Finally Monitoring

The weather has been good for the past week and some of us have actually been able to start monitoring. We have ten sites that we try to complete transects for and we are finishing up wi th our fourth site this week. Today we are not diving because weather has picked up again but at least I can say I got some monitoring in before our ten weeks is up, which our last day is next Thursday. Weird! Time has gone by soooo fast in the last couple weeks but at least I get to start my placement soon, which I'm super excited about. I will be completing my divemaster course at Dreamtime in Mahahual. Before I do that I will be travelling around Mexico for our two week interphase, which I'm also excited about. I did have my 50th dive the other day but I know once I will be doing my placement I will at least get my 100th. So although weather hasn't been the greatest on base this phase, I will get to be doing a lot more diving for three more months. Woohoo!!!

Finally Monitoring

No Diving :(

We have only gone diving once in two weeks which totally sucks but at least today we went to Chacchoben and saw some more ruins. The ruins were small but still really gorgeous. We also still haven't finished rescue diver but I think we will this week and hopefully be able to dive. The weather has been pretty bad. It's been really windy and on and off raining. Hopefully the weather will get better since we only have two more weeks. :(

No Diving :(

Rain, rain, and turtles

It has been raining on and off the past several days but the last two nights we were in Tulum for turtle monitoring. We were walking the beach in the dark from 9pm to 5am. It is way tiring but so worth it. For both nights we saw five turtles and three of them were nesting, it was such a fantastic thing to witness. We measured them, checked for injuries, checked for tags, marked the nest so it wouldn't be stepped over by tourists, and if needed then moved the nest to a little higher ground. I don't think I could do the time every night but the two nights I was there I will always remember, even though the second night we were hammered by rain all night. Speaking of rain, due to weather we haven't been diving in almost two weeks which really sucks. Hopefully the weather will improve over the next few days though so we can actually monitor and finish rescue diver training. So by next entry I hope I can talk about diving and I'll talk more about base life as well. Adios.

Rain, rain, and turtles

Turtle Monitoring to come!!!

So there hasn't been diving since Tuesday due to weather but when we did dive that day we came across a pod of dolphins on our way to our dive site. They were so close to our boats and so beautiful, I squealed like a little girl every time I saw one jump out of the water haha. This week though we have been continuing more rescue diver training and we are almost done until we are certified and I just hope I never have to use the skills in real life. On a different note for the beginning of next week I get to go turtle monitoring (turtleling). Basically what we get to do is walk the beach at night and seek out nesting turtles and record information about them and make sure their nests are kept safe. I'm so beyond excited to be a part of this. I will write about how it goes in the next blog.

Turtle Monitoring to come!!!

General life on base..

So I have mostly talked about out of town trips and I haven't talked much about what it's like on base. Well for starters if you can't live without showering everyday and you eat meat and cheese everyday then this would not end well for you. We have a cold shower every four days and we eat mostly vegetables, pasta, rice, and porridge for breakfast. It's a good meal for vegetarians but after awhile you get used to the food. It it a whole new experience for me being out here but it's also an amazing one, I feel like I'm actually doing a lot as a conservationist here and I may not be able to dive every day because of weather at times but it is certaintly more than I was doing back home. The bugs here also are a nuisance but hey bug repellent was invented, though I'm not sure how well it is working haha. In general though, base is on a beautiful beach and I feel like I am on paradise. I don't need to ask for much more.

General life on base..

Two Dolphins and TEFL

So I talked about seeing a shark the other day while diving, well yesterday while diving I saw two dolphins swimming by about 10 feet from me, it was amazing. Also yesterday was my first TEFL experience and it was so much fun, the kids were more interested in playing than learning though. I really hope I get to go back to the school and be with the kids.

Two Dolphins and TEFL

First shark sighting and TEFL experience

So yesterday when we went diving I saw my first shark while here in Mexico. It was a beautiful nurse shark and my dive buddies and I are all joking that the reason why we finally saw one was because a friend of mine here drew a shark tattoo on my arm, so my tattoo called to the nurse shark haha. Other than that I am in town getting prepared to teach TEFL for my first time and I'm super excited. So sometime this weekend I will have an entry about that amongst other life on base.

First shark sighting and TEFL experience