I woke up excited to finally be able to get into the water a dive. I woke up and got ready for a 6:45 breakfast before the first dive. We were all still half asleep, but were extremely excited to finally visit our first dive site. We quickly finished out food and went to the boat briefing where we learned about the dive boats and crews. We then grabbed our gear, raced to the boat, and began to drive to our first dive site. The ride was short and we were in the water in no time. Immediately after starting our descent, I quickly began to notice all of the vibrantly colored coral and fish all around me. Parrotfish eating in the tall bushes of coral, angle fish circling the rock formations, stingrays swimming low across the sand, and even a lion fish hiding under a small overhang. Ocean life surrounded us in every direction and new fish I’d never seen became visible. Just before the dive ended, I come over a mound of coral to see a fish so vibrantly colored that it makes other fish look bland. I notice the familiar shape of an angle fish and it’s way of moving with its large tail fin and two smaller front fins. It’s a blue fish with yellow spots covering most of its body. It also has a crown shape on its head marking the easily identifiable queen angle fish. I swim with it for a while admiring its colors until I realize that my air is gettin low and I must return to the boat. The second dive was just as close to the resort as the first. I jump in, wait for my dive buddy, and begin out descent. I notice a cliff-like structure that the coral is growing on. I follow the dive master down the drop-off and find a sea turtle swimming out towards the open water. I see on the edges of its shell a sharp jagged edge, and a bird shaped beak on its face. I identified it as a hawksbill sea turtle and swam with it, watching its movements for a majority of the dive until it was finally time to return to the boat. I resurfaced and got on the boat with the group, and we all shared stories about what we saw. With each story grew excitement for the upcoming days.
