March 3rd

These are busy days as we watch the time fly by.  Divers have been busy on land as well as sea.  This morning we completed a beach clean up on a small stretch of coast inside the marine park reserve.  SES students filled the back of a small truck with debris ranging from tires to souls of shoes.  In the process they picked over 1300 food bags and 330 plastic soda bottles.  Many more items were also collected and counted.  Although they felt they only put a dent into the mounds of trash there efforts were greatly appreciated but the coordinators of the clean up.

Study Study Study!

If you are wondering about the photos, this is how we do class in Roatan.  Today we completed our science dives.  Dive buddies were given a section of reef to observe and sketch.  They recorded data on  the fish that interacted with their section of the reef.  This was done to get students to slow down and really study the reef as an ecosystem.  They really did a fantastic job.  It is hard to believe we only have two dives left.

Our Classroom

Students have already taken over a thousand photos and will be selecting some of their best for a "Best of Roatan 2011".  We will put these on a DVD along with all the photos each students has taken,  I think your will be amazed and impressed.  I know we are.

Wednesday, March 2nd

Sorry there was no post yesterday; it was a busy day.  All but one of our Open Water students finished their certification in the morning and then they all had a nice afternoon dive where they got a chance to enjoy the reef as certified divers and try their hand at underwater photography.  The students took amazing pictures and we will try to post some tomorrow, but trust us they were great!  Then they got a chance to do a little shopping before we went out for yet another excellent meal.  A few students even purchased some coconut milk which involves a chilled coconut being cut open with a machete and a straw inserted for drinking the delicious milk... mmmm!

Today our last open water diver finished up her training and now EVERYONE is officially certified!!  That makes 13 PADI Open Water Divers and 4 PADI Advanced Divers.... Congratulations to all our certified divers!!!  

All the students dove together today.   On their first dive they either took more underwater photos or completed a science dive.   For the science dive they observed a small section of the reef for about 15 minutes and as a buddy pair one student sketched the area of the reef and the other observed all the fish that came in an out of the section and what they were doing.  This helped them to see the smaller things happening in the reef and how the fish and coral interact.

Monday, February 28th

Hawksbill Turtle

Peacock Flounder

Today the open water divers completed almost all of their underwater skills and they all passed their written test... YEAH!! Tomorrow morning they have their 4th and final open water dive for certification and then they will all officially be PADI Open Water divers.

The Advanced divers finished their 5th dive for certification this morning (Underwater Photography) and they are now officially PADI Advanced Open Water divers... YEAH!  They then did a second photo dive this afternoon and took some amazing pictures.  (The ones in this post are from their cameras.)

Yellow Goatfish

This evening we are listening to some speakers from the Roatan Marine Park, which protects the beautiful coral reef in which we are doing our dives.  We will get to hear about how the Marine Park originated and about their efforts to protect and maintain the delicate ecology of the reef.

Reflections from the Advanced Divers

Honduras has so far been an all around amazing experience.  The exposure to new culture, tastes, and habits has served as an exceptional and educational experience. Venturing down to 100ft below sea level is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. The fish here are amazing and the reefs are huge.  You wouldn’t think a fish could be half yellow and half purple, as well as bright, but it can. In fact, that’s what Fairy Basslets look like and they’re my favorite fish. As I go I continue to recognize more fish, creatures, and coral. For instance during our deep dive this morning we saw Bipinnate Sea Plumes, which is a type of soft coral. Its depth is typically 45-180 ft and it’s common to South Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean, which explains why we saw them. The greatest things about scuba diving for school is that while diving I recognize and understand what I’m looking at and am therefore able to see so much more.     From, CZ

            Roatan Honduras has been lots of fun. In the advanced dive group we have been working on skills the last couple of days in order to get certified. So far we have done a Peak Performance Buoyancy dive, a Navigation dive, a Deep dive at 110 feet, and tonight we’re going on a Night dive that everyone is looking forward to. We’ve seen lots of cool things including Reef Squids, Groupers, Lobsters, Jellyfish, and many more. It has been an all around great experience because we are exposed to different foods, a different culture, and new dive experiences all day, every day. Its kind of fun because when we do two dives in one day it feels like each one was on it’s own day. We are having lots of fun seeing and identifying different organisms underwater and also seeing cool things like geckos on land. On our Deep Dive today at the Aguila shipwreck we saw a yellow variation of Branching Tube Sponge. They are mostly found between twenty and eighty feet, and can be anywhere from six to eighteen inches in size. They inhabit coral reefs; often growing on walls, and are cool to see. I am looking forward to all the dives in the future and the things we will get to see.   From SO

Today we went on a deep dive today to a shipwreck called El Augila, a sunken cargo ship 107 feet down and the dive was amazing. The experiences that we are making now are ones I will never forget. The culture, the lifestyle, the people. All unforgettable.  I’m really glad that I got the opportunity to go to such an amazing place for my field study because I really like diving and I haven’t been out of the country before and I feel that this was an excellent place to do so.  This place seems to be on a whole different planet than the United States and so far I've really been enjoying it.

