Out of hotdog buns?

Yeah, so we were running low on food here for a while. Our shipments of food to the center are biweekly, and they just didn't stock enough last time for some reason. Our regular meals were down to "Haitian refugee" status, according to Mike, the guy who makes the facility tick. I mean we were basically eating rice and some assorted vegetables. Oh and Conch. Its a big snail that lives in the water here. It's actually really good, the local establishments sell conch fritters, which are little pieces fried in batter, delicious. Anyways bagels were the first things to go, devoured by us hungry students. Then we ran out of bread, and so we were eating hot dog buns for a while as snacks, with peanut butter or whatever. My favorite was to put butter and cinnamon and sugar on a toasted hot dog bun. Anyways when I woke yesterday morning I walked out my door and was greeted by the welcome sight of the food boat incoming from the Dominican Republic. There was much rejoicing, and there were many bagels consumed that day.

We are working on corals and invertebrates identification now, so our afternoon snorkels are devoted to that. Its easier than the fish were since they don't swim away from you, but on the other hand I didn't know many by their common name to begin with and they are also hard to tell apart. Anyways, I'm finding it awesome how comfortable I am becoming in the water. When I'm snorkeling I hardly want to spend any time on the surface. It's just a great feeling to dive 20 feet down, and swim along the bottom of the ocean floor from one coral formation to the next one, taking time to stop and look at the small fish and invertebrates that make each one their home. Or to glide a few inches away from razor sharp fire coral blades that can cut and sting me. Or to post up inverted with my fins to air, balancing myself on a single piece of empty rock while I spy under ledges. Saw some spiny lobsters doing that yesterday, and found myself face to face with a spotted moray eel. It's a fun thing, even though our dive got canceled today I'm excited to just be snorkeling again.

I get to go do some underwater filming on saturday. That is the project I mentioned last post. Saturday afternoons we have some of our community involvement time, which for me, three other students, and one of the interns is to create a film for the community about coral reefs. It is a no budget project, we are basically doing it as an educational thing to show the community how amazing the reefs right off their coast are, since the only people that actually are very familiar with them are the fishermen who free dive there. It is going to promote sustainable fishing practices and educate people about behaviors that are harmful to corals. It will also give a biological and ecological overview of the coral reefs, geared towards all ages. There is a lot to work on, narration, music, structure, filming, editing, etc. I'm really excited about it, I think it is a great project, and even though I don't have experience in underwater filming, I have a decent amount of other media experience, and I am passionate about the subject. I think it is going to be a good thing for the community overall.