Hello from the Big South!

I'm here!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are many excuses I could offer for why I am just now (three weeks into my Turks and Caicos adventure) starting to write a blog. I could go on and on explaining my procrastination, but the only thing you need to know is that each of my excuses involve the very experiences I have had which make this blog necessary in the first place! SO please forgive me for not making this blog sooner, but I was too busy getting material to actually write it!

Alright, where to begin? Lets NOT start at the beginning…that would be overwhelming for me to write, and you to read. Lets start with an average day (as if any of them were average) at the School For Field Studies Marine Resource Management center in South Caicos…*initiating dream-like sequence*

I wake up in the morning to a rooster crowing. Looking up into my mosquito net, which covers my top-bunk bed, I wonder if I have actually slept past 6:30 today? Nope! My already sand-stained (was white when I came) watch says 6:10…but I get up anyway, that rooster will keep crowing until at least noon. I brush my teeth and attempt to comb my salty hair before walking outside into the slightly cool morning air. The sun has just come up and the light gives everything a warm orange glow. I can hear the waves lapping up on the dock below our school center as I look out onto the ocean surrounding me.

The breakfast bell (a hanging scuba tank hit with a wrench) rings at 7AM, giving us an hour before our first class starts at 8. We have 4 hour-long blocks of class each morning so that we will only be in the classroom for the cooler part of the day. It still gets pretty hot by the last one, but bearable since we have open doors and windows which catch some of the cool sea breeze.

We eat lunch at 12:30 every day, heading out afterwards for an “ID session” by boat to one of our snorkeling destinations. The ID sessions are to help us memorize the scientific names of many, MANY species of seaweed, coral, and reef fishes. Like, that blue fish from Finding Nemos name is not even close to Dori. Its a Blue tang, also known as Acanthurius coerules. Here are some of my other favorites…

French Grunts, Haemulon flavolineatum Stiped Parrotfish, Scarus iseri

OH! And by the way, I should mention that none of these pictures would be possible if it weren’t for the fantastic photography skills of my dear friend, Laura Stone. My “underwater” camera broke after only one week, so I have sadly been camera-less since then.

The afternoon usually winds down with a little group yoga sesh, jog around town, sea glass hunting at the jetty, or playing volleyball with some of the locals at our court next to the center. I try to get in as much adventuring as possible before its time to sit and watch the (always beautiful) sunset over the ocean.

After dinner at 6:30, there is time for us to study and read for class before bed…yeah sure! How can we be expected to study when there is an activity night event like Dominican dance lessons, night snorkeling, outdoor movies, or hide and seek (sardines style). If all else fails, we “waste” time staring into the incredibly bright stars and planets that come out every night.
*End dream-like sequence*

I promise to write about some of the more specific adventures I have been/will have here on South Caicos, but I want to give you all some idea of the life I have here day to day. I can hardly believe that the things I described above are becoming my routine. I feel incredibly lucky to be here and I pinch myself every time I stare into the turquoise water that surrounds what has now become my home.

Goodbye for now and many more posts to come!

~Dani