Today was the last full day in the Cayman Islands! I am super sad to leave such an awesome place. It was an extremely fun and also educational experience that I would take again in a heartbeat. Today we finishednoff our last two morning dives with another deeo 100 foot dive and a shallow final dive. the last dive in oarticular had an interesting trait to it. The whole reef was sort of interlaced with a multi-decade old anchor chain. We learned that years ago, before regulations were placed on where ships could anchor, they would anchor wherever they wished. This ended up messing up the reefs under them, which is one reason why the regulations were placed. This one anchor chain had gotten tangled and the ship attached to it had to leave it behind.
What I found interesting about this chained reef was there was reef completely engulfing and surround it. After many years, coral larvae would eventually settle on the chain and on rocks around it, allowing the coral polyps to secrete skeletons and actually build up the reef. It was very cool to see how the reef adapted to the chain and its situation, so it built around it to survive. This shows how, even coral, something that does nit necessarily move around, can overcome certain situations. This sort of explains the reefs that were built up on the wrcks from yesterday. The larvae was able to settle and build around the ship and use it as an artificial reef.
The day was finished off by a prayer service where we reflected on the trip and what we learned on it. It was super cool to hear people’s thoughts throughout the trip. Overall, this trip was a super cool experience and I am super glad that I went on it. Thanks to the teachers and our families who allowed us to travel on it. Sad to leave tomorrow!
