Last night my classmates and I were able to get more sleep. We all got accustomed to the small bugs, and the rooster surprisingly did not wake us up at 5:30. We all got up, put on our swimsuits, and headed down for breakfast. The breakfast was great and got us going for our tour down The Baths, which is a national park known for its historic geographic formations. It was an amazing sight and astonishing to see all of the natural rocks and the affects that acid rain and hurricanes have on the rocks and the beach. We went through these massive crevices that are built from boulders, some with only a very small amount of surface area touching one another. Most of the crevices were very small and somewhat difficult to get through because of the water beneath and rocks covered in slimy algae that made it slippery. When we finished the tour of The Baths, we geared up for snorkeling back to the beach sight. I am not as good of a snorkeler as a I thought I was because I was used to breathing with the regulator, and I had to remind myself that the snorkel does not create a funnel of air to the surface when you are down 10 feet underwater, contrary to my beliefs as a seven year old. We saw many different fish while snorkeling than we did while diving. Some people in our group saw a barracuda in the distance, but I missed it. However, I did get to see a fairly large tarpin, which made up for it. We also saw yellowtail snapper, blue tang, parrotfish, sand divers/lizard fish, and a stingray to list a couple. We landed at the beach and our groups divided up. Sea Monkey (my group) played on the beach for 45 minutes while Sea Dragon learned about fish identification for our next dive, and after lunch the two groups switched. Brendan Legas, Chandler Clark, Mr. Kirby, Doc, Mr. Waits and I all played frisbee in the ocean, where one person would throw it and the other would run down the beach and jump to catch the frisbee. Not all of us were good throwers…or rather some of us tried new throwing techniques (cough cough Brendan) that didn’t work so well. Brendan will say that his techniques worked, but they really didn’t. After lunch we went to the marina to prepare for our fish identification dive. Our boat ride was pleasant and sunny with partial clouds, and again I lathered up on sunscreen but apparently did not fully get the backs of my arms, which gave me some inconsistent sun burns. Our dive at the Ginger’s/Alice’s Backside site was amazing, and I personally enjoyed it more than the first one. I really had a great time on both but I happen to see a more variety of fish, and I enjoyed the challenge of the identification. It was neat to be able to pick out specific parts of the fish, such as the head or tail, and be able to tell what kind it was. On our scuba dive I saw a Rock Beauty (a type of angelfish), a Squirrel fish (these creep me out), some blue tang, princess parrotfish, grunts, yellowtail snapper, sand divers, fairy basslet, a small cleaner shrimp, a sea urchin, anemone, staghorn coral, sea fans, Christmas tree worms (pretty cool worms), and my personal favorite…the Blue Chromis. These were just a few things of the many that we saw while diving. On our way back on the boat, I had to continue the experience of peeing in the bathroom while on choppy waters, and Brendan was right, it is “horrifyingly difficult” to say the least. We had the same routine as yesterday with the gear clean up, and afterwards went to our room to shower. On our way to dinner, I happen to unfortunately drop my sunglasses in the cattle guard. Right then it started to rain, but nonetheless Chandler heroically stepped in and found a long branch and, with the help of Brendan, retrieved my glasses. We went to dinner, played some frisbee, and relaxed for the latter part of the evening. It was a great day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
