Having gotten a new underwater camera for Christmas I was super excited to try it out and get some awesome pictures to brag about to my friends and family. I guess I just didn’t realize how hard it would be to actually get good pictures and not just blurry shots of seagrass and rocks. Not only are the fish too fast for me, the constant jostling of the ocean doesn’t help. Of the 30 or so pictures I took during our second snorkeling trip, only three came out decent. And even then, they were all of the same Dusky damselfish who kindly stood still long enough while defending its territory from me.

The angry Damselfish trying to shoo me away.

A view of our playground showing it’s not the camera malfunctioning, but my skills underwater.

On the bright side, a lot of people seemed to have had the same problem, so I’m happy to know I’m not alone. With 14 more days here I hope our skills will improve. Our grades depend on it!

 - Julia