Tuesday

Waking up at 6:30 was difficult; dreading going into the heat and not being in the comfort of the AC'd room; packed a knapsack with stuff needed for the day (camera, swimsuit, sunblock, etc.)
Caught the 7:00 ferry at the jetty (the dhoni, not the speed boat); going from Mandhoo to Rangali; sat in back of dhoni with Zayn and watched the captain catch a baby tuna as he steered the dhoni (Zayn - 20 years old, arrogant, etc.)
After breakfast (a lot more western), walked around Rangali for a bit, put our gear on our dhoni, boarded, changed into suits, departed; laid out the cameras and equipment; climbed to the top deck of the dhoni
Very pirates of the caribbean; took a while to get our sea legs so we'd stop falling/sliding from one side to the other at the top); standing and swaying with sunnies, cap worn backwards, etc.; very much a picture moment
Saw spinner dolphins and hawksbill turtles! collected data; drove around MPA for a while (couple of hours), didn't see any whale sharks; then, when on other side of atoll, Jim yells SHARK but there were lots of tourist boats in the area
Scrambled off the top, pulled all the gear on, plopped in the water, swam over
WHALE SHARK!!! so majestic and natural that it seemed perfectly normal for it to be there; about 6 meters long, probably around 5 meters below; then all of the tourists and boats came over, shark dove deep, out of sight; didn't have chance to get footage before he dove but so cool!!!
Climbed back on boat, top deck, ate sandwiches; hanging out, talking to Meaghan (another volunteer, 26 years old, Australian) about life and traveling, uni, boyfriend, everything!
Jim asked if anyone wanted to drag snorkel - hold on to a rope from the back of the dhoni while snorkeling and getting dragged along, looking for interesting things; me and Meaghan shot up at the opportunity, went in, saw cool fish, felt the temperatures of different currents as we were dragged through them, very cool, saw turtles, fish
Then had to get back on boat because we were coming in to port/harbor to pick up some supplies; on way back, stopped for a snorkel, tried free diving, really beautiful reef; saw black tip reef shark, turtles, interesting fish
Back on boat - so hot and careless and immune to everything I would normally find gross that I kept on applying sunblock, lathered it everywhere; the sticky salty seawater dribbling from my hair down my back, the oily skin glistening in the sun as pools of sweat beaded between my nose and sunglasses
Rinsed off, took nap laying on top of boat; came into harbor at around 6:00; did data, changed, talked to Meaghan; ate dinner (lots of curry - mix of Indian and other south east Asian foods)
Went to Manta Bar, lots of friends there for Jim's departure party; played pool with Dieter and Jim; lost but it was so fun!! played again with D, SuYee, and Meaghan; terrible game but lots of fun, lots of laughing, a bunch of guys sitting around and having a good time just watching us
Sitting at the bar with Meaghan and SuYee, random guys coming up and introducing themselves to us; Zayn brings out a cake he baked for Jim! really good - not like the chocolate cakes at home, different texture, more layers
Played killer - a pool game where everyone takes turns trying to make a shot; 3 lives and then you're out; heading back on the dhoni; talking to Meaghan about traveling and backpacking, travel girls!!!
Coming back, strip down, very extremely tan/burnt; rubbing aloe everywhere; going back out on the jetty with Zayn to look at stars, tell scary stories