The days seem to be rolling by here, at the SFS field center... and quite frankly, it makes me sad to think that the program is a third of the way over. At the same time, I still have two months to take in every adventure that I possibly can!
This last week has been hectic, but when I say my weeks are hectic in South Caicos... I mean awesome.
Last weekend I had my 6th open water dive, where we went to a dive site that leads you to the wall again. After hovering and doing flips over the side of it, it's safe to say that I need to work on my scuba flipping skills, but with a 30 pound air tank attached to you, its not as easy as it sounds. So since SFS has a few scuba instructors on hand, they are able to offer an advanced open water class for us to take. This basically just means that we can move up the latter of scuba certifications , and this class helps us sharpen the skills that we have already learned. Since the class is much cheaper that what it would cost to do it in the states, all 29 of the scuba divers chose to take it! In order to get this certification, we do five dives, each focused on a new topic: peak buoyancy, underwater navigation, night diving, deep diving, and underwater naturalist. So basically, we learn how to further control our buoyancy (not floating around everywhere and being able to move up and down when you want), how to navigate underwater with a compass, how to not freak out during a night dive (chances are, that I most definitely will), and how to safely descend to 100 feet. So far we have done the first two, and will finish the rest of them this week.
Monday and Tuesday were basically the same as they have been every week so far... class until lunch, then snorkeling for our final identification test (which was Thursday). This week the identification was over reef fish, which was really annoying to have to memorize 50 names of fish. But its cool that when I dive or snorkel now, I know the scientific name of almost every organism that I see!
On Wednesday, we had diving and community outreach. My group dove at 8 AM and completed our buoyancy section of the advanced open water class, which was really fun because we played underwater leap frog using our buoyancy techniques. Later in the day I signed up to paint the kindergarden classroom of the primary school. Going to the school is always a treat, given that you average about 10 hugs every time you step on to the grounds.
On Wednesday night I accompanied one of my professors and four other students to four hours of "sharking." Aaron (my professor) does research on lemon shark populations, and in order to get data he has to go out at night to the beaches and catch them. It sounds pretty painless, right? Well, it was actually terrifying. So all of us put on our wetsuits and drove to a local beach. We set up by five of us extending the 40 meter net (over 100 feet) into the ocean, keep in mind that it's dark outside... and when its dark outside, the previously crystal clear blue water turns into complete creepy darkness. Once the net was set up, we returned to the beach where we sat in the sand and waited. Every 20 minutes a student had to go walk along the net to check and see if any sharks were in it. There can only be one person checking the net, because more than one would cause too much noise. So I volunteered to go first, trying to make it seem like I was brave and really into this whole experience (I was excited for the experience, but I was really not brave). So not only did I have to walk into the dark ocean with a tiny light on my head, but I was also looking for sharks (an animal that freaks me out when I see it 20 feet away in the daylight). Meanwhile, the waves around me were making scary noises and it took every thing in my power not to shriek like a girl and run back to the shore. I managed to make it to the end of the net, where the water was up to my chest and my psyche was being seriously tested. Unfortunately (not really) I didn't see any sharks caught in the net, and I returned to sitting on the beach with the others. This part was nice, because the sky was so clear that the milky way was completely visible, right above us the entire time. When I crawled into bed that night, I couldn't stop smiling about how incredible it is that I have the opportunity to have these awesome adventures.
Thursday was the day of our last identification test, so we studied all day and my time slot for the test was at 3:30. We had our test at a snorkel site called shark alley, which is normally very choppy because it's right in between two of the little cays off of South Caicos, but on Thursday it was calm and quite peaceful. At one point during the test the thought crossed my mind about how I wanted it to be over, but then two 5 foot eagle rays (scientific name: Aetobatus narninarni) swam right under us and my mind immediately snapped back to the reality of how I was taking a test while snorkeling in the Caribbean. I was happy with my grades, out of the three tests I only missed 1/2 of a point and I have really enjoyed studying all of the beautiful creatures that inhabit the reefs. Contrary to our usual rum-filled test tradition, we ended the night by getting ice cream and watching Finding Nemo... however I had to put up a sign on the projector reading "please no yelling out the scientific names of the fish and coral." Let me tell you that watching a movie about the ocean with a bunch of hopeful marine biologists can get really nerdy, really fast.
I'm guilty though because sometimes when we pass sea weed I can't help but singing in my head "sea weed is cool, sea weed is fun. It makes its food from the rays of the sun" like Mr. Ray sings in the movie. :)
Friday was a day full of class again, except we actually got to have class outside the whole day, which was awesome because we saw humpback whales breaching three separate times! The humpbacks travel from the north down to the Dominican Republic during the spring to give birth and mate, lucky for us... the waters of South Caicos are one of their stops on their way home! Sometimes on dives we can actually hear the sounds them clearly, which brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it. After Friday class was over, we went camping on a beach nearby. The night was full of shooting stars (you see about 5 on a clear night), smores, ghost stories (yuck), and campfire games. Nights of bonding with all of these amazing people are the memories that will stick with me.
