This morning five of us got up at
6:00 am and arrived at the docks at approximately 6:30.  Now, how many Stony Brook students does it
take to change a light bulb?  Well to
answer that it’s only one, since my room completed the task.  However, now I pose the question how many
Stony Brook students does it take to determine whether a door is locked?  Soon you will see why.  We proceed to the locker room to retrieve the
snorkeling equipment.  One of us
determines that the door is padlocked and the rest of us simply believe
him.  The security guard checks the door
at 6:45 only to inform us that it was not locked the entire time.  Apparently the answer is four.  Snorkeling commenced at 7:00.  Breakfast was at 7:30 serving pancakes,
French toast, bacon and fruit.

After breakfast was another snorkel
trip.  There were some camera
issues.  However, many interesting fish,
such as needle fish, were seen.  We had
an eleven o’clock lecture on mangroves and sea grasses.  Our lectures mostly relate to the things that
we see while snorkeling and diving.  They
will certainly be helpful when it comes to determining project topics.

Lunch was served at twelve-thirty.  For me it was a dish very reminiscent of
home: beans and hot dogs.  There was one
small difference, the hot dogs were chicken. 
Chicken seems to be a staple food item here.   I have enjoyed every chicken dish that they
have served so far.   I did learn to not
eat very much before diving. After lunch today was the long
awaited store trip.  We sent a few
representatives to go shopping.  The trip
appeared to be quick and productive since they returned within an hour.  They were able to find all kinds of things to
eat and drink.  However, phone cards were
not to be found.  If anyone would like
some Jamaican coffee it can be ordered so comment and hopefully someone will
bring it back for you.

The DITs went out scuba diving again today.   The water was calm.  This time three snorkelers came along on the
boat.  The snorkelers then swam all the
way back to shore.  For those of you that
are unaware, DITs stands for Diver in Training. 
We successfully completed dive three of the four checkout dives.  This dive consisted of ‘out of air’
exercises.  Once these tests were
completed we were able to spend time swimming around the reef.  This allowed us to become more comfortable in
the water and see many different types of fish. 
One camera was brought on the dive. 
The picture above shows two of us on the bottom.  Note that the one smiling broke the cardinal
rule of scuba diving: “never hold your breath”. 
Good thing he is skilled at standing still.  Tomorrow we will complete the last of our
checkout dives.  Today I learned that
Jamaican boys certainly are smooth.  Omar
helps us with our equipment on the boat. 
When I asked him how he was feeling today he said tired.  I asked him why and he said too much
partying.  Here is the funny part.  When I asked him how old he was he said ‘old
enough’.  Turns out he’s seventeen.  Don’t we all wish we were seventeen and out partying
in Jamaica.  Many of us will spend
tonight studying for the exam on Wednesday and identifying our collections.

-Carrie