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When Scientists Geek Out.

Science, Thoughts

Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico, Scuba Divers, Nurse Shark

As a marine biologist, I can’t even begin to list the amount of times I gleefully screamed or screeched underwater when I saw something astounding right before my own 2 blue eyes. Some underwater face to face encounters that stand out are: having a whale shark come straight towards me in Mexico, a giant cuttlefish staring at me in Australia, and multiple manatees in Puerto Rico. Heck, I couldn’t even form a sentence when I saw a huge manatee moving underneath me!

Yes, I totally was that nerd who sat on the floor in-front of the TV a couple of years ago after the Super Bowl to watch the first footage of a live giant squid caught on camera. And of course, I shed tears of happiness because cephalopods are some of my favorite animals on the entire planet. If there is ever an opportunity for me to go into a submersible 1000’s of feet below the surface, YOU BET I WOULD BE ON THAT SUCKER IN AN INSTANT!

So when I saw this video yesterday, I knew I would have gone just as crazy as one of those scientists operating the ROV. Can you imagine starting at a screen for HOURS and even DAYS just hoping that something interesting passing in front of your camera and lights 600m underwater? Then, BOOM! Check out what puts on quite a little show for these researchers 🙂 (Here’s the article if you want to read it as well)

Belizian Waterfall Adventures

Photography, Thoughts

 

Adam Chanel Waterfall Belize

Recently, I just returned from the most amazing week vacation in Placencia, Belize. My boyfriend’s friend was hosting a destination wedding, and I couldn’t say no to being his date 😉 As soon as I heard “Belize” – all that I could think about was being able to scuba dive the Great Blue Hole (a Bucket List item for many divers). I will save that whole adventure story for a future post.

I took my handy GoPro Hero 3 on her first big adventure under the water as well as above the water. Throughout the weekend I earned the title of ‘GoPro Girl’ haha – it was attached to my side. Hence, I have A LOT of video footage to edit over the next couple of weeks.

Luckily, I had some time on my hands last night and was able to put together a quick little summary of our trip to the waterfalls. Around 40 people from the wedding party hopped on an old school bus for a 30 min ride to the forest. We were greeted at the falls with huge coolers of Belize Belikin beer and burritos – can you say heaven?! There was even a natural water rockslide that you’ll see me go down in the video. It was a perfect getaway adventure! Stay tuned for more video summaries to follow this month 🙂