Weekly Blog #1


So far, Senior Project has been an unbelievable experience. After a long day of travel, Cat and I made it here last Tuesday. Getting right to work, we sat down for our online work with hopes that we would be able to get in the water soon. After about 15 hours of boring online learning we were able to get in our scuba gear and start learning the basics. What I most surprised about was how it felt to be breathing out of the regulator. Even though the air is incredibly dry, and the salt water doesn’t help, it feel so normal to be breathing underwater that I could just take out my regulator and everything would be fine. We were able to dive many reefs, a cave, a shipwreck, and even a dive at night, which have all been so unique and stunning in their own way. At this point I feel comfortable identifying many species that one could find in the Virgin Islands area such as, trunk fish, pufferfish, angle fish trigger fish file fish, barracuda, sea urchin, and many others. I have really enjoyed diving because it allows me to learn about a whole new side of our planet while it sits there right in front of me. After spending so much time on land, I really enjoy being in a completely new environment and starting from scratch with my learning. Everything has been going as planned, which is good. The only thing that really surprised me was the heat here, since I am not usually very comfortable in hot weather, but I have been adjusting, and it has gotten easier to fall asleep at night. After this week, I have learned so many skills that I will be able to use when I dive in other places in the future. Also, learning all the new species has taught me about the ecosystems here and how they are intertwined in each other, the same was that they would be on land. Next week I hope to do some more dives at new sites, and that I will learn more types of the coral that live here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weekly Blog #2

This week we transitioned from our time on the boat to living on the farm. Wednesday was our first day on the farm and we were able to meet our mentor, Aragorn, and his family, and get settled into the farm. Thursday, our first day working, was tough because the work we were doing was not what we expected, but thankfully our first day was mostly cloudy and rainy, which was nice because we weren’t working in the blistering heat. I was disappointed that we had spent half of the hours, on our first day, weeding, instead of learning about all the things that they grow on the farm. Sadly, we spent even more time weeding on our second day, but we started at 6:00 instead of 7:00 to finish our work for the day before it got too hot. Even though the work here on the farm is strenuous, it is a good way to be involved on the island. I learned mostly how to weed without hurting your back, but also about some new fruit that I had never tried. Cat and I tried some bananas that were grown on the f
Read more

29 April 2019

Today was our first official day of senior project. For Cat and me, it was a prep day since we needed time to pack and prepare before heading down to the Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. I woke up, went to workout class with my mother, and started the process for the day. Hunckering down for three hours of E-Learning, was a lot, but I learned so many cool, new things. Most of what I learned about was the basic equipment I would need for scuba diving, such as a BCD (Bouyancy Control Device) which is a vest that your tank in attaches to a person can add air to or take air out of deependinf on their bouyancy and how deep they are. The other large system that is used is the tank and regulator, which is the tubing and mouthpiece that allows you to breath underwater. After learning about what would be doing while scuba diving, I started to do errands to pick up last minute things like, sunscreen, socks, and other essentials. Around dinner time I started to pack, which consists mostly
Read more

18 May 2019

Today was an awesome day! We got to sleep in until 6:15 since it was the weekend. Although we didn't have to work today, Cat and I offered to help pack Aragorn’s truck for the market this morning. It was super easy work, mostly just moving the herbs and vegetables that we picked into a cooler and then into the bed of the truck. We then headed down to the market and spent time with Aragorn at the station, and met loads of his friends and usual customers. It was super hot today, but was relaxing hanging in the shade of the tent at the market instead of weeding. We dove this afternoon at a site called Dry Rock. As the name explains, it is a series of a few large rocks sticking out of the coast of Cooper Island. Before we went diving we had ice cream from Cooper for the last time, and it was so delicious. I had coconut and chocolate. Bruce was there, per usual, and some others divers. I saw a baby trunkfish and it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. It was the classic pea si
Read more