Location: Cocos Keeling Island
Hey everyone! Today has been an amazing day, but before I tell you about it, let’s jump backward to last night, after Thaxton already wrote the blog for the day. I was sitting in the cockpit with Maia and Mac, in the middle of a quick PSCT class before bed. Our class was very abruptly interrupted when Keith, who was on anchor watch, yelled for us to hurry over and look over into the water. I had no idea what to expect, but his voice was so excited and panicked, we rushed over at top speed. And there was a massive Manta Ray swimming right up against Vela! It must have been over 3+ meters long! We were screaming in excitement, and other people began rushing over to see. We all watched in awe and squealed as it glided around Vela. It was one of the most magical moments I’ve ever experienced, and I could keep trying to explain it, but I’ll never be able to describe it just right. So we went to sleep with our hearts full of joy and our heads full of manta ray dreams.
And we woke up early this morning, excited to see even more marine life! Today we had a science class-ish planned with scientist Jean Paul Hobs. But first, we had a delicious breakfast of bread pudding/French toast that really started the day off on a sweet note. Then we got our snorkel gear ready and got everyone on the shore of Direction Island to meet up with JP. We all gathered around some picnic tables and listened as JP shared his extensive knowledge on the history of Cocos Keeling, the formation of its reefs, the unique wildlife, and more! He also brought little pools with samples of live corals, crabs, and mollusks to show us as he taught. After this, we went right into fish dissections. JP brought a bucket with some of the common fish found in the reefs here, and we dissected them right there! We each found the eggs, hearts, liver, and digestive tract of our fish. Then we broke open the skull the see the brain and ear stones! It’s definitely not for everyone, but we all found it super interesting and super smelly. Apparently, Zeke is the fastest fish ear stone finder JP has ever seen! Good skill to have. After the dissections, we went right into snorkeling. We identified and counted types of coral and creatures in certain plots of reef, and it was cool to see how researchers like JP go out and record information right from the reef. After this, we all said our thank yous and goodbyes to JP and made our way back to Vela. We got back and rinsed off for lunch with incredible speed, so ready for the paninis that we’re waiting for us! We thoroughly enjoyed lunch and went right into a marine bio class. We talked about worms and mollusks in class today, and then I hit the hay after class was over. My power nap was a bit longer than expected, but as I was asleep, everyone else rested up or worked on homework, and Vera got her Open Water Dive Cert! I woke up and knocked out some homework, took an ocean shower, and went right into dinner. Keith, Scarlette, and Zeke made steak fried rice, and it was soooo good. For squeeze, my question was “If the person to your left was best friends with a celebrity or TV character, who would they be besties with?” and it was hilarious seeing what popped into people’s minds. Henry said I would be friends with Jennifer Lawrence, which is my new favorite compliment. And finally, it’s now after dinner, and all the students are gathered in the salon. We are all getting some homework done and singing along to some tunes as Scarlette makes cookies and Henry frantically fans the smoke detector to keep it from going off. So tonight will be a night of snickerdoodle cookies and hopefully another manta ray on anchor watch! I can’t believe this is real life!
Until next time!
– Alice