Today was a half day of work. Got to the lab entered some data at 7, until it was breakfast time! Today I went out into the field with Grace and Niels. We went to Powell Point and Kemps creek today. It was a good morning; I got to know Grace better. She is a really cool girl. We only saw one shark today, nothing too exciting in the shark world.
After lunch Niels had the idea to go free diving. I always love going out with them because it is so beautiful to watch. They stay under water for over a minute. It is amazing. Niels, Justin, Matt, Zack, Jana, and I packed up the boat and headed out into the ocean. The first place we dove was called hole in the wall. There is a hole about 80 feet down and then there is a cave that is about 30 feet in length. Justin and Matt went through the hole, it was incredible. I always love going to watch them. I haven’t quite figured out how to equalize the pressure, so I can’t go down far. I love going out with them because I always practice, seeing how far I can go down. They speared a few lionfish, and then we headed to a shallower spot. Niels started spitting up some blood so we moved to shallower water to catch some more lionfish. He looked it up later and found out that his lungs got squeezed because of the pressure.
The second spot we went to was so beautiful. There were reefs everywhere, and it wasn’t too deep so I could dive down. Zack and I both finally got the hang of free diving. Zack explained to me how he equalized the pressure, and I finally got it. I experienced the real feeling of free diving today. It was so fascinating. I went down about 35 feet, which isn’t too deep compared to the boys, but I was stoked… baby steps. When you go down you can hear everything, it is crazy. It is such an incredible feeling being in the water and hearing everything around you. I was so happy to have finally figured out free diving!
After the second dive, we decided to head in and clean the lionfish the boys speared. They got a total of 9 lionfish. Once we cleaned the fish, we all went our own ways to get ready for the Junkanoo festival tonight. Matt cooked some of the lionfish, so I stopped by and had a few bites. He cooked it with butter, garlic, and passion fruit on top. It was so tasty. Then we had pizza for dinner. The pizza here is amazing, the bread is whole wheat and they don’t put too much sauce on it. I would have to say it is on my top 3 favorite pizzas!
After dinner we all loaded up in a van and headed to Tarpum Bay, which is another settlement about 35 minutes down the island. The festival was great, it was like all the other festivals I have been to here (conch fest, homecoming, and beer fest). Bahamian music, alcohol, and good vibes. We had to leave at 11 to be back on campus by 12, so we missed the junkanoo, but hopefully there will be another one. When we got back we all went swimming in the ocean!
Matt, Zack, Niels, and Justin going free diving
In my element
All the lionfish we caught
The Nurse shark team at the Junkanoo festival
No comments:
Post a Comment