Today we had the second and third of our cetification dives. Some of the skills we did were things that we had done in the pool such as mask clearing and taking off our Buoyancy Control Devices (BCDs) while in the middle of the ocean.

Then, we had the chance to explore around the dive site called Bimini Road - an area with a lot of biodiversity such as scorpion fish, stingrays, grunts, and various other fish. I felt very relieved that I didn't get stung by fire coral like yesterday. [Note: It's not uncommon to be stung by fire coral. Aquarium educator Tim reported being stung during a 2010 expedition.] 

It was nice to see how animals are able to live in an environment peacefully instead of humans who argue to find approval. It's kind of like a city of fish with one thing on their mind - survival - but instead of arguing or violence, they all just adapt. Something that stood out to me today was how well the scorpion fish and the stingray can camoflage themselves. If we couldn't see it, then how could their prey see it?


Another big moment today had to do with the heads, or bathrooms, on the boat.
I was explaining to some of the TURTLES that I had not done #2 since Wednesday. As we were sharing our stories it got me to thinking that it was time. I went into the head and...let me explain to you about how the head on a boat works. First, you need to turn the dial timer. It goes up to five minutes. So the toilet is not like any ordinary toilet, it has a foot pedal on the bottom which is used to flush. You'll know when to flush when it reaches the 30 second mark.

The challenge is to make sure that the toilet does not clog or get backed up. I was nervous the first time I used the head because I was scared that I might break it and I would have to wake up the captains to fix it. Today was a true accomplishment in many ways.

-Josh