We head a breakfast of oatmeal with local honey and slices of pineapple around 8:00 a.m. After breakfast, we snorkeled a bit until 9:30 a.m. getting used to the equipment. There really isn't a beach from which you can walk out into the water. There is a sea wall and a short-maybe 5 foot section of "sand" and there are mangrove roots. We snorkeled around the sea grass and looked for interesting fish and shells in the water.

Then, we started our training on data collection. There's a lot of data to enter-information about sea state, salinity, air temperature, etc.-but Caryn has some good sheets to help us do it correctly. There are forms to record our time and how it's spent as well as forms for sightings and collecting the data. Seems a bit overwhelming at first, but I can see how the forms fit together.

It is also clear that Caryn couldn't do all this data collection herself. With 50 study sites spread out over a 15 square mile area, there wouldn't be any way to collect the data and do the other things that need done. The Earthwatch volunteers really make a huge difference in the ability to carry on with this project.

We took a break for lunch-vegetables on soft tortilla shells-and a mid-day rest period. I wrote a bit in my daily journal, read a little, and dozed.

We spent the afternoon taking our snorkeling test. We had to snorkel out 50 meters, dive down, move a weight as far as we could, and snorkel back. This was to ensure everyone could swim and to test our skills for data collection. Caryn and Pam then taught us to count sea grass. There is an art to counting sea grass. It's not just holding your breath, diving down, and counting grass-well, actually, that is all there is-but it's very hard. Imagine trying to balance yourself upside down, underwater, holding your breath while trying to count stalks of grass. Not leaves, but the actual stalks so you get a number of plants. Just about the time you get oriented and begin counting, it's time for another breath! And then, your body is naturally buoyant so you have to hold onto a piece of rebar stuck into the sand to keep from floating up.

We wrapped up training about 4:00 and rinsed off the equipment. Then, it was a quick rinse for ourselves and in for dinner. Pam cooked again tonight, but I know that we'll start taking turns soon. We passed another evening in conversation and then off to bed to get some rest.