Daily Blog 11
We went out to the fore reef this morning. We got on the boat and went outside the reef crest, and the current was pretty strong. The waves were making it difficult to swim, but Scott and Javier said that the conditions were surprisingly tame. I now understand the importance of atolls and corals on wave movements. I was exhausted swimming and keeping up with everyone, but I got to see a yellow tail sting ray before it quickly swam away.
In the afternoon we went out to the reef to collect sea urchins! At first, I was scared of getting their spines in me because I’ve seen my friend get a spine stuck in his foot, and it looked painful. I found so many sea urchins but I only used the tongs to pick them up. I got to put them in my hand while counting the urchins and measuring their length. We then moved outside the Marine Protected Area (MPA) to collect urchins and I got more comfortable picking the urchins up, so I got a few with my hands. They were so cute and didn’t stab my hand except my thumb got scraped up. I used the tongs to catch the Diodema Antillarium, which was absolutely ginormous compared to the others. I had no idea that their spines are venomous so I’m glad I used the tongs. While swimming in the afternoon, I managed to get hurt by a fire coral though. While navigating my way through the coral, I made a sharp turn and the small patch of skin on my ankle that wasn’t covered by my water booties or lycra dive skin hit the fire coral. I was glad that it was only a small patch of skin and how much better my ankle felt after Javier, the water safety officer, poured vinegar over my ankle.
At night we finally got to do our dermit (hermit crab derby) race. I cheated and caught a Caribbean blue crab instead of a hermit crab. I named mine Rihanna. Rihanna was very feisty and had a hard time not attacking me and staying on the race course. She ended up trying to climb the wall of the dining area in the second heat and eventually escaping, ultimately disqualifying her. She’s still a winner in my heart though.
