We have been here for 4 days now. I woke up at 4 am for the flight, and 7 am every day since then for breakfast. It’s the earliest I’ve consistently woken up in a very long time but it’s been so fun I don’t want to miss a second. As I am typing this we are discussing snorkeling tomorrow at 6:30 to hopefully see some organisms that aren’t common during the day. The first day we snorkeled, my underwater camera flooded and broke so I couldn’t get a picture of the only spotted eagle rays I’ve seen so far. It’s been sitting in rice for 2 days now. Julia has been nice enough to let me borrow one of her 3 cameras (she came very prepared for this trip, also bringing ID books which have been extremely helpful).

I’ve never had roommates before but everyone here is so nice and I consider us all friends. It’s great having 3 roommates that scuba dive because I’m not certified yet. I’m learning about what they do, how they do it, and organisms they can see deeper than I do snorkeling. We have been snorkeling everyday, at least twice a day, in order to identify as many plants and animals we possibly can. We stayed up late last night in the conference room studying their scientific names, until the Canadian professor gave us a pep talk. We were reminded it’s not all about memorizing, but actually learning. After leaving we played with the marine lab’s stray kittens for a little while. Today after breakfast I took an hour to work on our ID project then went out snorkeling. Immediately I saw a cushion sea star (oreaster reticulatus).

A cushion sea star (oreaster reticulatus) very close to the dock

Jaden and I wanted to snorkel beyond the reef crest but we couldn’t find the path. When we noticed the time we had 20 minutes until lunch. We quickly swam back to find chicken nuggets and mac and cheese waiting for us. The food has been amazing and so is everyone who works here.

My goal was to find a sand dollar. My new goal is to find a live one

An invasive Lionfish sleeping on coral

– Kiwi Kristina