Sorry I’ve been radio silent. Roger has been reminding me that I’m due to make a post for days now, and so many things have happened that it has become impossible to put them all in one place. We have swum with dolphins, conquered the famous Guiffity challenge, and almost completed our DMT course. Our time in Utila is almost over. When we first got here, I was worried that it would be an awful mistake. We have been here for nearly six weeks; none of the dirt, giant spiders, open gutters, or trash has gone away, but the absolutely incredible people have changed the whole picture.
Roger mentioned that we had almost 60 Canadian students between the ages of 15 and 17 diving with us last week. The staff at the dive shop had the logistical challenges you can imagine coordinating training dives, rental equipment, and environmental lectures. For those of you who have also worked in theater, imagine hell week, but the cast is all participating in an activity that could kill them if they screw it up and they’ve never rehearsed. Roger had a student who would spit out his regulator (the part of SCUBA equipment with which a diver breathes) every time he panicked, and it appeared he panicked when he put his face in the water (an essential aspect of diving). I had a student who bolted to the surface because he felt a little pressure in his ears, saying he thought the instructor had told him to perform a CESA – a technique used to surface only in the extremely unlikely event that you run out of air and are not close enough to your buddy to use their back-up. It was a comedy of errors, to be sure.
Despite the hilarious calamities, it was amazing introducing people to the underwater world that I love. I think that’s one of the principles on which Operation Wallacea – the program that brought the kids to Utila – operates. They pair graduate students conducting marine research with high school kids interested in science; the graduate students get research funding and provide educational lectures while the students learn about reef ecosystems while diving on them every day. Since working with them, I have learned to identify countless forms of coral, scout out bearded fire worms and Pederson cleaner shrimp, and coach a scared diver into the water. The best thing I learned, however, is what makes me love diving in the first place: it makes me feel like a kid again. I’m curious about everything that is going on, excited about every creature I find, and thrilled to share each discovery. I guess I should really take more pictures for all of you.
For now, you’ll have to be satisfied with a photo of this graduating class of divers. Yes, that’s me in the back trying to avoid being in the picture.
