WK 9: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning

Mahe, Seychelles

Looking back on the week, it's a mind trip to think that there's just one week left on base before starting my Divemaster Internship. The last 9 weeks have been an incredible, eye-opening, and tumultuous voyage. I just can't believe this leg of the journey is nearly done. It's an interesting time, people have begun to stir, attempting to peer beyond the horizon in hopes of preparing for the future as they ready for the next wave.

*****

Week 9 was a pivotal week on base. Coral surveys were wrapped up and the sense that "this is it" began to weigh down on the expedition like an impending storm front. I was fortunate enough to begin my weekly adventures with a fun dive, followed by a number of successful surveys, and topped off with creative chaos in the kitchen for the final Friday Night BBQ. Moments and memories were made and shared, while laughs and smiles abounded. And yet, one could sense an undertone of unrest as the end of this phase approaches.

A fun dive is a rare treat, so having one on Monday was an unexpected surprise. Instead of spending an entire dive with my face inches from the substrate battling the surge, dodging urchins, and scribbling down details mercilessly on my dive slate, I had a chance to simply swim for fun with my dive buddies, Susie and Dan. We descended at Conception Channel (East Face) with no particular agenda other than to explore the site and, of course, have fun! We followed the contour of the granite reef, peering into crevices and under overhangs in search of megafauna and marveled at the site's natural beauty.

Work began on Tuesday, a Line Intercept and Invertebrate survey, with Amelia at Lighthouse (one of my favorite sites! The reef teems with life and is one of the more common places to spot turtles and other megafauna. Amelia and I completed our survey with time to spare, so we spent the rest of our bottom time exploring the site. As we neared the end of our dive time, Amelia spotted a large Marble Ray (about 1.5 meters!). We seemed to have a mutual curiosity with the creature, and spent the rest of our dive floating with our new-found friend.

Port Luanay, Mahe, Seychelles

The plankton pull and turtle dives were conducted routinely on Wednesday. Expedition members have been attempting to beat the all time record of 41 seconds. This phase Adam has set this phase's record at 43, but with one week left to go there is still a chance to set an all new best time. I am not in the contestant pool for best time. After my first plankton pull, I have been content to stick to Wednesday turtle dives, though they've all been turtle-less.

My BTEC Lead Day was rescheduled for Thursday, June 2, (the original date was marred by an unfortunate twist of fate). As BTEC Leader, I took on the roll of one of the staff members for the day, ensuring that base operations went smoothly and stayed on schedule. At 05:45, I joined the skipper to prepare the boat for the day's dives: writing up boat slates, preparing gear, and loading the boat for its morning launch. The rest of the day, I monitored base activities and led 2 successful (though difficult) Line Intercept Transect and Invertebrate surveys at Therese South.

The last Friday on base was a climactic day in 2 important ways: we completed the last of our coral survey sites and had our final Friday Night BBQ. Our last survey sites were conducted just around the channel at Port Luanay. The visibility was quite poor due to the high plankton concentration, but the site was beautiful nonetheless. My final survey took me into the shallow granite reef where I searched for invertebrates along the substrate and within the coral. Mindful of the surge, I successfully avoided a few urchins to the face and concluded my work triumphantly, surfacing with a smile and full slate of invertebrate data.

Kneading porridge bread

After surveying, I scurried off to the kitchen to prepare food for the BBQ. With supplies dwindling, I managed to pull together a carrot side salad and coconut lentil burgers while helping out with other edible endeavors- yummy! My carrot side salad was comprised of shredded carrot, freshly squeezed orange juice (including some natural pulp), and sliced frisiter topped with raisins and freshly shredded coconut (my hands are a battlefield- all scraped up from husking). The lentil burgers were a bit of an experiment. Patties were comprised of a mix of lentils, diced carrots, onion, ginger, garlic, as well as some oats and various spices. Each burger was rolled in shredded coconut and cooked in a pan until firm or when the coconut browned- delicious! At the end of the day, we had another delicious Friday Night BBQ to celebrate a week of hard work and a successful coral monitoring phase.