Well, probably not THIS waterspout...
CRAZY CRAZY weather today! I woke up the usual 10 minutes before our meeting and scarfed down some granola, and when we all gathered for our morning briefing, it started to rain. And rain. And rain. It was raining all through class this morning, off and on; sometimes drizzling, sometimes pouring, sometimes brilliant blue skies. But you could always see it raining in some far-off distance. After lunch was supposed to be our 2nd field ID session, but when we got to the boats, lightning struck in the distance, which meant we had to wait 20 minutes until we could go out for our class snorkel. It only continuted to lightning, and while we were waiting, a waterspout materialized. A waterspout is basically a water tornado, but more of a smooth, diagonal shape than wispy tornadoes. The clouds sent down a strand of wind and clouds, which reached 2/3 of the way to the water. Water was shooting up from the ocean too, to meet the waterspout in mid-air. It was one of the wildest things I've ever seen! Toto, I don't think we're in California anymore...The clouds were every shade of cool color. The sky that was downpouring in the distance was purple and directly overhead were emerald green-gray clouds that were reflecting the green water which was reflecting the gray clouds. To the right was blue clouds as they bordered the part of the sky that was still clear. Absolutely unbelieveable.
It was determined that it was going to be a while before it cleared up, so we went back to the Center, and as soon as we got there, it downpoured. And when I say poured, I mean the sky opened up its floodgates and POURED. Which, of course here at the Center means......shower day!!! 95% of the students grabbed their shampoos, conditioners, soaps and razors and took the most wonderful shower I've ever had in my entire life. We put our dirty laundry up to wash. We washed our hair off of the roof that was gushing good clean freshwater and it felt amazing. However, our snorkel was fairly obviously cancelled so the rest of the afternoon was utterly lazy. I found a small patch of free internet though from a local bar and was able to call Dad and chat. Mom, you would be proud. I've found every way and a half to contact friends and family through alternative means. Everyone keeps asking me for advice and technologic help, its funny; it reminds me of when you were SMS-ing and Skyping first :)
It's been thundering and lightning(ing?) for the rest of the day on and off, with some scattered showers. Matter of fact, it's raining right now. After dinner, a local fisherman came into the Center to talk about his practices catching lobster, conch and reef fish, his experience with sharks and inexperienced fishermen. Quite interesting! Following that was more studying for this impossible test that we have had too few ID sessions in the field for, and then a good 2 hour movie, Supertroopers. The best.
I took a break from the movie at one point and walked outside to THE cutest black kitten I have ever seen in my life, crying at me. He had big eyes and ears and long legs, a lot like Chopper's old pictures and the most adorable cry ever. He must have been 4 months old at the latest. He was frightened because he couldn't find his mom (I later found out from a staff member) and the storm was picking up. He kept crying and crying but wouldn't let me touch him, so I followed him around the Center until I met a staff member that knew the cat. She told me that it's mom was probaly down the hill, and she gave it water and I think it went away. My heart was breaking though, it was so cute and it reminded me of all my black kitties! :( It looked like that kitten in a bag that was my profile picture, but a little broader face. Adorable!
Its raining again, so theres nothing else to do but sleep before my busy day tomorrow. We're supposed to be diving, but we may ask to turn it into an ID session instead. In the afternoon I'm teaching a reading class, a music class, and after-school cross country to the primary school students in the town, should be fun but absolutely exhausting. Looking forward to it!
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