Though the title suggests that today was seemingly bad or simply uncomfortable, it was one of the most breathtaking(literally) experiences of my life. It all started with the morning screeching of the resort roosters outside of our swamp of a cabin. Cramming 3 teenage boys into a tight room with only 2 box fans and 99% humidity isn’t an amazing idea, but it was bearable. Anyways, the morning started with a delicious plate of scrambled eggs, a bowl of cereal, and a refreshing bottle of lukewarm water provided graciously by the chaperones. Bravo on the eggs Ms. Matthews. ”Twas delicious.
The next order of business was driving to the docks and separating into our boat groups. I, as well as eight other students, was chosen to be on the Sea Monkey for the week. Our instructors, Becca and Captain Rupert, then separated us into our science groups which were team awesome with Rupert and team wicked with Becca. My group was Team Wicked. We started off the day with a short 20 minute boat ride to the first dive site. We then went through a checkup on our skills making sure we could do basic emergency/ mandatory skills underwater. We then proceed to explore the surrounding coral and fish. In terms of coral, everything was slightly dull in color, but vibrant in life. Almost everything besides the vibrantly colored blue coral seemed to be almost dead. That was, until you got closer. The coral was filled with crab, squirrel fish, and juvenile parrotfish. We even at one point saw a moray eel. After about 40-50 minutes of exploration, we surfaced from the great blue loo. Speaking of which 10/10 would recommend.
The second dive was at Great Dog island, but before we dived we received a certainly welcome history lesson about why it this archipelago was named the Dog Islands. Simply put, the native tribes who were fighting for control over the island with a rival tribe mistook Caribbean monk seal barking for rabid dog barking, and the name stuck. The dive consisted of dimming to plane, exploring.
