Synopsis
Today during my first dive, I explored the Kodiak Queen ship wreck, and discovered that the same ship was one of the few surviving ships from Pearl Harbor during WWII. Later on, I went to a coral nursery to fully clean up a coral tree. It was a difficult task because I had to try to avoid touching the PVC pipes infested with fire coral. Then, we went snorkeling near Necker Island’s shore, and found many barracudas, sea urchins, and even a hammerhead shark.
Discoveries
While snorkeling near Necker Island, I learned that red mangrove trees, being next to saltwater, have a special process that filters out the saltwater and coverts it to freshwater. The red mangrove trees that I saw today also help give nutrients to species underwater because, once a tree decays, the nitrogen and phosphorus from the leaves enter the water and help fish and corals.
Looking forward for…
The service project that I’ll be doing tomorrow will be helping out the local high school by cleaning up and organize the school. Tomorrow, I will also be presenting my case study project to my classmates and dive instructors, so I will have a chance to demonstrate the work I put into each project dive. After a long and tiring week of diving and snorkeling, I am also looking forward to finally being out of the water for a day. Even though I will miss the colorful corals and fish, I won’t be missing having to clean the sand from my fins and snorkel after every dive.
Favorites
My favorite part of today was snorkeling near the mangrove trees because of the animals that I got to see. I also enjoyed diving inside the Kodiak Queen ship wreck, and getting to see the 40 feet octopus that was built from steel cables on top of the boat as a tourist attraction.
