I went on the night snorkel after the cookout on Friday. Matt and I were buddies, and we hung out near the back of the group. Eventually, Matt and I swam out so far with Zoltan and Ben that we couldn’t see the bottom. As we were swimming to catch up to the group, we saw a stingray and a huge tarpon. After looking at the tarpon for some time, we caught up with the group and soon saw that between 4 and 6 tarpon were following us. We swam around with them for a few minutes and they followed us into some shallow water. Then we prepared for our presentations for a little bit and went to bed. In the morning, we had our service project. We cleaned trash off of the beach. The coolest thing we found was two huge propane tanks. We found a ton of water bottles and other plastic items. Then, we went back to Guava Berry and prepared for our presentations.
When the dive masters showed up to the commissary, our group was first. Luke, Zach, Andrew and I sat in front of the line of dive masters and gave a presentation of our findings and what we could study going forward. They asked us a few questions, and then we were finished.
After paying our commissary bills, we hung out for a few hours, then we took showers and prepared for mass. The church was really pretty and it was on top of a really tall hill overlooking the ocean. This is where the islanders would go in case of a tsunami. After mass, we went to the restaurant above the Baths.
At the restaurant they had a buffet prepared for us. They had ribs, chicken, plantains, rice, and some really good fruit punch. During dessert, we watched the really good video that Casey had prepared for us. There were some funny pictures and videos. Then, we said our final goodbyes to the dive masters and walked back to the cabins. At the cabin, we packed, showered and went to bed.
Now we are in Puerto Rico. It has been a great week and I will keep many great memories from the trip. I have formed closer friendships and I have a greater understanding of how the ocean ecosystems work.
