It was our last night, and suddenly we were in a heated argument with our team members. It was midnight, and we were all tired from our morning dives, just trying to wrap up our projects for the presentation in the morning.
My roommate and I started off every morning eating breakfast on our balcony, which had an amazing view of the water, where she would braid my hair for our dives. When I left for this trip, I was nervous because I didn’t know anybody who was going, but by the time I left, it felt like we had all grown so close. Especially a few of the girls there now hold a special place in my heart.
After breakfast, we would all walk across the beach to the dive shop, which was one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. The beauty of this island is literally indescribable, not even photographable.
From the second I took off my mask after the first dive, I knew that this would be a trip of a lifetime. Our first and last dives were my favorite.
A Spot of Tea?
Statue park in Grenada
The first day, we dove their famous statue park, which was in a marine protected area. I remember feeling like I had reached nirvana after this dive. I had wanted to see this specific statue since I was a kid. A lot of the dives were spent collecting data for our projects, which compared marine protected areas (MPAs), which are parts of the ocean with special laws protecting them, and non-protected areas.
We got to see many different reefs around the island, which was really interesting seeing all of the diversity. We also did a couple dives looking for coral spawning, which is a super rare occurrence of coral breeding that can only be spotted once a year at the right place at the right time, which makes me feel so lucky that I got to see it with my own two eyes.
Another day we worked with the dive shop to help clean their coral nurseries, which was a first for me. I really enjoyed these dives because it was a perfect hands-on experience and gave me the chance to perfect my buoyancy because we had to be still in the current and extremely careful not to touch the coral fragments.
Being on the dive boat was super fun. Everyday, the crew, Christina and Toby especially, were amazing, and they fed us ginger tea and cookies in between every dive. Now I drink ginger tea all the time at home. When I say this trip truly had an impact on my life, I mean it.
Izzy orients herself in the coral nursery.
After our dives, we would walk across the beach back to our cute little pink hotel and get to work on our projects. Our projects were a huge part of this trip, we had a science project based around the differences in MPAs versus non-MPAs, and a creative project that was fully in our own hands. I loved doing the creative project because it gave me an opportunity to make a collage of pictures I take on my dives, which I’ve been wanting to do for a while.
Leadership and Lifetime Moments
Compared to the trip I went on with SCUBAnauts, to St. Croix last summer, I took a much larger role on the science project than I did last year. From this, I feel like I learned a lot in taking the lead, and the process of scientific research, and it felt really great to finally present after all of the hard work we all put in throughout the week.
Our last dive was my favorite out of all of them; it was a trash cleanup dive in this one cove we dove at several times. We set off, eager to pick up the most debris, because we were competing with the other team. During this dive I got to see a bunch of little critters I wouldn’t have ever seen if I wasn’t moving stuff around to pick up trash.
I was disheartened to see all the fishing line scattered around the reef, but a moment I will never forget is when I noticed a coral fan swaying in the current, held down solely by a piece of line. To cut the bulk of the line off, I had to hold the fan in my bare hands. That’s like the equivalent of a surgeon holding a human heart! As a diver, you’re normally never supposed to touch coral, so this one truly a once in a lifetime moment.
This trip truly changed my life. I cherish the memory of every moment, because there was no place or time I can remember myself happier. When I’m struggling to finish my calculus homework, or my AP US History notes, I think about this trip, because it gave me a glimpse of what I want my future to look like.
— Izzy A., 1st Class Naut, Tampa Chapter
