Just when I was starting to get used to the routine we got an adventurous day. We had to survey two segments this morning and two in the afternoon, one more than usual because yesterday we used the afternoon for the satellite tagging. Therefore we started the work at 8 and headed toward the first segment. This was located on the east side of the atoll, which is the side that gets the waves from the open ocean. Those waves are tough to ride on a small boat.

Waves are about six to eight feet high, and when the boat travels fast you feel very well each of them. The ride took about an hour and was one of the most uncomfortable rides I've been in.

When we finally got there and stated the survey it was very difficult for the snorkelers. Some waves would break I've you, others moved you off course. The up and down motion hid the swimmers lineup and the shore. It was frustrating and tiring to swim like that for an hour.

Luckily we saw several turtles. At this time we have seen more than last year for the whole week, so this is a good year. We have also captured several so there will be good data.

I was lucky to swim just on top of a cute little turtle of about 12 inches long. It was very pretty. I also saw the amazing job the locals do when capturing the turtle. I was observing from the side and the turtle was about 50 feet deep. This guy went in, free diving vertically and got to the turtle, which this time escaped, but just getting to the turtle was incredible. I would not have believed this was possible.

With the rough seas many people felt sick and even some of the locals were taking Dramamine. Luckily I did only feel the bumps but had no Sea sickness at all.

We came back to the station with samples from four turtles. I helped the veterinarians with the sorting of the samples and some of the blood work. Looked at red and white cells through the microscope. There is a lot of behind the scenes work that need to be done in the field to purpose the samples and also get some results that require immediate processing.