Magical Mystery Tour

Oh, you thought that title was a joke? Well it isn't. More on that later, but first...

We started out the morning with a dive at 8:30 (and yes all you skeptics I even made it to breakfast at 7:00), which was amazing. Of course. We were all much more comfortable in the water than the first time, and were really able to enjoy the reef. When we first got down to the bottom (about 45-50 feet), two barracuda swam over and slowly circled us, staring at our shiny air tanks with their grumpy faces. Apparently barracuda are sort of like magpies in that they like shiny things, so they are always fascinated by divers. Then we got to swim around the "Fish Bowl," which is basically exactly what it sounds like: a ring of coral filled with fish! So that was fabulous.

Usually Wednesday would be the day that we go work in the local schools, but they aren't ready for us yet so we went on the aforementioned Magical Mystery Tour, or MMT. And yes, that is actually what it was called. We got into small groups, and went on a sort of scavenger hunt around Cockburn Harbor (pronounced "Coburn"), talking to "Belongers" (locals) and learning more about where we live. One of the other guys in my group and I finally succeeded in befriending an island cat, and the other member of our group started calling us the "cat whisperers." Then we ran into what felt like every kid on the island as they got out of school. I had talked to one 9-year-old girl in the group before, and she came running over saying "Do you remember me? Do you remember me?" and then she grabbed onto my hand and started showing me to all of her friends! They were all great kids, and thrilled that we will be starting up swimming lessons at the center again on Saturday. A couple of the younger girls pinched my cheeks and poked the freckles on my arm as they talked, and they all wanted to feel my hair. Finally they all remembered that they had to get home, and we continued with our MMT. On our way back to the center we found a wild horse, but it did not want to make friends, even though we offered it grass. Apparently the grass growing by the side of the road was better.

This evening we were treated with a demonstration on how to "knock conch," or take the creature out of the shell to clean it and cook it (although the cooking part is optional!). And these conchs are huge, as you can see:

The conchs all ready to be knocked

Cutting the conch free from its shell

Still safe and sound...

Outside in the big world! 

Ryan and Hannah learned how to knock conchs

Hannah had a little trouble...

In the bowl, ready to be made into conch fritters. So delicious!

So conchs all around, a presentation tomorrow, a lab practical on Friday, and our first day of community outreach on Saturday! Exciting stuff people, exciting stuff.