Moray Eels and Sea Turtles

As usual, my Wednesday was spent working on my independent research project. This was my last data collection dive. It went well for the most part; however, right at the start, I lost my pencil. Luckily, I had an extra one in my BCD pocket. After this minor hiccup, the data collection went smoothly. About three-fourths of the way into the dive, I was startled by a moral eel. I was taking notes on my slate and when I looked down I was inches above a 3-4 foot moray eel. A few minutes earlier, I had seen a smaller moray eel swimming around, so I was aware that there were eels around. However, I wasn't expecting the bigger one to appear.

Before my dive, I went on my research buddy's dive and saw a sea turtle swimming around. The turtle swam right under me minding it's own business gliding effortless through the water. Diving helps give a person perspective at what it's like to be a marine animal. Granted, we will never fully understand marine animals but it is a step closer than before the invention of SCUBA diving. 

It is amazing how fast time goes when underwater. Both my buddy's dive and mine are planned for over an hour, but it never seems like we are underwater for that amount of time. Time seems to move at a different pace. There is so much to see that one does not even think about time. However, we are always aware of the time because we have to constantly check our dive computers for air pressure, depth, and bottom time.