Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Shark!

Since I am having total confusion with my camera card and I am unable still to post more photos, I am left to use someone elses, which I have borrowed from facebook. These are Chelsea's photos, who I met on my first reef trip on Cape Tribulation ( see the two of us in the first photo), and then she came to visit me when I told her about the baby bats at the bat house- so here is one of her photo's too of one of the baby flying foxes. Pretty adorable.

Just came back from my second reef trip, which was an overnight from Cairns. It was fun to stay in the boat, though I still feel an imaginary rocking even as I type (and I didn't actually sleep all that well)... and today, I saw two sea turtles on my snorkel, as well as a reef shark! So cool. And then off the side of the boat we saw three dolphins just swimming away.

I am so amazed by these underwater animals, that eventually while watching them I get sort of sad- like some sort of cup that overflows. It is just so amazing to see what is here, but also equally amazing to me how we destroy it. Hugh at the research center said some reef fish have already moved south as far as Brisbane in search for cooler waters- and just in the last few years--- and that is a great many kilometers away. Prety fast rate of change.

It is funny, because "scuba divers" are such a specific little pocket of people- for they must have some sort of fascination with marine life, or just life in general perhaps, yet also there is something daring and adventurous to them at the same time. However, to my amazement, this fascination that I suppose them to have does not always translate into respect for the reef. I have to say that few things piss me off more than to see a diver handling our precious, fragile, and dwindling coral after they have explicitly been told not to.

Anyways, on a more positive note, I just found out that my friend Kate is attending the Environmental Conference in Copenhagen that is coming up---- which is.... amazingly exciting. I am following her blog about it on blogspot, so if you want to check it out, you should.

Otherwise I have little to say I guess. I am reading "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolover, at a velocity I haven't read at for years( to be fair I have had quite a hard time finishing a book at all in the last few years- I'd fall asleep as soon as the book hits my hand). Its about the Belgian Congo- and though thankfully few of my experiences in Ghana were similar to theirs- it does have a vague similarity which makes me appreciate Ghana all over again. Ghana-- despite the foot catastrophe, remains one of the best places I have ever been, and my mind has to be inches more open because of it. I think about it frequently, whether it is something small-- like experiencing a tiny shot of fear when using my left hand to pay ( and then I remember that no one cares about that here)- or when I think about how the money I spent on a coffee here could be used to eat out for days in Ghana.

Another thing I should inform everyone of- just incase anyone has been trying to contact me- is that my phone is dead, and has been for about two weeks now. haha. I stupidly left the charger as well as my australian convertor in a hostel, and at this point I think I shall just wait until I hit south america before I buy anything new. Because I usually use my phone both as watch and alarm as well, my last two weeks have forced me to either guess at the time, or not care about it- something that is sort of terrifying after living in New York and attending a studio that will not let you into class if you are more than five or ten minutes late. And waking up on my own also has been a new experience- since I am quite the fan of my snooze button. On Cape Tribulation, I had to get up, and walk out of my cabin and all the way to the wall clock in the kitchen before I could tell if I was awake at an appropriate time. And because I am anxious about it, I only have been getting up earlier and earlier and for the first time in my life I am basically getting up of my own volition around 5:45- for pretty much no reason.

Anyways. I leave tomorrow for Melbourne- where I will stay over night at the airport before I have another three flights to Santiago. So- I may or may not have a chance to write before I hit the next continent!

Can't wait for the next adventure!

xxxxxx




http://rebeccasworldadventure.blogspot.com

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