March 9

After the miserable last 30 minute ride of the ferry, I was finally able to arrive at Heron Island. The first impression I got from the place was that it’s magical here. The ocean was so blue and clear that we could see through everything. After getting off the ferry, we walked over to the research station (where we will be staying for the next 7 days) with our bags (shoutout to Groover for being amazing and helping with my bags cause I was barely walking haha). After settling into our dorms, we had about an hour to spare before dinner time, so we decided to walk around the island a little bit and explore around.

We started out at the South Side and walked left towards Shark Bay area. It was such a pretty walk where we were able to enjoy the nice breeze from the ocean and the incredible view from the sunset and have a chill time from all the traveling. Once we arrived at Shark Bay, we saw something that we didn’t expect to see – a baby turtle making its way down to the ocean! Wow, it was such a cute little thing! After looking around more, we were able to spot about 5-6 more baby turtles waddling its way down the sandy beach into the water. We saw one turtle, and Brian named him Jiminy. It was so wholesome to see him try his best to make it to the water. Then something horrific happened. Another turtle that was near Jiminy got snatched up from the rocks by a sea gull! Oh my gosh I was in shock when that happened! I never felt like my childhood got shattered into pieces like it did then. Some others near Jiminy also got snatched up, and it was horrifying! we made a barricade near Jiminy to keep him safe from all the sea gulls. after couple more minutes, he was able to finally make it down to the water. Whooo! (although apparently turtles get eaten by sharks so hoping for the best with him and that he made it through!)

We came back for the group dinner and had the afternoon just to chill and relax. I went to see the stars with Sara and Karinne, and it was so pretty to see everything. Since we were 60-80 kilometers away from the nearest land, there was absolutely no light pollution on the island. We went to the beach and laid down on the sand and saw the stars. We could see the stars so clearly. After laying there for about 5 minutes, I was able to see my first ever shooting star! It was such an amazing experience to see one because as mentioned in previous journals, I was not part of the fortunate people that were able to see shooting stars in Milford Sound. I was so happy to see one, and well, next thing I knew, I saw my first 7 shooting stars in a row haha. They just kept coming one after another, and it was really cool to lay on the beach spotting them.

March 10

After getting some breakfast at 7, Maya (Lee) and I decided to go snorkeling early in the morning before everyone else got their gears since we brought our own from home. After putting on sunscreen and grabbing everything we needed, we headed out to the beach by the South Side. In about 2 minutes of being in the water, we were able to see 3 stingrays! It was so cool to see them just laying on the floor and having a chill time. We kept snorkeling and saw a lot of different fishes swimming by us. We were also able to see a shark swimming by! It was cool/shocking/slightly scary all at the same time haha since I wasn’t expecting to see a shark. We were also able to see a sea turtle swimming by later on, which was also very fascinating. We snorkeled for about an hour, and we continued to see more stingrays, sharks, and fascinating corals. It was such an amazing experience to snorkel with Maya as she is an amazing snorkel buddy too haha.

I had MSE class at 10:30 so after attending class and having lunch, I went out to snorkel again with Theresa. We went out to the South Side once again, but we were able to see as much due to the low tide. Corals were very close to us, which ended up scratching me in the knee slightly. We were able to see different type of fishes, but since the tide was so low, we decided to end snorkeling early. I spent most of the afternoon chilling on the beach getting some sun and also reading a book I borrowed from Brian called The Passage by Justin Cronin . It was a very relaxing day. I came back from the beach a little earlier than dinner time to shower and also read for philosophy class. It was such a nice chill evening.

March 11

I decided to wake up early on Monday and walk around the island during sunset time. I woke up around 4:45 and went to the South Side with people, and we walked towards the Shark Bay area since that was the direction that the sun rises from. Although the sunrise time was at 5:52, the sky started getting lighter around 5:10. The walk over to the Shark Bay was so gorgeous as shy amount of red light started peaking through the darkness.

As we continued to make our way towards Shark Bay, the sky started getting more yellow and blue, making the sky light up more slowly.

Once it was closer to sunrise time, the sky turned pink and red like an art being drawn on the sky as a canvas.

After seeing the sunrise completely, I continued to walk around the island to explore around. I was able to walk around the whole island within 30 minutes, finishing around 6:30. It was such a nice relaxing time to have.

After breakfast, Maya and I went out to snorkel again in Shark Bay Area. . We mainly saw a lot of fishes swimming around the area and saw couple stingrays before finishing out snorkeling. Although we weren’t able to see as much as last time we went out, we still had a fun time together. After attending class, Maya, Groover, Nikki, and I headed out to snorkel again, this time at the Resort Side. We went out pretty far but couldn’t find anything, not even a school of fish! We decided to move to Shark Bay area to see if we can have more success finding things. We decided to take the shortcut of walking through the island so that we don’t have to walk through the sand, since the sand was so hard to walk to due to corals and also not having any hard spot. After a long time of walking through bird poop and dead bird residue (gross, I know), we finally reached the end of the path! When we got out however, we were so confused because somehow we ended up at the spot that we started out at! Since it’s a pretty straightforward path (or so we thought) without any detours, we expected to be at Shark Bay, but it just didn’t work out for us. In order to not get lost again, we decided to just walk through the sand area to get to our destination. All the time and efforts spent trying to get to Shark Bay became worth it, however, as we were able to see more things, such as sharks, and a lot of fishes. After snorkeling, I spent most of the afternoon just chilling and reading Brian’s book again.

