Day 1
Arrived at the class room first thing in the morning, then Proceeded to go over the whole agenda for the week. The first activity included a debate involving the controversy over sea world’s captive orcas. The arguments were that sea world gave people a chance to see things that they would otherwise not see, therefore giving them sympathy and awareness towards the whales. The other side of the argument, the argument against the whales being captive, believed that sea world was a business and had no interest in the conservation of the whales; and the capture of juvenile whales is inhumane. I personally believe that the whales should not be used in the way that they are. Holding them in tanks their whole life isn’t a way to let them live, even if they don’t know any other life. After this debate we learned of the different fish and marine life in various Coral reefs sites we were to visit, and how to group them (big lips, scales, odd shape, oval ect.). shark hats were made as well. It was super fun. Once our class session ended the scuba portion was to begin. Once we arrived at Dog island, our scuba site, and learned the history of it. It was named dog island because sailers heard barks when sailing by. However, when pirates came about later they discovered, to their delight, that the barks were coming from the monk seal. The food, oil, and furs that came from these seals eventually lead to their extinction. After the buddy checks and overview were finished we began the dive. The dive was amazing. I saw a moon jelly and even touched it. The cup coral on the underbelly of the crevice were very interesting because their tentacles were out feeding. The coral we saw was also astounding, the stag horn coral in particular. My favorite part of the dive was the chimney, a narrow tunnel underwater. The collection of marine life was amazing. We saw crabs, coral, and fish. Once we got back from the dive we went to mass. The church was on top of a beautiful hill with a great view. To top of the day a great meal was had on the beach.
