7:00 a.m. bright eyed and bushy tailed, all 10 expedition members arise from their slumber ready to start the day! Breaking our fast at our lovely beach front, open aired decked hut, one by one we join the rest of the team for toast and Sri Lankan Omelettes. Breakfast being the most important meal of the day for all, to discuss the day’s plan, and organize any other activities, not to mention, it gives us the much-needed energy to get us through our 2 hours of research diving! Once fed and watered, we each head to our posts, preparing all our equipment and other materials needed for each research project.
8 a.m. and the four person dive team convene at Poseidon Dive Centre, where our tanks are provided for us to mount our gear. Whilst swift, our divers always remember to perform the necessary safety checks before heading to the dive boat with all the appropriate dive equipment, that awaits 100 metres down by the shore.
Joined by our Hydrophone researcher and his assistant, we all board the boat bound for the dive site, selected the previous night with the help and advice of the local dive professionals at Poseidon. Anchor down, and the data collection begins! From the comfort of the boat, our hydrophone researcher strategically drops the microphone over the reef to be surveyed. With the help of the assistant observing the microphone from the surface, the recording of this noisy, underwater fish and crustacean hub takes approximately 15 minutes.
On the dot, our 4 divers enter the water, ready to descend and perform both fish identification surveys, whilst simultaneously taking photographic evidence of benthic coverage of the dive site. The underwater data collection follows a very strict methodology with 2 divers that perform fish identification through a dynamic observation of a 20 metre long area. With the help of a dive assistant that measures out the transect, the last diver follows the group taking pictures of the ocean bed, at specific intervals.
Meanwhile, back at camp, our microplastics researcher prepares the beach sand samples taken previously from various beaches along the Trincomalee Bay area. In this makeshift laboratory, ingeniously constructed herself, she sits observing the small particles patiently for a few hours, noting what can be identified through the microscope.
Busy with outreach, 2 other team members lend themselves to help teach English at one of the Secondary schools in Nilaveli village. The local children ranging from grades 6 to A-level preparation classes, show their willingness for learning and enthusiastically get involved in the class activities.
As for the remaining 2 members, any social media or documentary/ media affairs gathered from past days are organized and displayed to our many expedition fans. But more importantly, they have the privilege of organizing hunting down lunch for 10 hungry expedition members along the main road amongst haggling street venders and roaming cattle!
After a filling lunch, we each retreat to our respective rooms to siesta or, for those who need to, record all data collected in wonderfully presented spreadsheets. Thus freeing our evenings for beach related activities, whether it be lounging with a nice book, practicing slack lining between palm trees, or releasing some energy with a sandy workout.
We end each day, in each other’s good company, dinning together al fresco, telling of our day’s achievements and discussing our adventures for the next day to come….
