by student blogger (age 17)

We’ve been on the island for two rainy dreary days. With tropical storm weather, our days have been a little constricted but in return we have kicked off our research project early, building research equipment i.e. quadrants. This morning however we woke up to partly sunny skies and were able to get in a decent dive practicing identifying various corals and algae. Some of our favorites include Eusmilia fastigasta (flower coral), Montastrea cavernosa (great star coral), and Ventricaria Ventricosa (sea pearls).

Our mornings begin with a wakeup call from resident roosters and a seaside breakfast followed by the POA (plan of action) for the day.

So far so good…no one has been lost at sea or eaten by a shark.

After overcoming some fears of doing a giant stride entry into a rocky sea pool, we braved the conditions and completed a dive each morning.

So far so good…no one has been lost at sea or eaten by a shark. Looks like we’ll have the worst of the weather over by tomorrow and be diving more often after it clears up.

That’s all for now, more stories to follow. So long from all of us and our mascot Scooter.