well, i have sucessfully crammed my brain full of 153 latin words and the combinations they go in to form the names of 51 species of coral. whew! now i just need to remember them...
next on the agenda, about 80-90 species of fish! at least i only need to know the common names of those suckers.
i am excited though, to report that i have been assigned to coral study for mexico! which means i'll be able to spend most of my time in my favorite diving stance: hovering upside down staring corals in the polyp! (similar to staring something in the face, but much more intense!) My family always teases me about how often they find me in that position during dives, just hovering face down, while they zip by after fish. My favorite is nighttime, because then everyone poofs up and comes alive! all of the Diploria (brain corals) who could easily pass for large boulders during the day reveal themselves as huge colonies of living, feeding organisms under the cover of night. all of their tentacles unfold and their mouths pucker up, drawing plankton into their guts and it's amazing.
all this to say that i am very much looking forward to hovering over corals every day for 10 weeks.
but sadly, instead of rambling on about the wonders of the reef, i must return to my cleaning. tis the season to clean, after all!
46 days.
Um I definitely commented on this earlier--I don't know why it didn't show up! Anyway, I pretty much just said I'm really happy for you, but I think you're weird...although I love you anyway!
ReplyDeletePS I like your pretty beach picture at the bottom!
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