Greetings from Pez Maya, Mexico.

Its 30 degrees C, the sand is blindingly white, and the sea is aqua blue.

Luckily for my sanity I left the touristy beaches of Playa del Carmen behind and traded in air conditioning and running water for a basic life with bucket showers, mosquito nets and hammocks. We arrived on the base last Friday, and its amazing how quickly a creaky old bunk bed and iguana dodging can become normal. By Saturday we were in the full swing of things, the base is very basic but life is better this way. Generator electricity in the evening, all vegetarian meals prepared by the rostered volunteers daily (no fridge!), 4 buckets of well water a week for showers and washing- absolute bliss.

In the last week we have been bombarded with information about why we are here and what we will be doing while we are here. We learnt about the health of the reef (its sick), about invasive lion fish (they’re beautiful but nasty), and about sea turtle’s and their nests (wait till you hear what I saw the other night...). Its been a brain loading week, and to top it off about half of us are learning how to dive.

Since I last wrote I have:

- Memoried 60 odd coral (latin names and all) to identify under the sea (queue Little Mermaid song)

- Nearly finished my PADI (some crazy storms set us back a couple of days)

- Donated copious amounts of blood to the local insect population

- Excavated a turtle nest (it was a green turtle nest, 109 eggs laid, 7 didn’t hatch, and only 1 in 1000 will make it to adulthood)

-Dived to 5 metres and saw my favourite coral (please google: Monastrea cavernosa, its BEATUIFUL)

- Showered in the rain (and collected gallons of rain water- I was referred to as “Water Warrior” by another volunteer because, wherever I can put a bucket to collect run off water, I will)

- Cleaned 1km of beach (I’m never eating another lollipop, those sticks are EVERYWHERE)

- Watched baby sea turtles hatch in the moonlight- Felix and Terry made conquered the 10 metres from nest to sea just fine. My heart nearly exploded with love and excitement

- Learned radio talk and manned the radio (I love being on radio, not as much as I love boat push though)

So basically life is good. I absolutely love the lifestyle. I rise as the sun is rising to run along the beach for half an hour, stretch. Then, meet my hut (there are 5 of us, a Swede, Brit, and two yanks) for daily chores- cooking, cleaning, raking the sand (keeps sand flies down), or preparing the boat for the day (I’m going to be superhero strong from carrying two drums of petrol to and from the boat). Breakfast. Boat push.

Now boat push is my favourite. I love pulling, pushing, lifting, heaving these things around. It never ceases to amaze and delight me how the combined power of our muscles, sweat and grunts can move a sea going vessel from shore to sea.

After boat push first wave goes out to dive. Then a lull, which I filled with memorising coral, this week I’ll have something new to learn. Then wave two, lunch and then clean up. Boat push (back to shore), tank filling, and general housekeeping, volleyball (no really, we have a court), etc.

Its not all work, littered through out the day someone will shout: “SWIM!” at which point we will ascent to the beach and jump in to cool down. The base is located right next to a mangrove swamp where the sea water and fresh water mix to create a cooler top foot of water and a warmer under layer.

Here I live in my bikini. Today is the first day I’ve worn shorts and a top in daylight and I feel over dressed and hot.

In the evening, the mosquitoes are vicious so with a layer of bug spray we play cards, lazy in the hammock and star gaze, always grateful and conscious that we are living the dream.

So, this weekend on our day off Laura (another Aussie) and I walked to a nearby fishing lodge to connect with the outside world. But already I am itching to get back (both literally and metaphorically).

Hopefully this week it won’t storm as much (we had 3 days of no diving due to monsoon rains, thunder and lightning- the good news is the well is the most full its ever been). I am looking forward to getting fully qualified and to start collecting coral data.

I feel so lucky, and I have to pinch myself daily and remind myself that yeah, that is a baby iguana running across my path, and that yeah, that is an osprey nest outside my hut, and that yeah, this is my life.

So, until next time. I’ll continue to take photos, pinch myself and dodge iguanas.

Hugs from Pez Maya, Mexico.