Its our 6^th day in Jamaica and a lot of stress has been relieved from all of us because we had our practical exam yesterday which ended with a Jamaican style BBQ due to the class from Wisconsin leaving this morning to go back home. The BBQ entailed some delicious food and a band that played right by the water.

Our evening entertainment.

Yesterday was also the first of my four required open water dives to finally get my certification for SCUBA diving, our second one is today. Before we go diving today we had an early start to go on a boat trip to a nearby area where one of our graduate teaching assistants had a research site to go snorkeling, while those with their certifications already got to dive. We still got to see the coast line as we travelled and see all the fishermen out checking their traps. It was nice getting to go somewhere new and to see the differences that each area have in coverage of corals, sponges, and the fish present. The snorkeling trip, however, was cut short because a couple people got some motion sickness on the ride over. I can’t wait to be able to swim down deep in the water and be able to see everything in detail and not have the restrictions of needing to go to the surface for air.

Squirrel fish

– Kyle