After some much needed sleep...

Today was our first whole day on Moorea. It started with breakfast at around 7 o'clock at CRIOBE. After we ate Dr. Londraville suggested taking a group into town. I was really excited to see the town that we only briefly drove through on the way to CRIOBE from the ferry landing. The first stop we made was the bank to exchange our dollars for French Polynesian francs. After that we got to hit the shops. The stores around town were amazing, we passed through 4 or 5 of them just mostly browsing, from high-end jewelry stores to knick-knack stores and even a surf shop. On the way out of town we stopped at a flea market and saw a lot of good deals. I bought necklaces for my girlfriend, mom, and grandma from merchants at the market.
We got back to the base an hour or so before lunch and I decided to take a walk down to the beach to kill some time before we ate. CRIOBE is about a 2 minute walk from Opunohu Bay. The beach of the bay is dark, volcanic sand. I headed back to the base and had lunch with the group and we all began talking about our projects. After lunch was a brainstorming session in the library. After discussing our research idea, we decided the best thing to do would be to go snorkling and test our ideas. Everyone that was scuba diving had to do their check up dives to gain approval to dive in Tahiti, so we snorkled alongside them and enjoyed our first sunny day. After a quick rinse of our gear, the guys headed back to our house up the road.
The girls are staying in a dorm on the CRIOBE campus while the guys are all sharing a dorm style house up the street on the campus of an Agricultural school. A few of us hung out on the porch and met some of the locals. I don't speak french, so anything beyond introductions was virtually impossible. I met a man named Ari who looked like a student at the school. Him and his friends were playing soccer in front of our house. I talked to a man and his son because I saw his son skateboarding. I skated with the little boy for a few minutes, his father spoke some english and asked me about school and what I was studying here on Moorea.
A short while later we headed back to the base for dinner. The lizard group headed out into the dark to search for geckos and skinks to catch for their projects, and the fish groups met back in the library to polish up our research ideas. We're still not 100% sure on our project, but I'm excited to see what we end up studying. Today was just a start to our adventure here, and I'm looking forward to our trip to see the rays tomorrow!
- Ryan Miles