Hello everyone!

The water this morning before going diving.

Today is a great day because yesterday was our exam, which means, WE ARE DONE WITH OUR LAB PRACTICAL! Of course we’ll still have work for finding new species to identify and knowing their scientific names but it’s much nicer not having to worry about a huge exam all the time. I feel like this week is going to consist of a lot of water time to make up for the lack of water time we’ve had thus far. But what’s also wonderful is that, the wind had calmed down nearly right after our exam last night so my theory is that our stress from the exam was causing the wind. Yes, that is exactly how science and the atmosphere works.

So the exam happened but afterwards, a bunch of us went out last night to go night snorkeling! It probably would have been really amusing (but equally as sad…) because all of us were spazzing out. There were a few phases that each person experienced upon getting in the water to night snorkel, and they are as such:
1. Get all of your gear—cameras, wetsuits, fins, mask & snorkel, and of course, the all-important waterproof flashlight.
2. Find out what area of the dock doesn’t have Diadema (long-spined urchins) stuck to the wall—super painful to get stuck by one upon getting in the water.
3. Decide that the ladder is the safest bet and put your fins on before getting into the water, but be sure to look to make sure there are no urchins, scorpionfish or other terrifying things that can sting you.
4. Crawl into the water, terrify yourself with the flashlight, forget how to breathe with your snorkel, giggle at yourself, accidentally terrify someone by having your fins brush against them, and repeat.

After all of us learned how to be normal human beings in the water at night (I hope someone gets my Spongebob reference), we then carried on our way. We found two octopii, some lobsters, an eel, and more Donkey Dung Sea Cucumbers (please look them up) and Urchins than we would want to be around on a given day.

A small octopus that we found last night!

Today Rachel, Shannon, Alex, Tonny and I spent the first few hours of our day finishing our first two open water dives to finally become certified scuba divers! We were near a sand patch near the eco-reef in Discovery Bay but there weren’t too many creatures to get distracted by, which is good for this circumstance I guess. We did see a huge Southern Stingray, probably 3.5 feet in diameter, and Rachel saw a lionfish! All in all, if feels amazing to be in the water. Here’s to the next few days of exploring Discovery Bay!

Fair winds and calm seas,
Bri