The past two days have been really busy, exhausting, and of course... awesome!
On Saturday I took my very first breaths underwater and it was incredible! In order to get scuba certified (if you don't already know) you have to go through five "contained" water dives, and four "open" water dives, i.e. in the pool and the ocean. So far we have done all five contained dives in the pool, where we learn and practice skills in order to manage certain situations that may happen. For example, we had to learn how to breath without our mask by removing it, replacing it, and then clearing all of the water from it. We also learned how to hover in water by using our weights to hold us down, and inflating a piece of gear called the BCD (buoyancy control device)... hovering while scuba diving is one of two ways to experience the feeling of weightlessness, the other being zero gravity in outer space. Obviously, it is a pretty awesome feeling, but it takes practice to really achieve the weightless sensation. Our next dive will be on Wednesday in the open ocean and I cannot wait for it! Amongst all of the scuba diving skills, on Saturday we had our first community outreach. We do this every week, and basically it opens the SFS center to the youth of the island for two hours. We have all sorts of stations set up for them to participate in; such as swim lessons, learning about indigenous marine species, and playing games (I played beach volleyball). It was fun to meet all of the kids, and its heart warming to see how excited they are to meet us and hang out!
On Monday we had class for the first part of the day, and the second part of the day we went snorkeling in a mangrove so we could see all of the organisms that will be on our test this Thursday. So far, my favorite animal is the Oreaster reticulatus, or the cushion sea star. They are huge (about a foot or more in diameter and five inches thick) and they are bright red and orange colors. Also when they eat, they regurgitate their stomach out of their mouth and digest things... which is awesome. Today we saw one trying to eat a sea biscuit that was as big as the sea star was! My least favorite animal is the Sphyraena barracuda, or great barracuda. They are really big, with big teeth, and when they see something shiny (like the rings I had on today) they come up behind you and follow you while you swim. It was probably the creepiest thing I've experienced to I look behind me today and see it staring at me with its blank eyes. After snorkeling, I have been studying until we have dinner. Later tonight we are going on a night snorkel to try and tag sea turtles... apparently they sleep on the bottom at night and you can go up, grab their shell, and bring them to the surface. Obviously we are not hurting them, we just tag them on their flippers so we can track their migrations and see where they like to hang out... I'm sure it will be an adventure!
After the first week is done... I have a lot of freckles, a lot of awesome new friends, and a lot of sweet scuba skills! Life is good on South Caicos!
On Saturday I took my very first breaths underwater and it was incredible! In order to get scuba certified (if you don't already know) you have to go through five "contained" water dives, and four "open" water dives, i.e. in the pool and the ocean. So far we have done all five contained dives in the pool, where we learn and practice skills in order to manage certain situations that may happen. For example, we had to learn how to breath without our mask by removing it, replacing it, and then clearing all of the water from it. We also learned how to hover in water by using our weights to hold us down, and inflating a piece of gear called the BCD (buoyancy control device)... hovering while scuba diving is one of two ways to experience the feeling of weightlessness, the other being zero gravity in outer space. Obviously, it is a pretty awesome feeling, but it takes practice to really achieve the weightless sensation. Our next dive will be on Wednesday in the open ocean and I cannot wait for it! Amongst all of the scuba diving skills, on Saturday we had our first community outreach. We do this every week, and basically it opens the SFS center to the youth of the island for two hours. We have all sorts of stations set up for them to participate in; such as swim lessons, learning about indigenous marine species, and playing games (I played beach volleyball). It was fun to meet all of the kids, and its heart warming to see how excited they are to meet us and hang out!
On Monday we had class for the first part of the day, and the second part of the day we went snorkeling in a mangrove so we could see all of the organisms that will be on our test this Thursday. So far, my favorite animal is the Oreaster reticulatus, or the cushion sea star. They are huge (about a foot or more in diameter and five inches thick) and they are bright red and orange colors. Also when they eat, they regurgitate their stomach out of their mouth and digest things... which is awesome. Today we saw one trying to eat a sea biscuit that was as big as the sea star was! My least favorite animal is the Sphyraena barracuda, or great barracuda. They are really big, with big teeth, and when they see something shiny (like the rings I had on today) they come up behind you and follow you while you swim. It was probably the creepiest thing I've experienced to I look behind me today and see it staring at me with its blank eyes. After snorkeling, I have been studying until we have dinner. Later tonight we are going on a night snorkel to try and tag sea turtles... apparently they sleep on the bottom at night and you can go up, grab their shell, and bring them to the surface. Obviously we are not hurting them, we just tag them on their flippers so we can track their migrations and see where they like to hang out... I'm sure it will be an adventure!
After the first week is done... I have a lot of freckles, a lot of awesome new friends, and a lot of sweet scuba skills! Life is good on South Caicos!
Our marine ecology professor holding up a queen conch! The two parts coming out near the bottom are it's eyes!
Picking up a sea star in class today! (I'm the one in the blue rash guard)