1. Nothing super fun and exciting and out of the ordinary was happening UNTIL
2. My internet died again.
3. Now, I would love to have gone to an internet cafe and write a post, BUT
4. I've been working almost every day of the last two weeks due to Easter holidays.
Basically the day I was going to post something cool and exciting, the internet died and it has just now been resurrected. I blame the kangaroos. Or the wombats.
So I do have quite a bit to update on... firstly WHALES.
Last week, it was a totally normal, average day at work. About 80 people on the boat, light winds, pretty good visibility. One of my co-workers and I were standing on the snorkel platform gearing up people and getting them in the water. I saw a big splash out of the corner of my eye. Now, this is not unusual, there are lots of shallow bits of coral around, and waves break over top of them all the time. But then I saw a big fin come out of the splash!
Initially we thought it was a huge school of dolphins, but then we realized they were huge and black, which can mean only one thing! Pilot whales!
They look pretty similar to dolphins, but they're much larger and black. But these guys were amazing. They were maybe 50 meters from the boat at the closest and they were jumping and diving and breaching. Our passengers were slightly intrigued, whereas the crew were standing on the deck, mask and fins in hand, ready to jump in if they got any closer. In total there were probably close to fifty whales, including some babies! Throughout the day, we would hear them occasionally in the water, which meant they hadn't gone far, but we didn't see them again after the morning.
A few days ago, I had another really fun animal encounter. It was a really chill day on the boat, only 30 passengers, so I was able to jump in for a quick fun dive. I found this awesome cuttlefish, which are one of my favorite critters for sure. They're really smart and you can tell when you look at them that they're really thinking about things. They change color and pattern really quickly, giving them some amazing camouflage. But I chased this guy around for the better part of my 20 minute dive, watching him change colors and get more comfortable around be and letting me get closer and closer and closer. Cuttlefish are AWESOME.
So now, things on the boat are going to start changing a lot... we're pulling out Reef Experience (my boat) for refit. She's going to be all nice and shiny... getting new floors, new chairs, a whole new interior. The boat's going to be out of the water for at least 6 weeks. During that time we'll still be running Compass, which is our company's other boat. I know I'll definitely be helping out with refit things, which means I need to go buy steel-toed boots... what? But it'll be interesting to see the boat come out of the water and get to have a hand in some of the work. Chances are I'll also be working on Compass a little bit. I'm not entirely sure how its all going to go just yet, but Rex comes out of the water on Tuesday, so I'll be able to let you know soon!
Now, I pinky pinky swear it will not be so long until my next post. I'm sure I'll have some interested stories to tell about me in steel-toed boots with power tools.
Love and fishes!
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