Today we woke up bright and early to some Einstein Bros Bagels. We were then given a short amount of time to eat and pack up for our first dives. Quickly I packed up my fins, mask, booties, and my personal items into two separate bags and got back as fast I could to the vans. Loading up as organized as my group possibly could we got situated in our van and took off for the harbor. Once there we were briefed about our dive and then loaded onto the boat. Detaching from the harbor we made our way to our dive spot. At the dive spot, our groups of six were briefed once again, then individually we put on our gear, and jumped in. For an hour I enjoyed a fun filled dive with colorful fish at every turn. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. All groups surfaced and climbed aboard the boat to move towards the next dive spot. Once again at the new dive spot we put all our gear back on and climbed in the water to see more of what the Hawaiian waters had to offer for another hour. This time was even better then the first as I saw a pufferfish, three eels, and many huge colorful reef fish. However, as my air depleted I noticed once again all good things must end. With this all groups surfaced again and climbed back into the boat, unloaded gear, and rode back to the harbor.
At the harbor we enjoyed our packed sandwiches and snacks before we headed off the the monk seal rehabilitation center. Once at the center we learned more about the monk seal Sole. To learn about him we did an activity to learn about his behavior. From the activity we learned that Sole was a odd Monk Seal who is very social and loves to vocalize and swim. This is odd though as monk seals are like cats who are not that social and like to be with themselves. After the activity we watched a presentation about monk seals and learned of human impacts. We must not leave anything behind at the beach as seals are very curious and wanna play with anything they find. For example if you left a knife behind, a seal could find it and accidentally hurt themselves while playing with the knife as they are only being curious. This is bad as human impacts have a major role in decreasing monk seal populations. With monk seal populations so low we must take everything home and more.
After learning more about monk seals and human impacts we traveled back to NELHA to learn about the pelagic zone from accomplished photographer Joshua Lambus. He makes his living by photographing the pelagic zone creatures. He presented us with many creatures he photographed that we may see during our dive. This was very educational as all creatures presented were nothing like anything I’ve ever seen. This made me realize there is more to the ocean then we know. We have so much more to discover.
Makafineart.com (his photography website)
After the presentation was over we thanked Joshua and headed home. There we cleaned, ate delicious penne, and celebrated JJs birthday. This day only makes me more excited for the next. I am especially excited for the black water dive. This will push me out of my comfort zone while providing me with a once in a lifetime opportunity. Besides that I am most excited for making memories with my friends. Through only the second day I made lifelong memories and I have many more days to come.
