Day four what can I say I think it was the best yet. I’m gonna skip over breakfast because it’s the same as every day cereal. So after the same old same old we went to the dock (sorry I spelled that wrong Dr. Kirby won’t happen again) and met up with Ben to go over our agenda for the day. The plan was to go to depths of around 50 feet to count parrot fish in our area. The day started out slow with only 7 or so parrot fish but the dive site was beautiful so I was complaining. After doing three test runs we were finished with that but on the way up we saw a shoal of reef squid which was very interesting and a huge horse eyed jack swam up inches from me and Luke’s face it was crazy. After that we headed around the side of the island to the ginger steps which was a reef open to the deep ocean and it was truly a beautiful site to be at. The dive started out with a giant tarpon swimming directly in front of us and now keep in mind this is a fun dive so I swam after it as much as I can but the current was to fast to allow me to do much at all. So after my attempt if you want to call it that we went deep down to the reef which was incredible it was 100 percent coverage. The reef was amazing but the best part was the reef shark that came swimming up next to all of us and inspecting what we were doing. After messing with the reef shark me and John went with Sierra to look for lion fish and we found one but she didn’t bring the spear fun which was a bummer but that was the first time I’d ever seen one and it was very color creature. That pretty much summed up that dive so we drove to a beach that had calmer water for lunch which was amazing sandwiches thanks to Casey. After our sandwiches she briefed us on how we need to clean coral nurseries and I learned a lot about the process and expansion of coral nurseries it was great. Once at the nurseries Lucas and I were a buddy team and we went to work on cleaning our section of the nursery and let me tell you we did a great job those corals are as good as new. The cleaning process was a little painful though there were a few pesky little things that would sting you a bit then suddenly go away but it was still great. After that dive we were done for the day and I just took a moment of the boat ride back to take in my surroundings and appreciate where I am I can’t thank Casey, Dr. Kirby or my parents enough for letting me do this its a one in a lifetime opportunity and has made me find a passion for the ocean. Today was a great day and I learned a ton and made life long memories I can’t wait for tomorrow.
