November 15, 2011
For our new 5-weekers, it seems like the beginning, but for us, it is now the beginning of the end. We only have a couple more weeks left here, and it is going to arrive really quickly. Even though most of us are constantly craving warm showers, coca cola or a decent laundry, we all now we are going to get very emotional comes to the time we have to leave this place.
Last week was another beautiful week of diving, socializing and fun. We finally heard about our work placement for the Divemasters starting in December, and I got my 1st choice! We will all be working in Beau Vallon anyways, but I will be working at Blue Sea Divers. The owners are French, as are most of the clients, so I think I should be a good fit at this dive center. I will also be living with some of my really good friends here, so I’m pumped! I get along with pretty much all the DM interns so I wasn’t too worried. It’s going to be an all-girls house with me, Sara, Emily and Nicole. I already live in the same dorm as Emily and Nicole, and Sara is so often in our room that it’s almost like she lives with us already. We will all share a house 5 minutes away from the dive shop and we do not have any hills to climb every day! We are 2 minutes away from the Internet café, the supermarket, and a 5 minute walk from the beach.
Everyone here is going through a Btec biological survey training, and part of our training was to lead a survey day on base. My day was last Wednesday, and it went smoothly. Part of the job is to make the schedule for the day based on the tides and what needs to be accomplished that day, give the briefing the night before, ensure the whole day runs smoothly and on time, make sure tanks are being filled and meals are being made, etc…
I also had probably one the greatest dives of my life the day after, and I still beat myself up for not having my camera with me! We saw a school of 30 devil rays, one white tip sharks, 6 spotted-eagle rays, 2 turtles, a massive humphead wrasse, 7 squids, a torpedo ray, lobsters, and two lionfishes. I thought my head was going to explode when we found ourselves in the middle of this gigantic school of rays, beautifully and harmoniously drifting and flying through the water. Yeah you do know I’m obsessed with rays. Here are some of my photos from other dives:
This weekend was the first weekend in town for the newbies, so we tried to make sure they knew where our favorite bar was before leaving them on their own. Some stuck around with us and we were able to show them around Victoria, Beau Vallon and the good things to know about both towns. We all went out to Lafaya, and all the GVI staff came out with us. It was fun to be altogether, and it led to some great photos! We said goodbyes to our great friend Alasdair (on the first photo on the right) who is going home after 5 weeks with us.
The days are definitely becoming drier and warmer, even though we still get a few intense rains once in a while. The diving has been great; this morning we had a 20m visibility, and although the water was infested with thousands of jellyfish, it was a very beautiful dive. We are completing a lot of coral surveys and we should be done by the end of the next 4 weeks.
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