Location: Saba
Today began with a great dive in the early morning for group 1, starting with a deep dive and then moving over to a longer shallow reef dive. On the shallower dive, group 1 saw rays, thousands of juvenile fish buzzing around coral, and a reef so rich with life, I swore it felt like a scene from “Finding Nemo.” While the first group was gawking at fish, the second group was on the boat doing practice “funs” (Navigation homework practice); and after the first group got back, the second group hopped on the dive boat that came up alongside O star and began with their two dives. Group 2 went to two different dive sites, the first one being another deep dive. On the deep dive it was reported that 6 Reef sharks were spotted; one of them even sleeping. But not only did they see a whole muster of sharks, but also a giant sea turtle, that Dragon had a bonding moment with. After the giant sea turtle bumped into his shoulder, and they gazed into each others eyes for a good couple minutes, the sea turtle perched itself right on top of the underwater pinnacle (known as the “Needle”) like a boss. On their second dive, they saw an astonishing 5 sea turtles along the beautiful reef. While they were on their dive, group 1 was on the boat busting out practice “funs”. Before dinner was an OCE class, where we learned about Aquaculture and sustainable alternatives to fisheries. After class, we had an awesome curry dinner made by Laurie and Will; Ed had a gigantic food baby, haha. Following dinner was OCB class, where we learned countless fun facts about marine mammals; one of my favorites being that whale calves double in size every day in their first week, and then add another 200lbs daily to total body weight. I would say today has been a pretty successful day, between marine mammal fun facts and diving with sharks and sea turtles. Love life!
setdate:2012-11-28