On Friday we went to two new dive locations in the morning to run transects and look at the number and species of fish we saw. It was really fun to go to locations different from our usual spot at Yellow Sub dive shop, which is like a minute from our house. After the first transect where my tape was going all over the place, I started to get the hang of it and only swam along one depth contour and my tape was laid out much much better. This increased my confidence in terms of underwater transects - thank goodness because the entire semester is going to consist of reef research. The sites had a different variety of corals and more fishies and I liked seeing more of the island on our way to the sites! In the afternoon, we had class about diving physiology and rescue diving, which were interesting, ya know.
That evening several girls and I walked to a nearby pizza place, Pasa Bon Pizza ("Have a good pizza," in Papiamentu), because we were all really craving pizza. It was delicious and pretty cheap! Next, the whole group hit the town to celebrate Shelby's 21st Birthday! We went to the only club on the island and when we got there there was this one guy really bustin' moves on the dance floor. Being the intense dance-lover that I am, I couldn't resist hitting the dance floor with Crystal. We broke it down, pop-and-lock-ghetto-lovin'-American-students-outta-control-maybe-being a-little-too-extreme-style. I've never danced or sweat so much in my life. It was a blast! Afterwards, Amelie and I decided to go for a nightly snorkel and we saw my dear friends the bioluminescent dinoflagellates.
Saturday was a pretty chill day, aside from the fact that I got to go the supermarkets and get food!! Each week we are able to ride into town to go shopping for food for the week (mostly breakfast, snacks, and some dinner foods because we're provided with lunch and dinner every day except Friday and Saturday). Last week, I had missed the vans to the stores by about one second (I literally watched the vehicles drive away...) so I was on my last rations of individually boxed cereals I brought with me. I was pretty excited to go shopping and get food for the week! It's really incredible what a difference having fruit and some peanut butter makes - I'm happier because I have snacks. What a fatty, I know. Anyway, the rest of Saturday was pretty uneventful, aside from doing some homework and Skyping with some friends back home.
We basically had an entire tour of the island on Sunday, which was amazing! We went to the salt pans and slave huts of the southern part of the island, saw the waves on the eastern coast, saw the mountains (yes, I call hills mountains because I'm from Rhode Island and we have NO mountains) of the north, and got to dance the harvest dance with the Bonairians at a bar in the middle of nowhere. The island is covered in cacti and was formed by volcanic rock and ancient coral reefs. We were able to see different villages and dive sites, indian cave markings, and even a windsurfing place we definitely want to revisit! Seeing the island was a great way for us to really feel a part of the culture and environment that is Bonaire. It is such a beautiful place and I'm so thankful to be here!
Today we went on a field trip to Lac Bay (pics not here, sorry!), which is a little inlet that has sand and relatively shallow, calm waters and is lined by mangroves. We had a tour of a mangrove swamp with all three mangroves (red, white, and black), tons of bird species, and tons of mud. Obviously I would be the one to step in all of the muck and sludge - but I loved it, so that's ok! I was wearing Liz Lee's Tevas (which got tons of looks of approval, btw) so I was equipped for adventure! At the bay we went snorkeling around the seagrasses and mangroves. The visibility wasn't the greatest, but the water was so blue and the sand was so white I was in heaven. After our field trip, we came back to the station and had our first official class, our Tropical Marine Conservation and Biodiversity course, which I am sure I'm going to enjoy, especially with all of these field trips and whatnot.
Clearly this weekend has been quite eventful, eh? Things are really starting to pick up here and I'm loving every moment. Below are just a few pictures from our tour on Sunday - check out my Facebook for more!
Slave huts - the Dutch built these for the slaves only 20 years before slavery ended on the island. Before that, they were left on their own, without shelter or fresh water.
At 1000 Steps dive site. There were actually only 72 steps, but I'm sure it feels like 1,000 steps with dive gear!
Please ignore my multiple chins, but I'm up on top of a "mountain" overlooking Kralendijk, where we're staying, as well as Klein Bonaire, that little island off the coast of Bonaire. I still feel like I'm living in a dream.
Until next time, bon nochi!
No comments:
Post a Comment