The day began at 6 A.M. sharp followed by a quick and tasty breakfast prepared by Cobalt Coasts Dining Service. Then we boarded our dive boat for the next five days, the “Twin Sister”. Our divemasters, Curtis and Bernie, lead us through a quick rundown of basic procedures and guidelines before we headed off to our first dive site, a small reef located fairly close to the dock. We loaded up our gear, added an extra layer of sunscreen, and hopped in the water to start the day. Upon first glance, I noticed hundreds of different species of fish and other marine life. The first and most prominent fish to catch my eye was a french angelfish, which I recognized by the yellow scale patterns and its dorsil fins. We spent about forty-five minutes exploring the reef before reboarding the boat for our surface interval. As we prepared for our second dive, we learned a little about a species of fish called a trumpetfish, and a specific behavior of theirs where they turn themselves purple to look similar to the blue tang. Our next dive took place at a spot called rainbow reef, their, my buddy and I along with Dr. Kirby and Mr. Marr examined an interesting population of creatures called a grass eels. These eels looked somewhat like small twigs sticking out of the sandy ocean floor. We watched as they grabbed bacteria out of the water around them and brought it down into the sand with them, a very peculiar and interesting behavior. After reboarding the vessel and heading back in, we enjoyed another delicious lunch before a long break period. During this break, me, my friends Clark and Alex, and my brother Ben embarked on a variety of activities. First, we relaxed for a while in the pool, taking in the sun and enjoying our time on this island. Next, we followed Ms. Matthews and Dr. Kirby onto the rocky beach below to observe the tiny ecosystems within the tidepool. We observed Sergeant Major juvenile fish as well as a variety of different crab species. After the tidepooling, we discovered an unopened coconut and began a treacherous quest to crack open its shell. After almost thirty minutes of cracking it open, we discovered that the inside was rotten and thus could not be consumed. Our final activity during the break was a short snorkel around the cove. We saw a good amount of common Carribean fish including a large barricuda floating underneath the boats ahead. We then met back up with the rest of the group to discuss our next assignment, a discussion regarding whether Stingray City, a popular Grand Cayman tourist attraction, is inhumane or not. We spent an hour gathering evidence and data on the individual topic before taking a quick break for our dinnner. Then we all gathered in a central place to discuss the topic. We discussed how human contact physically damages sting rays themselves and how the overtourism affects sting rays feeding schedule. Finally, we examined how the economy is affected by stingray city tourists. Throughout our discussion we considered a variety of factors that relate back to our aquaculture discussion back in Dallas. We identified how humans affect the behaviors of individual species. Specifically in these stingrays, the stingrays now group for feeding as opposed to their natural solitary hunting. To close the night, we went over how we can observe these sting rays more cautiously to ensure that we will not disrupt them tomorrow. I am extremely excited for our dives throughout the entirety of this week and look forward to our day tomorrow.
