We started our first practical week with a sunny day and improving our fish identification at the fisheries. We continued with some amazing diving transects despite minimal visibility. This challenged our abilities and improved our confidence in the water enabling us to see spectacular species. Hearing the whale songs under water is something we will never forget, it’s truly remarkable. We also had whale watching surveys where we recorded all the surface behaviour of whales which was out of this world! Seeing whales fins slap 20+ times! And hearing them through the hydrophone from the boat was another incredible experience!

We ended the week with an amazing quiz and debate that took up our evenings full of bonding and getting a lot closer. As well as this an unbelievable trip to tofo for a surf lesson and walking around the market that was topped off with an incredible sunset dinner and drinks where we played cards and chatted hours into the evening. Cannot wait for the next weeks to come!