After PHIL, our MSE professor, Dr. Carter, gave a star presentation to teach us different stars we can see at night time and how to identify them. Although I was exhausted from the day, I was very curious to learn more about stars I see during nighttime, so I decided to attend. I was able to learn how to identify the Southern Cross and Serious, the brightest star on the sky. It was such a fun time trying to figure out where to spot different stars and constellations (and I’m glad I attended as I was able to use these tips for the duration of Pacific Program).

After the presentation, a group of us went to the beach to chill and also celebrate Alexandra’s birthday. It was such a fun time since we were talking about all different kinds of things and enjoying ourselves.

March 12

The day started early for me on Tuesday. Dr. Carter suggested to us on star night to go out at middle of the night to see the stars as we will be able to see the whole Milky Way, so I decided to wake up at 2:30 to see the stars with Riddhi. Gosh getting out of bed was so hard since I went to sleep at 10:30 the night before. Although I was exhausted, I did not want to give up the opportunity to see stars without any light pollution on the sky (once again since the nearest land is 60-80 kilometers away). The moment we went out, I was able to see so much already compared to previous nights since more stars were out. When my eyes adjusted after about 30 minutes, what I saw on the nightsky was something so incredible. The Milky Way span the whole entire sky; from horizon to horizon, I was able to see the whole Milky Way from start to the end. I’ve never seen so many stars in my life — the shooting stars came every couple minutes, shining so bright and long, falling one after another. It was the best experience that Pacific offered to me, and I was so happy I was able to take that chance.

After staying out until about 5, I came back to get ready to go snorkeling with Caroline, Genesis, and Tae. We went out to the channel area, and it was a really fascinating place to visit. It was really deep since the boats/ships had to come in and out, so it gave a lot of room to dive deep into the ocean, which I love doing. I dove down about 15-20 feet at a time. We were able to see some sharks and a lot of fishes. The corals at the channel were bigger and more magnificent. Since we had to be out by 8 (and we wanted to make it to breakfast at 7), we came out in about an hour of snorkeling. I definitely wanted to come back out to the channel, since it was such a cool experience.

After MSE, I went out to snorkel again with Maya, Groover, and Jonathon in the afternoon. We started at the South Side and ended at the Shark Bay Area. We were able to see quite a bit from snorkeling since we were able to spot a turtle and couple sharks and stingrays. This snorkel was like any other, very relaxing and being able to see a lot. However, all this changed when Jonathon suddenly poked me on my side. I turned around being confused when he mouthed ‘come here!!!’ I mouthed back ‘what? Why?’ And he pointed downwards to something on the floor. When I followed where his finger was pointing, I saw a stingray right underneath me, with its stinger tale up on the water, ready to sting me any second! I was like WHAT THE HECK IS THIS and swam so fast out of where the stingray was at (I never swam so hard in my life). The stingray thankfully didn’t follow us and chilled where it was at. Gosh that was such a scary moment, especially since I know what the sting looks like from Reef HQ. I thanked Jonathon for saving my life, since if it wasn’t for him, I probably would’ve been pretty badly injured.

When I got back to the dorms, I found out that ants flooded my bed due to a debris of chocolate that I accidentally left on my bed. It was kind of scary since there was a huge black swarm that was covering my bed when they were doing a mini “squad up!” on my bed. The ant also trailed on my suitcase and other things of my belonging, so I tried my best to clean up the chocolate mess without getting bit and waited out until they cleared out of my space.

March 13

I woke up early in the morning to go snorkel at the channel again. It was around 5:30 when I met up with Caroline, Genesis, and Cara to head out to the dock as the sun was rising. We got into the water and started swimming out, until we were stopped by Caroline and Cara yelling to us that they

so in addition to almost getting stung by a stingray and ants flooding my bed yesterday, i got stung by a jellyfish 3 times and got attacked by a bird on my head/face this morning all before 8 am

morning snorkeling was with caroline, genesis, and cara. saw the sunset, probably went snorkeling again in the afternoon

FaceTimed with nolan

March 14

another morning! nick and i went to see the sunrise at 5 and saw bunch of baby turtles hatch and go into the water! at least 30-40!!!! so magical. and also went out to snorkel and found 2 sharks and a turtle which was v cool 🙂

but my thigh is destroyed by jellyfishes so fuck that lol. i can’t walk straight cause nothing can tough it rip. but was it wort it? yes

saw 8 turtles, 4 stingrays, and 2 sharks when going out to snorkel in the afternoon with jaydra, maya, and etc.

March 15

sleep in day. woke up at 7. chilled on the beach. went snorkeling with cara. went to the drop off and swam around. saw 2 turtles and whole bunch of fishes. it was really cool.

March 16

woke up for the stars with nick. tried to see them but it was too cloudy. other people were supposed to come but they didnt. went back to sleep. woke up for the sunrise with other people and nick. walked to the shark bay area and saw the sunrise. also very cloudy but the clouds being filled with colors of the sun was really cool. finished packing and bye bye heron island