Hi everyone! For the next two weeks I'll be doing a marine conservation and diving volunteer program with Vinaka Fiji on the little island of Drawaqa in the Yasawas region of Fiji. I seriously can't believe I am here. I am pinching myself constantly to remind myself that this is real! My lifelong dream of studying the marine biology of coral reefs has finally come true!! Woo!
I arrived yesterday in a little boat and hopped off onto the white sandy beach at Barefoot Resort. My super cool volunteer coordinators (a retired couple from New Zealand) met me and explained a little about what I'm going to be doing. Basically this:
Manta Rays, happy dance!!!
Then they sent me to my hostel dorm room, which turned out to look like this:
The window on the right is where my bed is :)
With this view:
Mind blown.
Today I started learning some of my reef fish species in preparation for starting the official marine biodiversity surveys tomorrow. I have to memorize the 27 species of butterfly fish here in Fiji, so all morning I studied this card, and then went out snorkeling to find some in the wild. I saw 16 of the 27 species on 3 snorkel trips today.
The place I'm staying is also a hotel, so there is a ton of other fun stuff to do as well. Since it was Sunday here, and technically my day off, I tried to fit in as many fun things as possible too! Me and one of my new friends circumnavigated the island in a kayak, which took about 2 hours! Then we went snorkeling and then a bunch of us went rappelling on a cliff at sunset! It was a great day for sure.
Can't wait to see what the next two weeks will bring!
So you all probably know by now that I'm a total biology and environment geek. So, it's no surprise that my project for my time at home in Toronto has been to read a lot of environmental books and watch a bunch of nature documentaries. It's been great leading the retirement life with my parents reading on the porch! But unfortunately, in all of these books and movies, the messages are scary. Seriously scary and fucked up, people! The ocean is becoming so warm and acidic from carbon emissions that all the coral reefs will most likely die by the year 2100. Sea ice is melting so fast that within our lifetime there may be no polar bear habitat left. Right now there is more plastic than plankton in some parts of the ocean. Aren't you already depressed?! OMG, me too!!
So what can we do? We ultimately have two choices... we either give up, or fight. I have been seriously considering giving up and just running away, living in a cave by myself to get away from our crazy capitalist society that is ruining everything. But it would probably get pretty damp and lonely in there. Instead, I choose to fight!
But what does fighting mean to me? Well, I'm still figuring that out for the most part. Right now I'm super content exploring this amazing planet we call home and expanding my knowledge and experience of the world, working on conservation projects going on around the planet, and sharing my experiences with you. I feel like at the end of my journey I will be able to put it all together and do something to make a positive impact. I wish I was a super brilliant engineer who could find some amazing technology to solve the world's problems, but sadly my brain just doesn't work that way, dammit!!
Even though I think we are at the point where as a society we do have to fight in order to avoid a large scale catastrophe, I am also aware of the bigger picture. No matter what happens at this point in time, life will go on. After all, don't forget that there have been 5 great extinctions in the history of our planet where 95% of life forms died out. We wouldn't be here if those didn't happen. Many scientists believe that we are on the verge of the sixth great extinction right now. But even if life as we know it is going to hell, we are still here now in this great mysterious experiment we call life, and there's really nothing we can do about that. And in the big picture of the universe, do we really even matter? Probably not. We're really just an interesting fluke of evolution. As The Vandals point out in one of my favourite 90's punk songs, in 5 billion years the sun will explode and no one will know that we were ever here, it's a fact!
So, you know what, we might as well enjoy life and make the most of it! Happiness is the most important thing. Not money, not status, not collecting stuff, just doing something that makes you truly happy. Fuck what other people think and do something that makes YOU happy! No one wants to wake up when they are 80 and think back on your younger years and wish you had done tons of stuff you didn't do!
Right now I've been the happiest ever traveling and volunteering. This has been my dream for so long and I'm
living it!! It is the best decision I ever made, to follow my heart and
it's been totally amazing. But eventually I'll have to go back to work. We spend so much of our lives at work, that it better be something enjoyable. But why is this so hard in our society?! I'm going to go for it, and try to make a living doing something I love.
For me that means less desk (don't I look overjoyed?)...
...and more of this! (that's a baby tern!)
Awesome hobbies are also super important. I don't want to watch life happen on TV, I want to make a super interesting life happen in reality! For me it's mostly about adventure, nature and outdoors. Put me near the ocean or a snowy mountain and I'll be good. But of course my life needs a healthy dose of partying, dancing and rock concerts too!
But probably the very best thing in life is surrounding yourself with people you love and who love you. Positive people who boost your soul are where it's at. For me, I am infinitely blessed to have my mom and dad and so many friends that I love.
My bff's since Grade 9!
For me it's really that simple. I don't want to make tons of money or have tons of stuff. I'd be way happier sharing a cool little eco-friendly house (Treehouse maybe? Solar powered definitely!) with cool people, my own veggie garden and a mountain or ocean in the backyard where I can go hiking or rock climbing or scuba diving or wildlife watching or whatever other adventure I dream up!
My dream house!
So that's it, I'm putting this out to the universe, now
all there is left to do is continue living it and loving it, and making it
happen. We can all create the uncaged life we dream of. Let go of conventions and expectations and go for it!
I watched this movie with my Dad when I was probably about 7 years old.
The message has stuck with me for life, and Bill and Ted sum up my life
philosophy quite nicely...
