Scuba diving

Last week, I had one of those, wow did that really happen moments... I signed up to take a three day scuba certification class in the capital, purely for an opportune investment. Scuba diving classes here with the Peace Corps discount are only US$250 as opposed to the same certification in Washington D.C. for US$1,200, not even adding in the aesthetic added value that you are diving in the Caribbean as opposed to the Chesapeake Bay. So clearly by taking this scuba class I have warranted my staying an extra 8 months with Peace Corps.

So, I took the class with some of my new regional friends, or as we call ourselves Beach Corps, since we all live on the beach. We got to dive around two shipwrecks and a taino artifact site, where I saw a taino statue head lying on the ocean floor. I was ecstatic when my instructor told me I was a natural scuba diver, although this really just means I am not obese and a good breather. Additionally, I can breathe with the best of them probably due to my daily yoga. Maybe one day I can enter into a breathing contest with a hindi yogi, but let me not get ahead of myself.

So, I finished the class with flying colors minus that I forgot I was suppose to be drowning during our emergency "no air" situation, and I just leisurely swam to the surface... I figure I won't make the same mistake in the real life situation. Vamos a ver!

The day after I was certified, I was lucky enough to be able to tag on to a free diving trip with Indiana University completely funded by USAID and a foundation with IU (thank you tax payers)! Although I was just certified, I figure I might as just "dive right in" to my new underwater pass time hahah (Puns are the best!)

We first visited a government center in the capital, where the national government is preserving artifacts found in the ocean from shipwrecks and from the previous indigenous population the Tainos. The Tainos apparently sunk objects as underwater offerings to their gods and these artifacts were preserved much better in water than on land. We got to tour the center and learn all about different shipwrecks and how we could distinguish from what era a shipwreck was from by the type of canons we could find. I also got to see a Taino vomit stick, and a really neat medieval flexible bopper weapon that I wish I had to use on my little brothers in middle school. Furthermore, we learned the reason we were brought out here was to help preserve and promote three "underwater living museum" sites, which they hoped to make into national parks. These underwater museums consist of three shipwrecks with coral growing on top of the artifacts.

Then after our lecture we took a bus to Bayahibe, a beautiful harbor town on the south east tip of the country. The next day we made a trip to the only know pirate shipwreck in the caribbean, the shipwreck of Captain William Kidd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kidd. You can read more about him yourself, but he is know to be one of the most notorious pirates in history or one of the most misjudged. He abandoned his ship in the Caribbean in I believe 1699, where it was later sunk, and then he was hung for piracy in England in 1701.

So, first we visited the Captain Kidd site. We snorkeled and dived around the site taking note to make sure everything from the wreck was still present and had not been moved. We checked the wild life and found many endangered corals broken, probably from boats dropping and dragging their anchors. We also checked the site buoys and lines for damage and brainstormed ways to develop the site, with information about Captain Kidd and how volunteers could help promote community outreach, educating dominicans about marine preservation and the history of this shipwreck.

Later we dove around a second shipwreck site called Guadalupe, which was a ship from 1800 that IU sunk and made into a dive site. There were canons, canon balls, and a huge anchor at the site.

The next day we went back to Kidd and started saving the world... one coral at a time. The coral was called Elkhorn coral and its extremely endangered. So we had teams find broken coral and we zippy tied them to other coral, which would allow them to have a chance to stay a live and grow in the sunlight. Then we went over to one more shipwreck name Morales, which was like the Guadalupe wreck, because it is a historic ship that was purposefully sunk. Here there was also an archeological site, where artifacts had been cemented down around the coral, for divers to explore. After we made all are observations we ended are two wonderful days on the boat and got to work writing Rapid Protocol Assessments of each site.

Then... GET THIS.. we were told we are getting certified by Indiana University in Underwater Archeology, so we can come back and make independant checks of the shipwrecks! I almost feel like a famous person who gets one of those honorary degrees... After this experience, that seems the way to go. I wonder, who thought of that? Honorary degrees? I just hope I am never operated on my an honorary surgeon!

So, to end the story, it was a really fun surprise to be able to learn about pirates, shipwrecks, and marine preservation, while having an all expensed paid trip to one of the most beautiful areas of the country! O yea and free diving! IU was even so nice as to take us out to dinner again once we had finished and were back in the capital.

Moral of the story... get scuba certified! It's amazing and great things will happen after you are certified!

In other news... I may now be writing a class about "underwater museums", marine preservation with a case study on Captain Kidd.

The innaguration of the site will happen on May 23rd with I believe a concurrent opening of a Captain Kidd exhibit in England along with pirate reinactments from Peace Corps Volunteers!

I just received a grant with three other volunteers to hold a volleyball tournament for International Women's Day which will include workshops concerning women empowerment.

I've applied to 10 grad schools in public policy and international affairs, and almost pulled all my hair out writing all the essays!

I'm finishing up a class on Afghanistan to be a part of a new manual for a kids class about exploring the world, begun my talented boyfriend :)

And I've been exploring management skills to help the volunteers in my region succeed:

As of now I'm planning to create a directory of all current and past projects of volunteers in our region along with funding sources, informational sources, and key contacts to help aid volunteers who want to work with similar projects.

Updating a regional handbook/ guidebook, with lists of restaurants, organizations, and useful services in the major regional towns.

Creating a volunteer of the month program and a group service initiative, where instead of just having volunteer gatherings, the gatherings will be centered around helping another volunteer with a project in their site.

In the next blog... I should be hopefully posting an article I'm writing for a Peace Corps Publication about the democratic revolutions in the Middle East, and the role of new technology.