eagerly anticipating Jackson and Ruby’s final rescue scenario, which finally happened with Steph and Allie jumping in the water. Steph becomes a victim, and Staff Allie is her distressed buddy. Jackson and Ruby sprang to action, got their dive gear (Ruby’s from the bottom of the gopher hole), and jumped in the water to start their rescues. Smash and Tom jumped in the water as well as distractions, and Staff Allie continued to play the spectacular role of buddy. Ruby and Jackson rescued Steph against Allie’s will, and Jackson carried her up the ladder into the boat so they could finish their scenario with fake! CPR.
Everybody then got ready for dinner: cowboy caviar, rice, and chicken. We ate and cleaned up. Our squeeze question for the night was: what is something that reminds you of someone, and who is that person? Answers included perfume, songs, and food, reminding everyone of their parents, grandparents, and best friends. Tonight, we have our last oceanography class with David before our quiz tomorrow on the chemistry side of oceanography.
Hey everyone at home!
P.S. Lina cleaned the chart house (just twice everyone; she skipped lunch, woah). Daniel was a shammy (his favorite job) and, as of just now, swapped jobs to be a shammy again tomorrow.
PPS. If it wasn’t already clear, everyone is okay, and nobody actually needed CPR.
PPPS. If you fall asleep on the bow sprit with your arm across your chest, you will get a sunburn that looks like a dive flag. The discovery made by Daniel