Day two started with another early morning. Our new rooster friend, who we properly named “Chapo”, woke us up around 6:10 a.m. We quickly showered, dressed appropriately for another long day out on the water, and made our way to chaperones cabin for breakfast. After our buffet of eggs, bagels, yogurt, and some delicious fruit, we rushed down the cattle guard to meet Glenn, our “personal chauffeur”.Ginger Hole was the site of our first experimental dive. We geared up with the help of Zoltan, leaped off the boat into the clear turquoise water and started our descension, with each individual member carrying a item crucial to our experiment. We spent the first half of the dive on the ocean floor, looking for an area that would satisfy the conditions for our experiment. After deciding on an area consisting of mostly algal covered rocks, we dropped our four markers and measured out a five meter by five meter square. There we waited. Perched a couple yards above our poorly figured square, counting each individual parrotfish that crossed into our designated area. However, only one parrotfish was accounted for due to the fact that THREE reef sharks decided to rudely interrupt our experiment and settle inside our square. So basically all parrotfish in the surrounding area decided that it was in their best interest to avoid our experimental area entirely. The second dive provided us with a more reliable site for data. With no sharks disturbing our experiment, we recorded a record seven parrotfish in our box. After our quick 15 minute experiment, we traversed the ocean floor, following Zoltan and acknowledging anything he pointed out. We saw a huge 3-foot lobster, a green moray eel, and a lion fish, which Zoltan speared with ease. A few minutes later we surfaced and concluded the dive portion of the second day. A turkey and PB&J lunch soon followed, leading up to an awesome hike on Salt Island. Later, Mike, Jack, Josh and I waded across the Salt Pond, skipping rocks as we traversed the thick salt bottom. The boat ride back was long and a little choppy but thankfully I managed to sneak in a much needed nap before docking again at Virga Gorde. Thus concluding our second day. Tomorrow I’m looking forward to the turtle tagging and the cabin games, which my cabin, Lime House, is definitely going to dominate.
