Sunday morning I fully took advantage of my chance to sleep in and spent a relaxing morning around my unit. Around 9:15 am, I got a text from Becca asking if I wanted to join her and Sam on an afternoon dive trip – my immediate answer was “yes” so she called a few of the local shops to secure 3 spaces on a boat. We’d be heading out in the afternoon with Quiescence, the dive shop where I was living, which couldn’t have been more convenient for me! I lounged around the rest of the morning, sending some emails and editing a few photos from the previous day of diving. Around 12:30 I headed up to the shop to meet with Becca and Sam, check in, and get our gear down to the dock. One of the nicest aspects of diving with Quiescence is they only take out 6 passengers on each boat (compared to the usual 20-22 at most other shops) so the dive sites are never crowded. We headed out North and dove at two beautiful reefs, surveying fish but also taking some photos of the underwater locale. It was a beautiful day of diving and I was definitely starting to learn and recognize many more Caribbean fish then at the start of my trip.

Monday morning Ellie picked me up to carpool to the office. With REEF Fest just around the corner, things were slowly getting busy around the REEF Headquarters. The interns and I met with Martha first thing in the morning, getting a new list of items to accomplish for the day and for the week. We set to work tackling the list of items; running errands, sending emails, printing fliers, and more. It was a busy day around the office, but we all knew it was only going to get busier as the week went on.

Tuesday was the day we decided to attempt to start the ominous task of packing for each of the REEF Fest events. There was a list several pages long of all the items that were needed for each event, so we set out to track everything down and organize into appropriately labeled boxes. As simple as it seems, there was a lot to be done so Katie and I dedicated our day to the task. We gathered items from all the corners and closets at the REEF headquarters, placing things into cardboard boxes separated by event and/or day. Many things needed to be picked up at stores or printed, so despite spending the whole day working on this task, we still hadn’t finished the packing by the time to go home. We left the headquarters with our list not quite completely finished, but with determination to finish it the next morning.

 

The whole REEF team had a small meeting on Wednesday morning to go over everything that still needed to be completed for REEF Fest, which was now only a day away. Everyone was assigned various tasks and we set off in separate directions to get things going. Katie and I continued our packing endeavor, including moving boxes that were full and labeled to appropriate cars/trunks to be transported to the event they were needed at. By late morning the packing was as finished as it could be, so Katie moved on to another task while I decided to help thoroughly clean the REEF headquarters. I spent the rest of the day scrubbing, wiping, sweeping, and sanitizing every possible surface around the headquarters. It was often a bit of a dance attempting to clean the various rooms while the staff and interns scrambled around to get their tasks completed, but by the end of the day, headquarters was more clean then it had been in a long time and most everything was set to go for the kick off tomorrow! Quite a few members/volunteers/donors of REEF had arrived in town today and there were several visits throughout the day at the headquarters, which was a nice opportunity to meet some of the folks who were long time supporters of REEF that came in from out of town. To top it all off, the REEF staff/interns were invited out to dinner by Jon McGurl, a long time donator to REEF, who is largely responsible for helping support the internship program. It was a lovely evening with all the staff together, and we laughed and chatted over a delicious dinner. Everyone decided to get to bed relatively early that evening, as it was a last bit of calm before a hectic 4 days.

REEF Fest officially began Thursday and to start off the day, I was asked to go diving with Sam (an intern) and Jon McGurl. Sam picked me up bright and early, just before 7:30 am, and we headed over to the dive shop to get checked in and set up on our dive boat. We were very lucky – because of a huge storm earlier that morning, the boat was practically empty (a lot of people decided to cancel their dive for the morning) and we had a 50’ Newton boat to share amongst 5 divers. Once everyone was ready to go, we motored out to Molasses reef for our two dives. Both dives were mellow but full of fish life, which kept me quite busy with my surveying! Everywhere I turned there was a new fish to identify. After our two dives, Sam and I headed back to clean up for the afternoon. There were lectures at the Key Largo Government Center scheduled throughout the afternoon, covering a variety of topics by a range of REEF members. I helped the staff outside in the lobby area, registering walk-ups, checking in people who were already signed in, and helping with any questions that the attendees may have. It was a busy afternoon, but I was amazed by how many people showed up for the lectures, both locally as well as from out of town. As the last lecture began wrapping up, the team out in the lobby began taking down all the displays and either storing them at the government center or taking them by vehicle to the evening’s event. To kick-off REEF Fest, the Caribbean Club was hosting a cocktail hour for all attendees to mix and mingle over drinks. It was a great evening meeting all the members who had come in from out of town to participate in REEF Fest and I was certainly a bit sad that I was leaving just as the weekend was getting started. That evening I said my goodbyes to everyone from REEF and called it an early night to get some rest before a long day of travel.

Friday morning, I woke up, packed my bags, and headed up to Fort Lauderdale by shuttle to catch a flight home for Houston. As much as I would have loved to stay longer in Key Largo for all of REEF Fest, my family was throwing a huge birthday celebration for my mom, and I knew it would mean a lot to her if I was there. All in all, I had an amazing week with REEF and learned an incredible amount from the staff and volunteers who make REEF so successful. I have great admiration and respect for the passion and hard work I witnessed during those two weeks.