Location: Sandy Spit, Green Cay
We had a leisurely wake-up this morning with breakfast at 8. Most of us were up around seven, but a few people slept in until about 7:30-7:40. We ate a breakfast of French toast made by Tylah (Aussie) and Alexis while the staff headed off to their meeting. Moorea wanted more food, so Tylah cooked up the rest of the egg/cinnamon French toast dip thing into scrambled eggs, and it was really bad, so we threw it overboard. We set sail for playgrounds as the Dolphins prepped for their 2nd (or 3rd) research dive, and the Neptunes were excited about their fun dive. We arrived at our dive site (Playgrounds) and got our gear ready. We dinghied over to the dive site and backrolled off of the dinghy into the water. The dive sight was really pretty, with a lot of soft coral. The research groups went their separate ways to continue to collect more data. Tylah, Zack, and Alli analyzed the reaction time of feather dusters, Ty, Alexis, and Moorea chased parrotfish around gathering data on their feeding patterns, and Scarlett, Kyler, and Jack set out a transect and analyzed the amount of sea fans with disease present at the site. After that dive, we headed back to the boat, where we had a great lunch of Mac and cheese that Alexis cooked (Tylah cleaned the kitchen after the meal as he was hanging out on the roof) while the rest of us hung out on the roof watching the rescue boat, Event Horizon, complete their first real scenario. It was very entertaining. After lunch, the tanks were all refilled, and the Neptunes finished their equipment specialty by setting up their dive gear blindfolded. Once that was done, the Neptunes (Caleb, Brian, Dylan), Ty, Alexis, and Moorea headed back to the playgrounds for another fun dive/research.
The research group saw four squids doing what seemed to be a mating ritual, and the Neptunes saw four lionfish. We also all saw a baby trunkfish. It looked like an M&M. Caleb said he wanted to eat it. At the safety stop, we played a fun game of grab each other’s fins, and Alexis ended up with no fins, Dylan, Moorea, and Caleb need up with their fins, and Brian and Ty had switched fins. Once we ascended, we headed over to this tiny island that looked like it was right out of SpongeBob and had some time to hang out at the beach. Some of our boats, Jack, Zack, Alli, and Tylah, joined us at the beach. After the beach, we headed back to the boat where we had time for showers and to put our dive gear away. Once we were done with that, it was time for the dolphins to take their final exam and the Neptunes to chill out. Midway through the exam, dinner was ready (thanks to Cara and Anna). It was a meal of rice and franks. We did our nightly squeeze, dishied up, deckied the boat, and continued the exam. Now we are ready to hang out and go to bed. We miss you all!
Written by Ty (you’re welcome, Zack).