Lots of incidental sightings, a few birthday's celebration and monitoring!!

Another week has flown by! It is hard to believe that the 4 week volunteers are almost finishing their time here at Pez Maya. With no time to waste everyone has been studying hard and diving lots. Congratulations to Will, Eli, Kerry, John and Madison who all passed their coral tests this week! Congratulations to all of the Advanced Open Water divers who completed their training! Eric and Jessie have been volunteering at Pez Maya for 6 weeks now and have begun practice monitoring this week!

We have witnessed a great deal of diversity in the area this week. Incidentals sightings have included a baby Hawksbill  turtle, a Loggerhead turtle, Spotted Eagle Rays, an Electric Ray and more crocodiles. We also excavated a turtle nest and counted a whopping 118 hatched eggs!!! Also, 3 Least tern chicks were spotted during our daily bird watches. Following a lecture on shark species and behaviours this week, we are all keeping our eyes open for the first shark sighting of the phase.

It was another beautiful week at Pez May! With the exception of a quick thunderstorm on Wednesday, our daily schedule has been packed full of dives giving volunteers ample time to study the reef. The volunteers continued their Emergency First Responder training by reviewing the skills we learned last week. We're all nervously awaiting the spontaneous practical session that the stuff speak of.

This week we celebrated Sam's 22nd birthday and look forward to another friday night feast prepared by the staff tonight. Next week Rob plans to organize a volleyball tournament in the evenings! We're all looking forward to another fantastic week.

p.s. "Hi Mom!" - Love Ben

Lots of incidental sightings, a few birthday's celebration and monitoring!!