Christmas Island Coral Reef

Abril, A Watch, Northeastern University

Waking up today was different than the past 6 days. It was our first time seeing land since we departed Caroline Atoll! Upon our arrival, we were visited by the Kiribati Coastal Guard. They inspected our vessel and did all of our immigration papers. Since the currents changed our trajectory, we managed to arrive a day early, and this is granting us an extra day at Christmas Island.

Today we got to have some time looking at the reefs. We saw some giant clams, conch shells, parrot fish, Moorish idol, filefish, wrasses, box fish, and someone even saw an octopus. It was spectacular!

Tomorrow, we will have some time to spend ashore, exploring the island before meeting some of the local students. We will be doing a mini "exchange" where we will be exploring their school while they will have the opportunity to explore the RC Seamans. More details about that to come tomorrow. We are really looking forward to getting a glimpse on what it is like to grow up in an island far away from everyone else.

It won't be long until the World Cup starts and I am sad to be missing the opening stages. Being from Argentina, soccer is a large part of our culture and I hope don't come back to some devastating news. I occasionally wonder what team won the Stanley Cup and the NBA finals however being disconnected from the rest of the world has been very relaxing. Some of us were even debating what would be the biggest news event that occurred while we were gone.

Once we depart Kiribati in 3 days, we will be approaching the last 2 weeks we have left. It seems that when we are underway (moving towards our next destination) days merge and it is hard to really keep track of what day we are in. However, it isn't really relevant to us whether it is Monday, Thursday or Sunday.

- Abril, A Watch, Northeastern University

P.S Feliz cumple Juanchooo y congrah Sofi, I canoh beli eh! Besos a todos