June 24th Day 4

The day started off as I guess you could say "the usual way". We dove Gump Reef to do the damselfish/anemone survey's today like I have the past three days. I am still trying to get the hang of counting them because it isn't as easy as it looks. It is often hard to tell which fish are living on the anemone and which fish are just around it, but practice makes perfect. After that we prepared for a dive off the fore reef (the part of the reef farthest from the island). We went in the biggest boat used for research at the station which is about 20 feet long with 6 people. For the dive we did out there, I got to dive with Tom who is a really cool guy. Tom is the other researcher along with Andy who I will be working and diving with for the remainder of the summer. I am very happy to be paired with him to do research because he is so friendly and easy to talk to. He is one of those people who in hard times I could never see myself not getting along with. He is also about 8 years older than me which is cool because he makes me think where I will be in 8 years from now. He finished his dissertation within the last few years working with herbivorous wrasses (a type of fish) and now is working on a collaborative effort to understand the role of herbivorous fish in shaping algal communities after large, weather driven disturbances. Since the disturbances dramatically reduce the amount of coral present, algae is given space to grow and he is studying how the fish affect the post disturbance, algal community composition. When we headed out to the site, it was the first time I have been out in a boat here in Moorea. On our way to the site, I was able to see the whole north side of the island along with the Hilton bungalows in the distance. It was a awesome site and I can say that the whole ride out my eyes were fixed on the natural beauty all around me. When we got to the site, after we located all the moorings where boats could tie off on, we got into the water. From the surface, you could see the bottom as if it was about twenty feet below. I thought the dive was going to be shallow but boy was I wrong. When I jumped in with Tom, who showed me around the dive site, I looked down and was amazed by the clarity of the water. It looked like I was really close to the bottom at the surface which I knew wasn't possible. As I descended from the surface, the bottom did not seem to get closer at all despite the fact that I could see it so clearly. It took what seemed like forever to get to the bottom even though it appeared to be just feet away from me. It was then I realized how clear the water really was. I believe the visibility was at least 100 feet. I have never experienced anything close to 100 foot visibility and I was blown away. I can honestly say what I saw was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in my entire life. Although it is hard to smile with a regulator in your mouth, I'm pretty sure I had the biggest smile you could possibly have. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I looked around and saw coral heads and fish all around me. I even saw a spawning cloud from what I would assume were wrasse fishes (a plume of sperm and eggs). Although I did not witness the spawning run by the fish, I could see the cloud left behind despite the fact that it was very far away from me. Everything about the dive was incredible. I was especially excited to realize that this was where I will be spending the vast majority of my time. God only knows the cool and crazy things that I will be seeing out there at the fore reef. When we came back in, we broke for lunch and then I started on making some cages for Tom and Andy. Since I enjoy building and constructing things, making the cages hardly even seemed like work to me. While I worked on the cages with Tom, I asked him about his path to where he is now and expressed my interests for my future to him. He was very open to answering any and all questions that I had for him and it was after that I knew that this summer was going to be a life changing experience for me being able to work with people like Tom and Andy. They both are marine biologists that have an interest in fish which aligns perfectly with my own interest. I just got back from eating an interesting version of pad Thai for dinner. Although we wanted to clean our dishes, the water supply on the island has apparently gotten to a critical level so there is no water to clean our dishes with. We therefore were forced to put our dirty dishes inside the oven to prevent infestation by all sorts of critters. Now I'm about to crawl onto my bed and go to sleep. Until later.