Sadly, we are nearing the end to our trip. Things are really picking up here in Discovery Bay, and everyone’s feeling the heat. Despite our school stress and sunburns, most of us have found that working in such a beautiful environment has really helped anyone from blowing their top (yet). If you take a moment to walk down the boardwalk, watch the lizards, or wake up for the sunrise, you can sit for just a moment and appreciate that you’re here in Jamaica, and not braving the 20 degree wind chill back in New York.

A 6am sunrise over Discovery Bay

Despite the tensions and studying, Brad offered (convinced) us to venture out on a dive in the afternoon to a canyon about 20 minutes away. Once I saw the flying fish gliding along past the boat, I knew I had made the right choice to go. We had been studying all day for other tests we needed to take a break. Sometimes its hard to look past the coursework backbone and take advantage of being here when you have limited time and lots of work to do. We are Stony Brook students of course; we are expected to go “Far Beyond” and do so fervently.

The ride was rough, but the dive was probably the best we have taken so far. Besides the impeccable variation of wildlife, swimming over a canyon is like jumping off of a cliff, and floating across. Peering down into a 200 foot drop, I couldn’t quite grasp that the bottom was in fact down there somewhere. It made it a lot more believable to me that we know more about the stars in the sky than the bottom of the ocean.

-Sascha Starfruit