Heron Island Days Pt 6

Okay, so today has been pretty draining. I woke up exhausted but pulled myself out of bed to get up so I could study a bit more for the test this morning. There was a small break where we had breakfast. It was pancakes, which were so delicious, I was sad when they ran out of them. Good news, the test went well, I got 100% on it, so I feel happy. There was extra credit stuff if we got all the fish, but sadly that didn’t happen for me. I still got 51/51 so I’m good with that. We had the rest of the morning after that to hang around. I know some of the others went to the resort gift shop, but I went to go and chill in the library, so I could read for a bit. Kennan was in there with me. He’s a cool guy too.

Eventually we all met up for lunch so we could eat and boy was today a treat! Pat was great and made us what I think was naan bread pizza. It was so good, and was just what we needed before we had to head out on another outer reef excursion. Today I was a little more prepared for what we were doing. As such, I didn’t have as hard of a time getting in the boat nor a problem with holding on to the sides. Even backflipping off of the boat was easier this time, since I knew what to expect. I also didn’t have a lot of water go into my snorkel. One bummer though, was that I didn’t get a GoPro this time since everyone else was already using the ones we had available. That was a bit sad.

It was really cool today. We went to two new locations along the reef and it was nice and sunny out so we could see more. The first one was called Coral Canyons because there are these canyons in the coral that divide two different parts of it. It was super cool because we could see the different layers between the coral. There were also a lot of fish out. Since we had just taken the test I could also name a lot more than usual. It’s been really awesome out there. Lots of parrot fish and a fair amount of rabbitfish too. At the second sight, we came across even more types of fish. There were at least six cleaning stations that I passed, and all were busy. Russ and Hailey kept on being hounded by one of the fish that they had disturbed. It was so funny. Russ is a really big guy that can be intimidating and there he was being chased around by a fish almost a thousandth of his size. I was dying! There were also around five turtles that I saw too! One even got up really close to me since I was just floating and if I had wanted to (or been allowed to) I could have touched it!!!! It was so amazing!

A few moments later I even saw a white tipped shark swim past me, as well as a big grouper just at the edge of my visibility. At least, I think it was a grouper. I asked Edd about the general size and he suggested it might be a grouper. I had to tap out pretty soon after, since I was pooped, so I headed to the boat to hang with Nora and Brynn who had tapped out too. We left fairly soon after, and once I showered and changed into my clothes I had enough time to socialize with some of the others in the lab. After that, we had another sunset at the jetty, which was nice, and we even saw a black tipped shark and a few sting rays. This is also when Edd and Trish told us that they made a mistake in our manual. Apparently the cowhead stingray is actually the cow tail stingray. Shame on them.

We just ate food, which was some awesome pilaf, chicken, cheesy veggies, and a great bite of dessert. We have a late lecture tonight, so I figured I would rush to get this done before that started, since I know I’m going to be out like a light as soon as lecture is done. So that’s all for now!