Nelson Brown '19

We started today off at our service opportunity on the beach. The service consisted of picking up trash, clearing out sand from a red shrimp pond, and building sand castles with that sand. My group decided to build a whale shark named fluffy out of the sand we collected. Our castle got third place and I won a metal...

Starting off the day, We made our way back to NELHA. At the building, we got to learn more about their systems to cooling the building. Our guide, whose name was also Nelson, explained to us that the building uses cold deep sea water to produce up to 70 gallons of water a day. To do this, the building...

Yesterday was the best day so far on the trip. We would be doing the much anticipated Manta Ray dive and going out to blue water on a Zodiac boat. The Zodiac boat is a small but speedy boat. It has two 300 horsepower motors and tops off at a speed of 40 knots. During our ride on the Zodiac,...

Today was my first day of diving since my last dive in the British Virgin Islands. Boarding the boat, I was ready for a long day of being 60 feet underwater. My body definitely was not ready. I had completely forgotten how tiring diving could be when you do more than one in a day. However, I still had...

Yesterday we traversed 14,000 feet high to the top of Mauna Kea. We didn't hike the volcano like the original settlers, however I still felt the effects of the high altitude on my body. We started our journey in Kona where the van picked us up. Jeff, our driver and teacher, educated us about the origins of the islands...

Today is my first day on the island of Kona and I am extremely excited for the days to come. Tomorrow my group, the Pyrosome group, will be heading to the summit of Mauna Kea. While I am very excited to hike up a mountain for the first time, I am definitely not ready for the 30 degree weather...

I'm looking forward to spending some time on the big island this summer. Last year in Virgin Gorda, I had so much fun on my dives and snorkels that I have decided to come back for another round. This year I think I am most excited for our dive with manta rays and the black water dive. While I have...

Our last day in the British Virgin Islands has been another fun and engaging day. We started the day off by preparing breakfast with my project group. I spiced things up a little bit by making eggs that were thoughtfully donated to me by Eduardo. After we had a successful breakfast, we got ready to leave at 8:40 for...

Today, like all of our days, started off with a breakfast. But this time, the feast was in the hands of me and my project group. Instead of waiting until 7:30 to wake up, we woke up at 7:00 to begin preparing our meal. People began to arrive at the cabin at around 7:40 to grab spots on the...