Today marked the first of what will be weekly sets of dives for students and mentors at the LCRC for the duration of the NSF REU program. Today’s dives brought us to “Rock Bottom” and “Eagleray Roundup”, two sites on the north side of Little Cayman Island. The first site was a 60 ft dive to a spot just on top of the fringing coral wall that surrounds the island, while the second was shallower and closer to shore. While both sites provided beautiful underwater vistas, and of course some precocious wildlife, the real goal of today’s dives was for the students to become more comfortable with the methods their research projects entail. I’m happy to report that with only a few bumps along the way, everyone made it through the day!

Naturally, us mentors got to have some fun too!