Black Grouper

·      Member of bass family

·      Black rectangle pattern with white in between

·      Range is from 30ft-100ft

·      We saw this one at 80ft

·      Larger fish 4ft long

·      Very curious fish

·      Harmless to humans

·    From TC

The organism in the picture is a Brown Garden Eel that the Advanced Open Water group saw at about 107 feet deep. In the picture there are two Garden Eels sticking their heads up from the sand. Besides seeing the two Brown Garden Eels, I saw several Yellowmouth Groupers, Queen Angelfish, Blue Tangs, Yellowtail Snappers, Caribbean Lobsters, Fairy Basslets, and several more. A lot of the fish we encountered were very social and curious, so it was easy to get a clear picture and idea of what they looked like so I could identify them later.  From SC

Dive Training Day 2

Sorry for the late entries but we only have internet connection until 9 pm and most days we don’t get done with class work until 8.  This leaves little time to get the Blog done but we will do what we can to keep you informed.

Another tiring day complete.  Open Water divers completed 2 open water skills dives and were treated to Nassau Grouper, Ocean Triggerfish, Squid and a sea turtle close enough that they could have touched it (but respectfully didn't).  This was their first view of the reef and their first view of a coral reef from below the surface.  They returned with exciting stories about what they saw and were proud to announce they had seen a Nassau Grouper before Mr. Nowicki (yes I was jealous!)  They also completed all their skills for their instructors.  Then back to the classroom to learn about dive tables and planning safe dives.  Tomorrow it is back in the ocean for more skills and then written exam.  Then it is one more dive, the next day, to complete their certification.

            Advanced divers completed 2 dives.  The first was a deep dive to a sunken wreck at 108 ft.  See the picture for proof (I was standing on the bottom hence the 106ft.)  After the skills at depth divers toured the wreck enjoying great visibility and a school of large black groupers which followed us throughout the dive.  Advanced had the afternoon off because this evening was the night dive.  Mrs. McBrien described it as the best night dive she has ever been on and it certainly was memorable.  Although a few students were stung by jell fish (painful but not dangerous) all were treated to some amazing treats you can only see on a reef at night.  Lobsters were crawling across the bottom, their eyes glowing in the flash light beam.  Our dive instructor and guide found an octopus that had just eaten a lobster and we watched it change color as it tried to glide out of our lights.  The biggest treat of the dive is when we turned off the flashlights to enjoy a light show put on by small ocean organisms.  In the dark you can see glowing blue dots of light from small organism that produce light to attract a mate or escape predators.  For us it was like watching fire works, except we were 40 ft. underwater.  Tomorrow Advanced divers complete a photography dive and then will be certified PADI Advanced SCUBA Divers.

The posts above are from our Advanced divers and describe some of the things they saw on their deep dive,

Day 1 has Ended

Day one is finished and what a great day it was.  Open water divers took their first breath underwater and completed 3 sets of skills, including the dreaded mask removal skill.  Every one did a fantastic job.  We are very proud of them.  Advanced divers completed their underwater navigation skills and tomorrow will complete their deep dive (100 ft.) and the night dive.  We finished up with a good pizza dinner and ended the night with some journaling and fresh pineapple, cantaloupe and watermelon.  Time for rest!

Problem Solved

Well parents should be proud of the language skills students have developed.  I should be able to access the blog from now on thanks to the translation skills of a couple of our students.  When the screen came up in spanish I was lost but with the help of my translators I now can access the blog again.

A We arrived with now incidents yesterday and literally jumped right in the our field study.  After some introductions to our wonderful hosts and a quick tour of the local area we headed off to Half Moon Bay for a snorkel trip.  Students were eager to get wet and see some of the ocean.  They did a fantastic job.  For some it was their first taste of salt water, for others it was their first trip to Roatan but for all it was a positive experience.  We went to a mexican restaurant for dinner last night, and breakfast consisted of home mate tortilla's eggs and refried beans.  Delicious.  This morning Open water divers headed to the classroom for videos and quizzes.  After lunch they will head out to the bay for their confined water dives.  Advanced divers wen through their Peak Bouancy skills (how to float well)  and headed out to the reef to practice.  We will try to down load a couple pictures later today.

More later