Day 1 - Caribbean Skies and Midnight Swims

Hey Everyone,

This is Joe and Cole coming to you live from beautiful Carriacou, Grenada. Yesterday we arrived on the main island and then took a very small plane that brought us to Carriacou. Last night we ate dinner prepared by our host family, then went for a night-swim in the crystal-clear Caribbean Sea.

We started today bright and early with a 7am breakfast outside of our house. Afterwards, we dove right into training for our scuba certifications, which we will be using throughout the week to help restore the coral reefs here. Today’s agenda consisted of swim tests, equipment training, and rigorous situational drills in shallow water.

We eventually capped off the day with an open water dive where we were able to see coral reefs and a set of underwater sculptures designed by the locals last year. At the end of the night we ate dinner and played some card games with the squad!

-Joseph Dib & Cole Martin

Day 2 - Buddies, Bubbles, and Bravery

Hello everyone,

Luke and Max, reporting from Rosa’s guest house, Carriacou, Grenada. Today, the group received our SSI Open Water Scuba Certification. With this, our volunteering experience officially begins. However, we started the day as novices.

Breakfast, as always, was a mix of eggs, toast, caribbean oats, instant coffee, and more! Our hosts Gary and Beverly have been more than accommodating and very helpful with getting us adjusted to the Grenadian lifestyle.  Their care and kindness has nurtured our novice beginnings and has been integral to our scuba diving adulthood.

Our diving morning started with a routine suit up and crash course on scuba safety and underwater navigation. A humble reminder that safety and double checks are essential in life.  After loading our gear up on the boat, Cason captained our journey as we made our way to the first dive site. Our first site was a reinforcement of the advanced skills we learned the day before and was our first “deep” diving coming in at 12 meters. Each of the three groups found their own unique finds: a jarringly large pufferfish, a cave full of 4 massive lobsters, and a moray eel! Somehow, these finds were only the beginning of the wonders today held.

Dives two and three took us even deeper. Groups reached a scary, but surprisingly comfortable depth of 18 meters (60 feet)! At this depth, skills just learned became our lifeline, and the commitment to our diving team and buddies was essential. After stingrays, sand sharks, unrelenting trust, and our instructors’ impressive patience, K’soon took us home to obtain our certifications. 

Gary and Beverly prepared us chicken, rice, and a vegetable stir fry to fill our well needing bellies.  After dinner, our group took a long deserved break to play card games on the beach side picnic tables.  With our certification training done, ice cream (bought at the local supermarket), and a good night of rest ahead we’re excited to start cleaning up the coral reefs around us!

-Luke Kullback & Max West

Day 3 - Tiny Gardens, Big Impact

Today was a rewarding day out on the water as we completed two successful dives to support local coral reef restoration efforts.

In the morning, we went out to the reefs off the island and focused on clearing algae. This helps make space for new coral to grow and prevents it from being smothered or forced to compete for nutrients. With everyone working together, we collected over 10 bags of algae. It may seem small, but efforts like this can make a meaningful difference as the coral gardens begin to recover after being destroyed by a category 5 hurricane.

After the first dive, we returned to refill our oxygen tanks and load the boat with what are called "biscuits." These are round cement pieces with bottles in the center that hold small pieces of coral. They’re used to support coral growth and restoration.

In the afternoon, we placed the biscuits among the statues in the underwater sculpture park and collected fallen sponge coral, which will be used to help build artificial reefs in the future.

We also spent some time learning about lionfish. There are two types, red and black, and they originally spread from Florida aquariums after a hurricane. They are highly adaptable and have been found at depths from one to 900 feet. They reproduce year-round, and even a dead female can still release eggs. They eat almost anything, and the smaller they are, the more they tend to consume. There are no natural predators in Carriacou, which makes them difficult to manage.

To finish the day, we made a new batch of biscuits by mixing cement, setting the bottles, and placing small coral pieces inside. These will be used on a future dive to continue restoration efforts.

Looking forward to seeing the progress in the weeks ahead!

-Ashlyn Elwood & Anushka Achyara

Day 4 - Spears, Scales, and Sunset Shores

Hey everyone!

Maddy and Sianna checking in from Carricou, Grenada! Today was a long awaited part of the trip - lion fish culling! We woke up, had breakfast together, and got our scuba gear set up before heading out to learn the basics of culling. Lion fish were released from an aquarium in Florida and are now an invasive species here. We learned and practiced swimming and spearing techniques on our first dive then headed back to refill our air tanks. On our second dive we swam 18 meters deep to a reef where they like to rest. Joe, Luke, and Iman all speared a fish and we ended up having 4 total kills. They fried the fish up and it was really tasty. 

We had the afternoon free so we all piled into a mini bus and headed to a local restaurant on the beach for lunch and afternoon swim. It was really beautiful and fun! Some of the group walked and some of the group bused back and we just finished a wonderful dinner compliments of Beverly and Gary. 

Tonight we’ll journal, take a swim, and play cards before getting a good night's sleep so we’re ready to take on another day of lion fish culling tomorrow! 

- Madison Lapine & Sianna Khandhar

Day 5 - Currents, Courage, and Closing Circles

What’s up everyone,

This is Brenden and Anthony checking in on day 6 in Carriacou, Grenada. After our typical hearty breakfast, we set off on our last volunteer dives of the week, in an attempt to hunt more lionfish. On our first dive, we went out to a dive site named Sisters Rocks, and led by our instructors Gary and Andrew, we descended down. Unfortunately, we were faced with some setbacks, including strong currents which led to us having to cut our dive a little short, and we returned to the Deefer Diving boat with no lionfish to account for.

Our second dive took place at Mabouya Whirlpool, and this time around, the group was much more successful in our lionfish culling. We were able to catch an astounding SIX lionfish in our time underwater. Since it was our last dive, those who were able to conserve enough air were rewarded by Gary showing us a shipwreck that had occurred in this location, where we spotted other fascinating animals such as sharks and morey eels hanging out around the old ship. After this, we ascended, concluding our last dive of the week, marking the end of our eventful volunteer work.

Following the diving, we took a few hours of rest before coming together to journal and reflect on the day. Afterwards, we had dinner with our diving instructors, chatted about the week, and enjoyed ourselves a nice meal on the coastline with a beautiful sunset. Now we’ve returned to our guest house and are ready to call it a night!

-Brenden Seabolt & Anthony Chalhoub