In order to be prepared for my internship (which begins on monday!) I needed to get my Advanced and Rescue diver certifications. So I decided to first go to St. Maarten to take those courses and have some fun doing amazing dives while I'm at it! 

My mom used to dive a lot and she thought it would be fun to take a vacation and come along with me to get back into diving!  We were looking at our Basic Open Water SCUBA certification cards and noticed that we were both 19 years old when we took the course and we were both certified on August 12th, exactly 30 years apart.  My mom was certified on August 12th, 1977 and I was certified on August 12th, 2007! Coincidence? I'll leave that up to you to decide  :) 

     

This is right after she left me alone with a shark!  We were taking turns swimming up to the ladder to get on the boat one at a time and my mom and I were the last two left under the boat when a caribbean reef shark swam towards us out of the blue.  My mom made a biting motion with her hand and then pointed to me as if to say "he's going to eat you!" and then took off for the ladder. She's such a protective mother. She climbed up and then for a moment it was just me suspended in mid water alone watching this shark.  It was actually a really cool, peaceful moment I was grateful to have. Thanks Mom!

We were lucky to find the Ocean Explorers Dive center.  The team working there is amazing.  I learned so much from them and had a blast while doing it.  They are a great group of fun, intelligent, hard working people. Thank you Jef, Astrid, Shane, and Lu! 

Ocean Explorers Dive Center, St. Maarten

They've got a pretty sweet location right on the beach

Gearing up!

So now I'm a certified Rescue diver and ready to start my internship with STENAPA! I fly to Statia tomorrow and my Mom flies back to Rhode Island.  Our wonderful, action-packed little vacation is coming to an end, but my adventure is just beginning!  I do not know how often I will have access to internet on Statia, but I will do my best to keep updating this site.  Thanks for checking it out!

(to view the dive video on the previous post, made by my instructor Jef, just copy and paste the link)

xoxo

Dive video!

My instructor Jef brought his camera with us on one of the dives we went on on Wednesday and made this video.  The picture is really clear and he did a great job editing. Go Jef!  I'm the goofy one in the brown and grey wetsuit with yellow fins and bright green mask.  You can see us poke our heads into an air space in the wreck.  So strange to find a pocket of air 114ft below the surface! They captured the lion fish because they are invasive in this area and causing problems.  It was really fun. Check out Jef's video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIugA4N8-3k&feature=youtu.be

Thanks to Ocean Explorers Dive Center! You guys are the best!

See ya later!

Considering how often I come home and then leave again (the new name for my generation,"the boomerangs," is quite fitting), you'd think I'd be used to saying goodbye, but it seems that every time it just gets harder.  So I always try and remind myself that it is actually a "see ya later" rather than a "goodbye," because sooner or later, I'll boomerang back :)

I am so grateful that I had a few rare months of just hanging around Jamestown with my friends and family.  My life is full of such wonderful people.  I am really going to miss you guys. But it's ok, I'll see ya later!

Definitely gonna miss this guy! (and his guitar playing) On this particular morning relaxing on the porch, Spring felt so close you could reach out and hug it (as long as you had a sweatshirt on). Hope the weather is getting nicer back home!

                               Mis chicas! I always bring this picture with me when I go away  :)

                                                   Me and couple of the Hines boys

Roof Dog!

OK, so if I put up a picture of everyone I'm going to miss this post would go on forever.  I think it's safe to say that if you're taking the time to look at this, I'm going to miss you!  So don't be strangers!  Keep in touch and update me on your lives too!

xoxoxo

Test Run

Hey Everyone! Welcome to my blog! After a few requests that I create a website I can update while I'm away, I decided to give it a shot.  I'm new to this whole blog thing so this first entry is a little test run for me.

The title of my blog, Koraalrif, is the Dutch word for coral reef.  I thought it was fitting since I'll be going to an island in the Caribbean, St. Eustatius, which is owned by the Netherlands and the two main languages spoken there are Dutch and English (good thing because so far all I know how to say in Dutch is coral reef!). 

Many people seem to be a bit confused about where I am going and what exactly I will be doing there, so I've included some youtube videos about the non-profit organization I will be working for, STENAPA (St. Eustatius National Parks), and the island itself (nicknamed Statia).  The first one is a bit blurry...

So maybe those gave you a little better of an idea of what I will be doing, but I will describe it to you and share pictures and videos of my own as I experience it!