Early on Saturday we went back to the center to get ready for diving and outreach (Saturdays are the days when the kids come to the center, so we have to clean up). On this dive we had to use our underwater compass to navigate a course that was set up on the bottom, it turned out to be really easy! My favorite part of the dive was on our 3 minute safety stop. When you ascend, you have to wait for 3 minutes at five meters for safety precautions that have to do with dissolved nitrogen in your body, so basically you hang out before reaching the surface. Well during our safety stop, two porcupine fish came up to us and started playing in our bubbles. A porcupine fish is just a giant puffer fish and they are probably one of the funniest looking fish I have seen. The cool part is that they are usually very shy and almost always hide under coral and you never see them swimming around, so we think that they were mating because there were two of them together... seeing that made my day! Later for outreach, I signed up to teach swim lessons to the kids. So either they know how to swim and you can play games with them or they hang onto your neck while you lug them around the pool trying to not wince when they kick you in the stomach. I met a little boy named Deon, and he is the most polite little kid ever (I think he's my favorite). He is still learning how to swim, but is not good at treading water and by that I mean he really doesn't understand the concept of it, so we bonded when he thought I saved his life. Part of the culture here is to be really straight with people, so if you have a pointy nose... the kids tell you that you have a pointy nose... this happened to my friend Lauren. So apparently the pointy-ness of my nose is adequate... but when it comes to my eyebrows, they are just too yellow. At first I was a little offended but when I looked in the mirror, there is no denying that my previously unnoticeable eyebrows look really, really yellow against my tan face. Now my new nick name with the kids is "yellow eyebrows."
Saturday called for a night on the town, so after outreach and dinner, we made our rounds dancing to reggae music and enjoying each other's company.
As for my favorite thing that happened this week... we collaboratively saved a puppy from the local dump. Two girls brought her to the center and we all took care of her for the week. We got her strong enough to be shipped to Providenciales (the main island) so that she can receive treatment for the horrible mange that she had. We named her Colbie after the town we are in (Cockburn... pronounced Coh-burn) and a girl named Mary is going to adopt her and take her home! She is the sweetest puppy ever and I'm so happy that Mary gets to take care of her!
As I'm sitting here staring at the ocean listening to my friends reliving the stories from last night, I don't think I have ever been happier.
This last week has been hectic, but when I say my weeks are hectic in South Caicos... I mean awesome.
Last weekend I had my 6th open water dive, where we went to a dive site that leads you to the wall again. After hovering and doing flips over the side of it, it's safe to say that I need to work on my scuba flipping skills, but with a 30 pound air tank attached to you, its not as easy as it sounds. So since SFS has a few scuba instructors on hand, they are able to offer an advanced open water class for us to take. This basically just means that we can move up the latter of scuba certifications , and this class helps us sharpen the skills that we have already learned. Since the class is much cheaper that what it would cost to do it in the states, all 29 of the scuba divers chose to take it! In order to get this certification, we do five dives, each focused on a new topic: peak buoyancy, underwater navigation, night diving, deep diving, and underwater naturalist. So basically, we learn how to further control our buoyancy (not floating around everywhere and being able to move up and down when you want), how to navigate underwater with a compass, how to not freak out during a night dive (chances are, that I most definitely will), and how to safely descend to 100 feet. So far we have done the first two, and will finish the rest of them this week.
Monday and Tuesday were basically the same as they have been every week so far... class until lunch, then snorkeling for our final identification test (which was Thursday). This week the identification was over reef fish, which was really annoying to have to memorize 50 names of fish. But its cool that when I dive or snorkel now, I know the scientific name of almost every organism that I see!
On Wednesday, we had diving and community outreach. My group dove at 8 AM and completed our buoyancy section of the advanced open water class, which was really fun because we played underwater leap frog using our buoyancy techniques. Later in the day I signed up to paint the kindergarden classroom of the primary school. Going to the school is always a treat, given that you average about 10 hugs every time you step on to the grounds.
