Sad News

Unfortunately, the news today reported that one fifth of the world's coral reefs are now dead and may soon be only a beautiful sight of the past. To read more, click on today's news headline below.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28156581/

Final Posting

Hello everyone!

Although I did not have turkey on Thanksgiving, I was able to swim to the edge of the reef.... literally. We swam 80 meters against the surface current to a place called Snapshot Reef where I saw the most beautiful variety of fish in their home ecosystem!

Then, we swam about 65 MORE meters out to the edge... or "the wall," where the waters got deeper. I could see the sandy floor 55 feet below me. Then in a matter of seconds, it was 120 feet below me, and suddenly it was 7,000 feet below me. That is over a mile deep! The water went from bright tourquoise to a deep, dark blue in an instant. It felt like I was flying over a cliff.... but I was actually swimming over one.





Look closely at the picture and you'll see the two bouys I swam to, and you can also see the dark blue line where the water color and depth changed so rapidly.










Then, we got to eat out on Friday at a local restaurant and eat some local Bahamian seafood which was really tasty.

My flights both went very well on Saturday... although it took a while to get through U.S. customs who made sure I was an American and only carrying things home that I was allowed to.

I can't wait to show everyone all the things I have brought back with me, including lots of pictures! By the way, I spoke with the Corpus Christi Caller Times reporter yesterday, and she said the article will be coming out in Monday's paper. Hope you all can read it!

http://www.caller.com/news/2008/dec/01/students-track-teachers-watery-trek/

See you soon!
Mrs. Hester