Rutgers CCMI Coral Reef Internship in Little Cayman

Wow!!!  less than twenty-four hours until I’ll be landing in the Little Cayman Islands! I have been waiting for this departure, since I first got accepted to go! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous! The fact that I get the opportunity to leave the country and explore on of the most sacred reefs in the world is incredible!! All this packing, pre-research, and reading have gotten me a little stressed, but the adventures, friends, and marine life waiting for me are worth the worries! I am so excited to explore and dive the coral reefs alongside other students to have a better understanding of our reef ecosystems! I am most excited to dive in on of the warmest and clearest waters around the world with some of the best researchers out there!  I am honestly most scared of leaving the country without my parents. These two and half weeks away from my closest friends and family will be very difficult especially with little service to connect. I will be blogging while I am away, but very limited due to the fact of the amount of people using the wifi in the facility were staying at! This will be the best adventure yet!!

My flight has been booked, passport received, and GoPro purchased! Now I just have to wait a week to use them, it’s a bit nerve racking.

I am beyond excited at this opportunity- to go to the Little Cayman Island and learn hands-on about coral reefs, the beautiful fish species, and the conservation efforts that are being made to help them! I can’t believe that in one week I will be saying goodbye to family and friends for almost 3 weeks and saying hello to a brand new world!

In marine sciences (and all other sciences for that matter), everything has a common name and a scientific name.  One easy to remember (but is dependent on where you are in the world) and one hard to remember, let alone pronounce.  But we must remember this scientific, usually Latin, name of the fish species in order to be accurate and correct.  This worries me! I am the worst at learning other languages- and I have tried multiple times! I describe myself to perfectly butcher the beautiful language.  BUT, and there is a but, I am persevering and going to eventually learn the scientific names of these species, because I know this is the field that I want to work in.  I am hoping that being surrounded by scientists, who may have (or hopefully?) struggled with this problem too, and being able to look, touch and study the species will help tremendously!

I would also describe myself as a picky eater.  Which at one point in my life, I would be shaking in my dive booties at the opportunity to try new foods.  But I have done some growing since then and am actually looking forward to trying food from a different culture.  However, I make no promises to liking the food- but at least I tried it, right? I have talked with some friends that have gone to the Cayman Islands for scuba diving and they have told (warned) me about turtle soup.  Now I am not 100% sure that this was not a complete joke to freak me out (I am hoping it is!), but in the off chance that it is true- it may be one dish I pass on trying.

Do not fear, I plan to continuously update with the new species names that I learn and the cuisine I encounter!

Until next time 🙂