On Wednesday night I accompanied one of my professors and four other students to four hours of "sharking." Aaron (my professor) does research on lemon shark populations, and in order to get data he has to go out at night to the beaches and catch them. It sounds pretty painless, right? Well, it was actually terrifying. So all of us put on our wetsuits and drove to a local beach. We set up by five of us extending the 40 meter net (over 100 feet) into the ocean, keep in mind that it's dark outside... and when its dark outside, the previously crystal clear blue water turns into complete creepy darkness. Once the net was set up, we returned to the beach where we sat in the sand and waited. Every 20 minutes a student had to go walk along the net to check and see if any sharks were in it. There can only be one person checking the net, because more than one would cause too much noise. So I volunteered to go first, trying to make it seem like I was brave and really into this whole experience (I was excited for the experience, but I was really not brave). So not only did I have to walk into the dark ocean with a tiny light on my head, but I was also looking for sharks (an animal that freaks me out when I see it 20 feet away in the daylight). Meanwhile, the waves around me were making scary noises and it took every thing in my power not to shriek like a girl and run back to the shore. I managed to make it to the end of the net, where the water was up to my chest and my psyche was being seriously tested. Unfortunately (not really) I didn't see any sharks caught in the net, and I returned to sitting on the beach with the others. This part was nice, because the sky was so clear that the milky way was completely visible, right above us the entire time. When I crawled into bed that night, I couldn't stop smiling about how incredible it is that I have the opportunity to have these awesome adventures.
Thursday was the day of our last identification test, so we studied all day and my time slot for the test was at 3:30. We had our test at a snorkel site called shark alley, which is normally very choppy because it's right in between two of the little cays off of South Caicos, but on Thursday it was calm and quite peaceful. At one point during the test the thought crossed my mind about how I wanted it to be over, but then two 5 foot eagle rays (scientific name: Aetobatus narninarni) swam right under us and my mind immediately snapped back to the reality of how I was taking a test while snorkeling in the Caribbean. I was happy with my grades, out of the three tests I only missed 1/2 of a point and I have really enjoyed studying all of the beautiful creatures that inhabit the reefs. Contrary to our usual rum-filled test tradition, we ended the night by getting ice cream and watching Finding Nemo... however I had to put up a sign on the projector reading "please no yelling out the scientific names of the fish and coral." Let me tell you that watching a movie about the ocean with a bunch of hopeful marine biologists can get really nerdy, really fast.
I'm guilty though because sometimes when we pass sea weed I can't help but singing in my head "sea weed is cool, sea weed is fun. It makes its food from the rays of the sun" like Mr. Ray sings in the movie. :)
Friday was a day full of class again, except we actually got to have class outside the whole day, which was awesome because we saw humpback whales breaching three separate times! The humpbacks travel from the north down to the Dominican Republic during the spring to give birth and mate, lucky for us... the waters of South Caicos are one of their stops on their way home! Sometimes on dives we can actually hear the sounds them clearly, which brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it. After Friday class was over, we went camping on a beach nearby. The night was full of shooting stars (you see about 5 on a clear night), smores, ghost stories (yuck), and campfire games. Nights of bonding with all of these amazing people are the memories that will stick with me.
Early on Saturday we went back to the center to get ready for diving and outreach (Saturdays are the days when the kids come to the center, so we have to clean up). On this dive we had to use our underwater compass to navigate a course that was set up on the bottom, it turned out to be really easy! My favorite part of the dive was on our 3 minute safety stop. When you ascend, you have to wait for 3 minutes at five meters for safety precautions that have to do with dissolved nitrogen in your body, so basically you hang out before reaching the surface. Well during our safety stop, two porcupine fish came up to us and started playing in our bubbles. A porcupine fish is just a giant puffer fish and they are probably one of the funniest looking fish I have seen. The cool part is that they are usually very shy and almost always hide under coral and you never see them swimming around, so we think that they were mating because there were two of them together... seeing that made my day! Later for outreach, I signed up to teach swim lessons to the kids. So either they know how to swim and you can play games with them or they hang onto your neck while you lug them around the pool trying to not wince when they kick you in the stomach. I met a little boy named Deon, and he is the most polite little kid ever (I think he's my favorite). He is still learning how to swim, but is not good at treading water and by that I mean he really doesn't understand the concept of it, so we bonded when he thought I saved his life. Part of the culture here is to be really straight with people, so if you have a pointy nose... the kids tell you that you have a pointy nose... this happened to my friend Lauren. So apparently the pointy-ness of my nose is adequate... but when it comes to my eyebrows, they are just too yellow. At first I was a little offended but when I looked in the mirror, there is no denying that my previously unnoticeable eyebrows look really, really yellow against my tan face. Now my new nick name with the kids is "yellow eyebrows."
Saturday called for a night on the town, so after outreach and dinner, we made our rounds dancing to reggae music and enjoying each other's company.
As for my favorite thing that happened this week... we collaboratively saved a puppy from the local dump. Two girls brought her to the center and we all took care of her for the week. We got her strong enough to be shipped to Providenciales (the main island) so that she can receive treatment for the horrible mange that she had. We named her Colbie after the town we are in (Cockburn... pronounced Coh-burn) and a girl named Mary is going to adopt her and take her home! She is the sweetest puppy ever and I'm so happy that Mary gets to take care of her!
As I'm sitting here staring at the ocean listening to my friends reliving the stories from last night, I don't think I have ever been happier.