Already onto the second week of our expedition, the days seem to be flying by!

We kickstarted this week with a cultural tour led by Pascoal. As he walked us through his farm we played a fun game of ‘what’s that plant’, attempting (and mainly failing) at trying to identify the variety of locally grown produce, from bananas to peanuts to mangoes to sweet potato…. the list goes on! We rounded off the trip helping to cook a super yummy dish called Matapa and super super yummy donuts called Fasios. Sharing stories and sharing a meal we’d all contributed to felt like the perfect ending to this incredible day.

The next day was even more adventurous as we embarked on a seahorse safari! Not only did we spot some pregnant seahorses (fun fact – it’s the males that get pregnant in this species!), we also saw an abundance of other marine life including lion fish, scorpion fish, cow fish, starfish… again the list goes on and on!! What made everyone’s day was finding the most beautiful shrimp on earth (in my humble opinion), the harlequin shrimp casually perched on a rock.

After completing our open water diving qualification the previous week, we were ready to perform our first coral transect and nudibranch survey the following day. After collecting data we had the opportunity to go on an ocean safari where we saw a few humpback whale breaches and blows all around! I can definitely say I had a whale of a time!

We were up extremely early for a sunrise paddle on Thursday, but it was well worth it. I will never get tired of seeing the incredible sunrise over the ocean, with whales blowing in the distance. It’s an extremely awe-inspiring sight to behold! We then attempted to learn some Portuguese with Pascoal. The most common phrase I’ll be using from now on will be ‘eu quero ver um tubarão-baleia’ (I want to see a whale shark)! At the end of the day we learnt to use the plastic machine with Yud and Bento, using it to make some lovely manta and dolphin earrings from plastic bottle caps we’d found washed up on the shore during our beach clean.

I honestly can’t wait to see what the rest of the trip brings!