The past two days have been busy, in a good way. Yesterday we got to go diving again! After lunch we hopped onto the boat and headed out into some choppy water. Our captain of the day, Bertolo had an absolute blast trying to knock people out of the boat by driving really fast and having us bounce up and down. It was one of the best boat rides of my life. We got in the water at Pelican Point 2, a little ways down from Pelican Point 1. As soon as we entered, there was a huge elkhorn coral to greet us. I took the gopro along with me and here are some of the photos:
Once we were finished noodling around the reef and bothering the fish, we surfaced and had a little bit of a swim back to the boat. The swells were quite large, so we were going up and down like a rollercoaster. We arrived back to the island, showered and worked on some homework. Katie and I had gone out snorkeling for data collection on Christmas tree worms earlier, so we got to dry off for the day. We have been having tostadas or empanadas for dinner and I have been enjoying them a lot. The care that gets put into our food every day is very obvious. After dinner we went on the dock and saw a Southern ray and an armadillo!!
Today was our rest day, so theoretically we should take it easy. Katie and I took on the challenge to spend the absolute most time in the water. We started out in the morning by going scuba diving - unfortunately today was our last day diving because Henry was leaving. Our first dive we swam through a very strong current to get to an airplane wreck. After exploring the wings and body we drifted back to the boat. Because it was such a short dive, we had enough air left to dive again. We decided to return to Lion's Head and swam the same route as the first time. It was another incredibly beautiful, blue dive. The lionfish was still under the same rock, and Henry tried to spear it but he was bested by the fish's very fast reaction time. Once we had surfaced and returned to the island, we ate lunch and regrouped.
A lump of an airplane wreck
After lunch we were able to participate in a beautiful Garifuna event where they played many rhythms for us on their drums. We all got to play on a drum that was an old turtle shell. One of the most interesting instruments to me was a painted conch shell that the leader was playing like you would a french horn. As a french horn player for many years, I could appreciate the skill and embouchure needed to play the instrument well. After saying goodbye and thank you to the players and our dive helpers, Katie and I returned to the water to count urchins. We spent at least three hours in the water (luckily did not get sunburnt!!) with Katie counting the urchins along her transects. As her assistant I took it upon myself to take some photos.After some busy days, we are ready for a good sleep tonight and will take advantage of the breeze that is picking up!
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