Hello again from sunny Andavadoaka! Today we have a blog update for
\nyou from Katia Cherel, who worked as an intern in the Blue Ventures
\noffice in London before coming out to join us on site. Here it is:<\/p>\n
Expedition 23 is now well on its way with the second week nearly
\nover, 6 new open water divers, and a few more soon-to-be advanced.
\nEveryone is getting stuck into camp routine happily and, after the
\ninitial awe, getting used to living and working in such an amazing
\nplace. Lectures on the marine environment, point-outs underwater, and
\nevery spare moment spent learning benthic and fish, is getting
\neveryone prepared for the computer and in-water point out tests and
\nwe hope to get started on the PIT and fish belts as soon as possible.
\nIts not all hard work though: a football match with the local
\nvillage revealed some hidden talents (boys: 2,2, girls 2,1, looking
\nforward to the rematch!). A beach clean-up on the 6th of July (to
\ncelebrate international environment day – ahem, one month late)
\nprovided lots of entertainment, gathering all the children from the
\nvillage together with a promise of notebooks and pens for the team
\nwho collected the most rubbish (sometimes censorship of items was
\nnecessary to prevent wood being considered as scrap) and a moment of
\nrepose as we were rewarded around the burning rubbish with a
\nbeautiful song on marine life protection the children had learnt in
\ntheir weekly environmental club. On the marine life sighting front
\nthree whales were spotted swimming around the lagoon and were
\nfollowed by pirogue by Ben and Bic on the 7th July. We hope there
\nwill be more of those to report soon. In the meantime I leave you
\nwith an account of Ben’s very exceptional 19th birthday – from the
\nhorse’s mouth…<\/p>\n
From a personal point of view, the 9th of july was a day that won’t
\nbe forgotten in a hurry, mainly because it was a certain special
\nsomeones birthday! The presents came thick and fast, starting early
\non with a nice morning swim at 6.45, courtesy of Micah, Gary and Lea
\nvery kindly pouncing on me, taping me up and throwing me in (watch
\nclosely on ‘you’ve been framed’ and im sure youll see me somewhere in
\nthere). After a dive to near shore Andavadoaka to point out some fish
\nand benthic, Bic took me out on our new pirogue (which we call Yogi
\nthe Pirrogui!) to go pirogue surfing on the breakers a few hundred
\nmeters out. Hard work but defiantly worth it, especially for the
\namazed looks from the locals! After lunch and a bit of down time it
\nwas time for party night and the best part of all – dressing-up. A
\nfew days before I had decided on ‘superheros’ as a theme and no-one
\ndisappointed. Whether it was Bolo baby, Captain Maintainance, Stevie
\nWonder the sea cucumber (?!?!?), Tarzan or Captain Sea Grass, I
\nthought we all looked fantastic (or is that ridiculous?) for dinner,
\nmuch to the kitchen staff’s delight! The fun didn’t stop
\nthere…there was even some cake with toffee made by Jo our camp
\ndoctor (I nearly passed out from excitement)!! I don’t think I have
\never been so excited to see condensed milk in a new form!!<\/p>\n