Today was day one of the JCP Marine Biology trip, and it’s the best day yet. We started off the day having a great breakfast in a local restaurant. We met the dive staff who all seemed to be pretty cool. My group and I got Beth, the best of the bunch, to be our dive master for the week. After everyone met with their group, we all went to the Sea Dragons boat to begin our expedition. Once we finished a quick briefing, we set out to sea. While driving to our dive spot, we saw a small green turtle swimming at the surface which was a sight to see. After arriving to our dive sight and getting our gear on, we got into the water and began our decent. On our first dive, we went over basic skills and maneuvers. After completing those, we swam around the sea floor and saw many different types of fish and coral. Surgeon fish, trumpet fish and sea urchins were just a few of the species of marine life we saw. We then came back up onto the boat and drove to our next dive site.
On our next dive, we went to the chimney dive spot. We dove through a coral reef with puffer fish and a lot of parrot fish, varying in many different sizes. We then swam single file through the massive coral structures with groupers and drum fish every called the chimney because the two coral structures go up twenty feet and it’s a very tight squeeze.
Then, we snorkeled to a place called the Bathes. These are giant, granite rocks that creat caves on a small section of the beach. These were where slaves would come from across the ocean. They would come there to clean off before they went to America to be sold. This is where they bathed.
Finally, we snorkeled back to the beach, seeing fish and more coral along the way. Once we got back, we had a brief talk and then went back to our cabins to get ready for dinner and write about our day
