Fish, its all about the fish.

The rainy weather did not improve for the rest of the second week and there was a shock for many of the Brits as they heard from home that there was a heat wave back in the UK -everyone carried on with working and learning in the Seychelles. Wednesday was the first turtle dive day. It was the first time for many volunteers to dive in buddy pairs without a guide or a member of staff. Most pairs successfully navigated under water except a couple who experienced compass malfunctions. Jimmy and Julia actually spotted a turtle and logged the details.

Friday was the first feared fish exam; however there were many passes and many of us were not far off from passing. In the evening, we had a mystery guest coming to talk to us. It was Udo Engelhard, a world renowned coral reef biologist, who specializes in coral bleaching and has also done research on the Crown of Thorns starfish. To top this enjoyable and very interesting evening, we were treated to a delicious Creole buffet cooked by two staff members of SCMRT – to celebrate one of their birthdays. The volunteers then had the rest of the weekend to relax and enjoy themselves before the second exam on the Monday which even more people passed.

The sun made its return on Monday to everyone’s delight. So far this week there has been plenty of mega fauna sightings, including very big bumphead parrot fish, humphead wrasse, sharks, turtles and a manta ray. However whale sharks are yet to be seen.

Fish, its all about the fish.