Today I started the day by waking up at 6:00 A.M. and although it was early, it was much better than what I had to do the previous morning. After waking up and eating breakfast, my classmates and I were introduced to our divemasters for the week and we were given a general introduction about diving here in Grand Cayman. These things included the general layout of the boat, our type of entry into the water, and what to do in a state of emergency. After this introduction, we set off to our first dive of the day. This dive location just so happened to be around 5 minutes from shore. When we got there, we got the specific briefing for that site and then entered into the water. I was the first one to enter the water and after doing my long-stride scuba entry, was greeted with the sensation of the salty ocean water. Immediately after I entered, I felt the strong ocean current pulling me away from the boat. Luckily I was able to grab hold of a line attatched to the boat and waited there for the rest of the people to join me. Once everyone was in the water, my partner Alex and I each did our proper weight checks, then descended into the oceanic world. As I followed our dive master Curtis along the reef, I was greeted with dozens of different fish species that we had discussed in class. However, along with the dozens of amazing fish species such as angelfish, parrotfish, and butterfly fish and beautiful coral, I saw pieces of man-made waste tainting the reef. One of the most memorable parts of the dive was when I saw Curtis pick up an empty plastic water bottle sitting on the reef. I had mixed feelings about the action because on one hand, I was happy that the plastic was being cleaned out of the reef, but on the other hand, I was angry that this trash was there in the first place. A big focus of our classes back on the main Jesuit campus was our discussions of how humans affected marine life and the marine ecosystem. I was able to connect this idea with what I saw on the reef. After the general tour, we ascended back up to the surface and took a break before heading to our second site. Once we headed into the water at Rainbow Reef, we participated in another general tour of the reef seeing more beautiful stoplight parrotfish and other fish species. A highlight of this dive for me was swimming through a rock arch containing coral as well as a lobster. Overall, I was amazed at the experience of my first ocean scuba dives and am further looking forward to the rest of our dives this week. After our dives, we headed back to the resort for lunch and for some down time until later. During this time, myself and some friends decided to swim in the pool and participate in another snorkel in the late afternoon. On this snorkel, we encountered multiple types of fish but my favorite of that snorkel was a big barracuda we saw swimming underneath a boat. After the snorkel we were given the task of determining the multiple sides and positions to the famous Stingray City. We researched the multiple postions and talked about the potential issues, as well as their solutions of Stingray City. An issue that I thought about was trying to find a balance between maintaining a healthy revenue because of the importance of the tourism industry in Grand Cayamn, as well as keeping a healthy manageable population of stingrays. In order to combat this issue, I thought about increasing the general admissions price of the location from $45 dollars to around $75. In doing this, revenue would increase without the number of tourists increasing. In doing this, a consistent number of stingrays would be fed and a general population would be maintained. I am looking forward to learning more about this location and hearing our guides opinions on it during our dive tomorrow.
Till Tommorow,
Ben Levis
