Hey everyone!

Today the day began fairly early for all of us, with breakfast at 7. The breakfast was so great, I specifically loved the banana pancakes! Then we suited up and got ready for our first dive. It was great to finally get into the water, specially because it was so refreshing and because we got to see so many amazing species. I got specially excited when I saw a Highhat (a piscivorous fish, my taxa) eat another smaller fish! Sadly I didn’t have the camera with me on the first swim so I didn’t get to take a photo (yet, even if I had the camera I am not sure I would have been fast enough!)

After swimming for a while we came back onto land and got lunch. As always the food was great, I got some french fries, cole slaw, and two raisin cookies. After lunch we went for another swim, yet this time it was a completely different experience: we went through the mangroves of death. There, we all got aggressively bitten by the blood thirsty mosquitoes. We all ran into the water hoping it would stop, yet they followed us in. Thankfully, as we moved further in they left us alone and we were at peace to take photos (and attempt to complete the scavenger hunt!) I personally did not finish the scavenger hunt yet I got to see so many cool fish, sponges, and many hard and soft corals. After a while we got asked if we wanted to run back through the mangroves of death or swim a much longer route. Without a second thought we all chose to swim back. After we got back many of us took the chance to shower. Then we watched two presentations about hard corals and soft corals. Afterwards we got a much needed break before dinner. Later at dinner we got really tasty rice and cheesecake! To conclude our day, after dinner we all listened to a few more presentations, this time about coral reef framework and growth, sponges, ctenophores, and jellyfish. Today was very fun and also a little tiring, yet I’m more than sure that we will all be ready tomorrow morning after a well deserved 10 hour nap.

Hi everyone!

Today went pretty smoothly in terms of travel!

We all met pretty early at Rice and traveled to the IAH to board our flight which departed at 10:07am and arrived in Belize at 11:30am. We then got picked up by our tour guides who took us to a local supermarket where we all stocked up on a variety of things. I got bug spray, a local brand of chips and also a bag of cookies that seemed tasted really great! Then we were sent off by our guides on our next adventure: a boat ride that would take us to our final destination for the week: Glover’s reef. Yet before that we got some lunch from our guides which included tortillas, chicken, cheese and vegetables. During our boat ride, some of our team felt a bit sick due to the constant movement of the boat, particularly once we left the safety of the reef and were in open ocean. Thankfully once we reached land it appeared that the symptoms subsided for most people affected. Once we all reached the Glover’s reef, beyond a doubt we were all very exhausted. Yet even when exhausted we were all mesmerized by the beautiful sunset we got to see! Although I really liked the sunset (and even attempted to take a photo), my favorite part was dinner! The food was amazing! I remember during our first meeting we were told the food was great, at the time I remained skeptical, but that was not an overstatement. The mash potatoes and rice were so delectable! I also really appreciate how Hortence and Ashley cared about my vegetarian dietary restrictions, it was super nice of them! Before the night ended we all reconvened and met our three safety officers: Claudius, Adrian, and Ruth and also captain Eli.
Although today was tiring for all of us, it was also really exciting. I can’t wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow! Although I did not get to see any piscivorous fish today, I hope that tomorrow I get to encounter some of these!