July 23rd Day 33

Today I headed out to the east side of the island with Keith and Jessica first thing in the morning to help with instrument replacements at LTER 4. The ride there was as smooth as could be. So smooth in fact that I was able to take some pictures of Temai on the way around the island. Temai is a world famous point break on Moorea where surfers can get just about the longest ride you can get. There weren't any surfers out at the time, but I did manage to get some cool pictures. Once we got to LTER 4 we got into the water and man was it clear. The visibility was incredible. It had to have been at least 120 feet which is about as good as I have seen out here. I did two quick dives with Keith and Jessica and then jumped ship onto Russ and Sally's boat to help them out with their work they needed to do at LTER 4. I did two more dives with them working on cementing eyebolts into the reef with Andy. He was using the underwater drill to drill holes while I came in after him to cement down the eyebolts with Zspar. We finished it in a couple of dives and since I had already made two dives before with Keith, they had me sit out for the last dive. I got the chance to talk to Sally while the rest went and finished up their work. We talked about study abroad experiences of Melissa and myself and also talked about the Tuamotus. She told me the diving out there was amazing and that she would like to go back herself but the start of school limits them since her and Russ are professors. We also talked about Berlin a whole lot and how she loved her trip there and really wants to go back. It was a beautiful ride back to the station. The clouds were so puffy and stretched as far as the eye could see. The sun lower in the sky by then made for some cool colors in the clouds. Once we got back the day was done and after I was done doing work, I came back up to my room to work on the blog as well as my Fulbright application. For dinner tonight we had tostadas that Stella made which were incredible. I haven't had a tostada in a long time and coming here to Tahiti and having one that tasted like back at home was awesome. After I worked for a little longer on things talked to Erica more about our trip and now I'm getting tired. Time to go to bed. Until later.