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Fiji Shark Behavior & Conservation

SBC21 Update - Thursday, July 05, 2012

Here Sharky, Sharky!

Trip Log: Day 5: Here Sharky, Sharky!

Bula everyone!! Today marked the first day of the students being the cook crew for breakfast and dinners and our first leader of the day. On cook crew today, Mary Kate and Katie did wonderfully, and everyone’s tummies and taste buds agreed! The leader of the day, or LOD, was me, Kiersten.

After breakfast, we had advanced open water academics and a marine biology lecture, which sparked discussions within the group about the importance of oceanic ecosystems, characteristics of oceans, and food webs. Shortly after the discussion, we scarfed down lunch before zipping to the dive shop for our second day of dives. The water was a little choppier today than yesterday, but the dives were absolutely beautiful! Those of us who are working to get our Advanced Open Water Certiification—Van, Mary Kate, Katie, and myself, we got to go on a couple skill dives today and were all quite successful in those dives. PPlus, we got to enjoy a wreck and got to see two whitetip reef sharks! For some, it was their first shark sighting of the trip! How exciting!! From what I hear, Taylor and Parker had a wonderful set of dives as well, and they enjoyed the tranquility of the ocean and the beauty of their surroundings. They got to see some amazing animals, including a blue ribbon eel and a yellow and brown leafy fish! Did you find it in our photos? They camouflage very well.

On our walk back from the dive shop to the villa, Mary Kate pointed out a beautiful parrot in the canopy. It was a great bonding experience for the group; we all took a moment to relax, stop and smell the flowers so-to-speak, and enjoy the scenery. Taking a moment to take in the surroundings was a goal of mine today as LOD, so I’m glad that we accomplished that as a group. It felt as if it brought us closer together. We rounded out the day with journaling time, a great dinner, and some evening face masks for the girls and a night excursion for the boys.

Well, I started the day off with this quote, and I find it fitting that I end the update with it as well: “I have faith in life, and life responds in kind.”

We’ll chat with you all tomorrow! It’s our first shark dive tomorrow, so we can’t wait to tell you all about it!

-Kiersten, Leader of the day