Today we woke up at 6:30 am to dive in Hawaii! Both dives lasted for around 40 minutes each. My first dive was super cool. I saw a lot of the fish we studied in class. I saw plenty on yellow tangs and I even saw a convict tang. On my second dive we saw two eels and an octopus. In both dives, it was very interesting to see how the animals interacted with each other. I noticed how all of the animals swam next to each other with no fear, which was interesting because the sizes of the fish were all different. I learned that most fish know when other fish are going to hunt, so that’s when they have to worry about swimming with them. On my second dive, I also saw a sea turtle! After looking at it a little longer, I could tell it was a green sea turtle because it had one pair of prefrontal scales, whereas all the other species of sea turtles have two pairs. I also learned how the sea turtle eased through the water with what looked like low effort. That made me learn that with their large flippers, they could shoot through the water with low effort. We ate some lunch, and then headed back to the Monk Seal Hospital to observe Sole (the monk seal). After that, we headed back to NELHA to learn about black water diving. I learned during the talk that the migration of all the deep-sea animals to the surface of the water is the largest migration of animals in the world. I also learned during the talk that there are still around 30 million species of sea animals yet to be discovered. Then, photographer Joshua Lambus, talked to all of us about the types of animals he encountered. He showed us pictures of some of the animals he’s captured, and that has made me really excited for the black water dive on Friday. It should be an exciting 20 minutes under the water! I’m also still super excited for the Manta Ray dive. I’ve been looking forward to it since I signed up, and tomorrow night we finally get to do it. I honestly cannot wait! It should be a great day tomorrow.
Click here for Joshua Lambus’ website that has pictures of the fish he’s captured! Most of them are from the black water dives, and they are honestly worth the look.
