16/04/11 Week 2 at Cap T
It’s the end of our second week, and things at camp have been getting better and better as we have all become accustomed to our new lives. Due to tidal effects, we were given an extra hours lie in most days as well, which always helps! The week began with an epic turtle rescue, after a local Seychellois brought three newly hatched turtles to base. Volunteers and staff alike rushed to the beach to see if we could find the nest from where they hatched. It was found on one of the beaches further round in the bay, where another 15-20 hatchlings were helped into the water, along with the three which were brought back from base. Having had lectures this week on how few turtles make it to adulthood, we wish these little fellas all the luck they need on their new journey. The start of the week also had us undertaking our first turtle dive, where the dive is dedicated to a search for turtles, so more can be documented about these creatures as so little is really known. The idea of the dive was to follow our compasses to form U shaped patterns in the water in our hunt, although much to the amusement of the skippers and boat bitches, few seemed to master. We have now finished all our workshops on coral, and are well into our coral spots, with everybody getting far more familiar with the different types, hoping that in the next week or so we will be starting our surveys, as long as we pass our exam. We have also started planning our lessons for the International Seychelles School, where twice a week volunteers teach the 4th grade about the ocean and how it stared. Next week’s lesson will be on how the world formed, and the formation of the Seychelles. The aim of all these lessons is to teach the children how they can help with the conservation of the Seychelles, and also gives them some fun time on the beach! The end of the week saw our Friday night BBQ themed SUPERHEROES. Many volunteers and staff made the best of little resources to come up with inventive costumes, from teenage mutant ninjaturtles made from egg cartons, to the newly created shoe man. At the weekend most volunteers took advantage of the spare time to go into Victoria and Beau Vallon to catch up with friends and family on the internet, and relax by the beach. On Saturday night 12 volunteers and a few staff were treated to a night dive around Lilot Island with a few previous GVI Divemasters. The dive was a real treat, starting with seeing a swarm of giant marble rays on the descent. Seeing the water at night gave a totally different perspective to diving than before to many of us as it was our first night dive. The colours were bright and vibrant, and we saw far more soft corals than we had in the Bay, along with a few lobsters. A few other volunteers have gone to another dive site with the Centre today, whilst others are catching up on some well-earned rest, and fashioning costumes for the school lessons which will be starting next week. Until the next time, 
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