SCUBA Diving Day!

Good evening everyone,

We woke up at 6:30 as usual, a little tired, but looking forward to an awesome day! Our morning exercise wasn’t as physical as it was mental; Anna, a certified (and epic) scuba instructor, taught us the basics of scuba diving. The majority of the lesson was in the form of an instructional video (featuring stellar music and fashion from an earlier decade) and then we headed out to the boathouse to get out gear together. Excited and a little nervous about what was to come, we prepared for the day by eating a wonderful meal consisting of poached eggs, corned beef, grits, cereal, and grapefruit.  

Learning all about scuba "gadgetry," as Anna calls scuba diving gear, like these handsome Buoyancy Control Devices (BCDs)!

After breakfast, we split into two groups in order to maximize the time we could spend diving. While one group headed out to The Saddle to dive, the other group had the incredible opportunity to investigate a deep sea creature that is believed to date back to prehistoric times. But before we talk about the creature, let’s introduce Mackeller ‘Mackey’ Violich. She is a graduate student at Florida State University who has already discovered two new deep sea species. Over the past two years, she has been studying deep sea life off of the coast of Eleuthera using high-tech cameras including the Medusa, an impressive instrument able to work under 2000 meters of water (which was also used on the Discovery Channel!). She gave each non-diving group a detailed presentation about deep sea life, her experience, and also explained to us how little we actually know about 98% of the oceans (the percentage that is considered "deep sea"). She then allowed us the chance to help her on her thesis. Now back to the creatures- isopods! We helped Mackey dissect a bunch of isopod specimens she collected this fall in traps. The goal was to determine their sex, measure them (width, tail length, carapace length, and total length), weigh them, and then remove their stomachs to analyze the contents searching for plastic consumption. It was a pretty sick (literally and metaphorically) experience.

An example of the isopods we analyzed today (Photo Credit: CEI). 

Editor's note: More photos coming soon when I figure out how to get them off my phone... The camera spent the day at the dive site!

While one group studied and dissected the deep sea creatures, the other group was out scuba diving! We practiced the basics we saw in the video, like specific hand signals, breathing through the regulator, clearing water from our masks, and reviewed the #1 important rule: NEVER STOP BREATHING! While small groups of 2-4 students were reviewing their skills, the other students got the chance to snorkel around the area and see cool sea life including seven Caribbean Reef Sharks, many types of fish, and a sea turtle! And the diving experience itself was SO cool. Many peers commented on how crazy it felt to be able to breathe under water. It was a pretty surreal experience that was described by Angelina as, “the best experience of my life.”

We all did it! Safe and sound and smiling!

A Caribbean Reef Shark that many of us saw! (Her name is Bellatrix...)

A Queen Triggerfish that many of us saw, too!

By the time everyone got back, we were all very tired from our long day. Instead of resting, many people chose to work on their gifts for our holiday gift exchange on Thursday night. We have decorated our 'invasive' Christmas tree with 'recycled' ornaments and have all been charged with making a homemade gift for a secret member of our group. People were all over the place hollowing out coconuts, scouring the beach for shells, and weaving leafs together. It really demonstrated how much our group has bonded throughout the trip because people were putting so much effort into their gifts and having so much fun doing so. Later, after dinner, we finished the day with a lesson on NAMO, or Nocturnal Adaptations of Marine Organisms. This was in prep for our night wade tomorrow so we can hopefully see some of these organisms in action! Woo hoo!

Goodnight,

Seysha and Evan