Week 4: Someone, in the Kitchen, With the Cutlery: The Shenanigans Begin
Base Exchange! 4 days in beautiful Mahahual
Last Monday, Liv, Reshma, Sophia and Shayle hopped the bus 4 hours south to the GVI base in Mahahual, Mexico. Both research bases share the same environmental objectives, with Pez Maya monitoring the reef within the Sian Ka’an Reserve and Mahahual monitoring just outside the protected area. Upon arriving, we were greeted enthusiastically, and after settling into our huts (with sand floors), swam across the sea grass beds to snorkel the reef just off of base. Bright red sea stars were visible from the surface and the diversity of juvie fish and different species were very exciting for us to see. We were also lucky enough to walk back to base just as fresh fish tacos were being fried up by GVI's neighbours.
Mahahual kept us all very busy. Sophia had the chance to catch up with her friends from her last phase as a volunteer at Mahahual, and was happy to get to visit her old stomping grounds. Dean was kind enough to take the time to work with Shayle, Reshma and Liv on their underwater photography skills, and all three are now Level 2 PADI Underwater Digital Photography certified (check out the pics). After waking up on day 2 and completing our duties and eating a great pancake breakfast (we had heard rumours that Mahahual only ate porridge for breakfast), we loaded up in the pick up truck with Cris and Ro and headed 18 kilometres north back into the reserve to the biosphere. 
Here we snorkelled around a wreck, a metal ship half sunk, and spotted fire worms, huge Acropora palmata, crabs, juvies, and so much more. The rest of the day was spent beginning our Rescue Diver knowledge reviews, lying on the lawn chairs on the beach and hanging out with all the new folks. Finally, on day three, we were able to go diving! We kitted up, and all got to visit some beautiful dive sites (I got to see a Scolymia
, which was the underwater highlight for me). Finally, our last morning we headed out for another snorkel (a little less successfully…where is that reef?), and saw a spotted eagle ray and a juvie triggerfish. We were showered with hugs and pictures as we headed back to Pez Maya Thursday night. Thanks Mahahual, we had such a good time (Standing by 68!).Meanwhile, back on the ranch…some things happened at Pez Maya…
Whilst the guys were at Mahahual, unfortunately Shayle’s prediction didn’t come true and the weather again meant we couldn’t dive until Thursday, when we continued on with our Advanced diving, practicing underwater navigation by walking around the beach with compasses and buckets on our heads. Other than that we were all revising for EFR (Emergency First Response) and passing our algae and juvie tests – well done everyone!!! There was also a lot of lying around in hammocks, reading books, time on the compressor, sunbathing and walks along the beach! It was chilled and relaxed and also included a lot of heated volleyball. Thankfully, we got diving again by the end of the week and the weekend provided another great party (themed ‘come as you are’- nice one) and an amazing meal cooked by the staff. Thanks guys!Another addition to Week 4 was the flu scare, with lots of worried relatives and friends texting and emailing to check out we were all OK. Worry no further, we are all well and healthy and quite confined in the middle of the reserve so definitely not a high risk there. We are all hoping that it won’t get worse and for now are just being careful, we are pretty sure that it will die down soon enough though…hopefully. Unfortunately it does mean that the second lot of five weekers aren’t going to be joining us this phase which did put a slight downer on the group because we’re sadly losing Alan, Rachael, Lucy, Cordi and Reshma at the end of next week as well, although after another thought we realised it would mean more food and more diving opportunities for the rest of us so I suppose every cloud has a silver lining.
Looking forward to week 5.
Standing by 67.
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