Reef fish in Rangiroa

Cate Humphries, C watch, Barnard College

Hi all!

I’m Cate (C watch)! It’s so great to talk to you – albeit in this one-sided, virtual format. The past week has flown by. It’s hard to believe we’re already 1/6th of the way through! We’ve had a blast the past few days in Rangiroa and have gotten the chance to do and see so many things I hadn’t expected.

Yesterday we had rotations through different science and deck stations, as was mentioned in yesterday’s blog post. It was so fun to get to learn in so many different formats, from a zooplankton identification competition to a knot-tying workshop and even haiku-writing. The day was rounded out with a few squalls blowing through, leaving an awesome moon-bow in their wake.

I went to bed right after dinner so I could get up for my anchor watch shift from 0100 to 0300. This shift entailed half-hourly anchor checks and checking the visual and radar bearings, as well as an hourly boat and weather check. I quite enjoy dawn watch shifts as it is very quiet on deck and the breeze is much cooler than my bunk below. I also got to check off some of my skills like knot-tying and emergency responses. After Jack came to relieve me, I went straight back to bed and tried to sleep as long as I could.

Breakfast in the morning was apple turnovers and they were absolutely delicious (as all of the food is – I’m still astounded by the capabilities of the stews). After breakfast we had snorkel-call at the nearby reef. It was incredible – Beanz and I saw lots of blacktip reef sharks (including a really little guy), so many colorful tropical fish, and a super long eel.

After our eventful morning we came back and ate lunch then reefed the mains’l just before another squall rolled in and gave us a nice freshwater shower. We ended out the afternoon with a swim call where we saw a vibrant rainbow and even briefly a double rainbow.

All in all, I think we’ve all really enjoyed our time in Rangiroa. It’s a beautiful place and I’m grateful we’ve had the opportunity to experience it.

Cate Humphries, C watch, Barnard College