July 17th Day 27

This morning was marginal for going out to the field but Tom and I went out despite the weather. It ended up ok and the conditions underwater were not the best, but manageable to the point where we could comfortably dive. We did three dives that included deploying and retrieving a video camera that filmed our herbivory assays and finished the four invertebrate plot surveys that we needed to do at the rapids site outside of Cook's Bay. By the time we left, it was getting pretty dicey so it was a very good time to leave. I spent the rest of the day after we got back building cages for the coral experiments for Russ and Sally. We got to quit work early today however to go to a lookout above CREOBE called belvedere to see both Cook's and Opunahu Bay before sunset. On the way there, we dropped off some pots at the local snack shack along the way to allow us to order food for dinner tonight. We went up to the belvedere and I was amazed. Despite how dark it already was since the clouds were in the way, it was a spectacular site. You could see both bays clearly from the vantage point which made being at this beautiful, Tahitian backwood location even more desirable. When we came back down we picked up our pots we had dropped off to be filled with food and headed back to the station We ate a family style dinner from the white cart for dinner and then allowed people from the French station to come over for a going away party for one of our grad students named Anya. For the majority of the time I was talking to Mathieu about his time here and the amount of times we needed to hang out before he leaves to go do a two week tour of California and Nevada. He reiterated to me the need for me to come to the juice factory before he leaves despite the time I normally get off work. We were under the fierpote tonight but I couldn't help but take a peek out at the water and mountains at night. The moon was out in full force tonight which led me to wonder outside the fierpote to look at the beautiful view. I learned to make a French Caribbean drink with lime, sugar, and local rum that wasn't too bad. Once the rum was gone I brought out my Goldschlager for everyone to try. After that I headed back to my bed because I knew I had to get up early tomorrow. For now I think I'm going to sleep. Until later.