Its official... life is getting hectic at the SFS field center on South Caicos, which is why this blog post is so late!
The past four days have been packed full of culture, learning about marine fauna, finding the best ice cream on the island, and of course... adventure!
Tuesday we had classes until lunch, then went into the field to practice for our test on Thursday. Finally, I got to bring my underwater camera, so I had fun taking pictures of the wildlife.
On Wednesdays, we don't have classes... so this is one of our "dive days" and community outreach days as well. This was especially a big day for me because it was my first dive in the ocean! It's truly hard for me to explain how incredible it was to sit on the ocean floor at 12 meters deep and watch all of the fish in the coral around us. First we geared up on the boat, which was not easy considering the wave swells were over 4 feet tall! To get into the water with our gear we do a "back roll" off of the side of the boat. So we sit on the edge with our tanks hanging over, and our dive master says something like "8 divers going in, in 3..2..1.." and then we flip in. We practiced a few skills and then practiced hovering in the water (also called being streamlined) which just means that you can stretch out horizontally and not sink or float. Our first dive lasted for about 30 minutes and then we were back in the boat on our way home. The rest of the day was devoted towards snorkeling on a reef with some high school students. It's interesting because the community of South Caicos doesn't exactly see how amazing the ecosystems around them are. For example the high school students did not want to see the fish because they were scared of them! Later in the day, two other SFS students and I went to visit the oldest person on the island. Her name is Elizabeth Badsen and she is 100 years and 6 months old! Not only is she the sweetest person I've met here, but she is also an obvious staple of the South Caicos community, and meeting her was an honor!
On Thursday we had our first identification test, which means we go into the water with underwater slates, our instructors point to organisms, and we have to write down things about it. Scientific names, phylum, characteristics, and common names are all fair game for the test... needless to say we were all happy to be done with it afterwards, so we celebrated that night at our favorite bars and a few bottles of coconut rum!
Friday was a brutal day. We had class until lunch, after lunch until dinner, and then one more after dinner. We calculated that we sat inside for about 9 hours... not fun when you can see the blue water outside! We managed to survive and got to sit by the pool and sing with my friend Eric's ukulele (I played a few songs too :) ). After that, we watched "Frozen" on this cool outdoor projector that the center owns... After a long day it was relaxing to lay on yoga mats and pillows and watch a movie with everyone!
Today is Saturday, which means I get to dive in the ocean again! By this Wednesday, I will officially be scuba certified and I will get to dive with the rest of my classmates! We have outreach again today where I will be teaching little kids about what global warming is (we'll see how that goes).
At the end of every day I tell myself this is a day to remember, and at the beginning of every day when I step out and see the beautiful water, I still cannot believe I am here!
The past four days have been packed full of culture, learning about marine fauna, finding the best ice cream on the island, and of course... adventure!
Tuesday we had classes until lunch, then went into the field to practice for our test on Thursday. Finally, I got to bring my underwater camera, so I had fun taking pictures of the wildlife.
On Wednesdays, we don't have classes... so this is one of our "dive days" and community outreach days as well. This was especially a big day for me because it was my first dive in the ocean! It's truly hard for me to explain how incredible it was to sit on the ocean floor at 12 meters deep and watch all of the fish in the coral around us. First we geared up on the boat, which was not easy considering the wave swells were over 4 feet tall! To get into the water with our gear we do a "back roll" off of the side of the boat. So we sit on the edge with our tanks hanging over, and our dive master says something like "8 divers going in, in 3..2..1.." and then we flip in. We practiced a few skills and then practiced hovering in the water (also called being streamlined) which just means that you can stretch out horizontally and not sink or float. Our first dive lasted for about 30 minutes and then we were back in the boat on our way home. The rest of the day was devoted towards snorkeling on a reef with some high school students. It's interesting because the community of South Caicos doesn't exactly see how amazing the ecosystems around them are. For example the high school students did not want to see the fish because they were scared of them! Later in the day, two other SFS students and I went to visit the oldest person on the island. Her name is Elizabeth Badsen and she is 100 years and 6 months old! Not only is she the sweetest person I've met here, but she is also an obvious staple of the South Caicos community, and meeting her was an honor!
On Thursday we had our first identification test, which means we go into the water with underwater slates, our instructors point to organisms, and we have to write down things about it. Scientific names, phylum, characteristics, and common names are all fair game for the test... needless to say we were all happy to be done with it afterwards, so we celebrated that night at our favorite bars and a few bottles of coconut rum!
Friday was a brutal day. We had class until lunch, after lunch until dinner, and then one more after dinner. We calculated that we sat inside for about 9 hours... not fun when you can see the blue water outside! We managed to survive and got to sit by the pool and sing with my friend Eric's ukulele (I played a few songs too :) ). After that, we watched "Frozen" on this cool outdoor projector that the center owns... After a long day it was relaxing to lay on yoga mats and pillows and watch a movie with everyone!
Today is Saturday, which means I get to dive in the ocean again! By this Wednesday, I will officially be scuba certified and I will get to dive with the rest of my classmates! We have outreach again today where I will be teaching little kids about what global warming is (we'll see how that goes).
At the end of every day I tell myself this is a day to remember, and at the beginning of every day when I step out and see the beautiful water, I still cannot believe I am here!