Another amazing day in Discovery Bay in the books! After a delicious breakfast, we set out to dive at M1. I went in a small group with Dr. Peterson in an attempt to complete our 100 ft deep dive for my Advanced Open Water certificate. The dive started amazingly, as I saw a huge eagle ray right at the beginning. Unfortunately, it was too far away for me to get a photo of, but it was an incredible sight regardless. The dive didn’t go exactly as planned, as one of our group struggled to equalize and had to ascend early. Still, I got all the way down to 75ft, the deepest I have ever been! We saw a number of incredible species, such as Flamingo Tongue, Creole Wrasse, and Fairy Basslet. The other group, led by Dr. Warren, killed a number of invasive Lionfish too. After the dive, we dissected some of the larger Lionfish. I even got to take a picture with one of the Lionfish!

Here’s a picture of me holding one of the smaller Lionfish!

After Dr. Peterson’s afternoon lecture on Ecological Thought, we spent the rest of the afternoon working on species identification, getting our total really close to 120. The class has flown by so far, but with over a week left, there’s still so much to do!

Serena