Alicante!

While I have been on many fun field trips with school in the past nothing quite compares to this one. This past weekend I traveled to Alicante, Spain with my oceanography class. I knew the trip was going to be fun but I had no idea just how much fun it would be.

We left from school thursday afternoon and headed on a 6 hour bus ride to Alicante. When we arrived that evening it was already dinner time and we sat down to a three course dinner at our very nice hotel(the whole weekend we joked about how the hotel was like a cruise ship because everything was included). The next morning we got up and headed off to a local Yacht Club. Several days earlier we had been told by our teacher that we would get a surprise friday morning and we were all very excited to see what it would be! After exploring a submarine we finally got to see our surprise, a rescued turtle who we were going to get to see be released back into the ocean. After talking with our teacher's sister who works at the Yacht Club and learning a little bit about what they do there we split into 3 groups and hopped aboard kayaks, small sailboats, and a large sailboat they call a cruiser. My friend Rachel and I went on the cruiser first and were able to lay out and tan on top of the boat while we cruised around the ocean. The weather this day was absolutely gorgeous, 75 and sunny! After basking in the sun it was mine and Rachel's turn to kayak. In the middle of the ocean a man on a small motor boat came and got us so we could transfer into the kayak. While getting into the kayak was successful, the driver decided he wanted to turn us around, and he did so very quickly. Well needless to say our tiny kayak couldn't keep up with his motorboat and we capsized in the middle of the ocean, quite a site! After taking turns on the 3 different boats we headed back into the marina for lunch. Afterwards we laid out by the pool for a few hours. While this is not normally part of the trip we had a substitute teacher(our teacher is pregnant and couldn't go) who really didn't know what was going on so he told us simply to ret by the pool! After some lovely tanning which resulted in sun burn for everyone we headed off to a fish auction. I had been dreading this because I absolutely hate fish and their smell but it was actually not as bad as I had imagined! We learned how everyday all of the fisherman bring in what they have caught and take it to the fish auction where restaurant owners and other people who want fish come to purchase it. In the middle of the room is a large TV screen that begins by listing the type of fish and a price for it that is about 3 times its value. The price immediately starts to decline and whoever presses the button on the buzzer that they have first gets the fish. While we were there a fight broke out because apparently some fisherman have been hiding small fish under the larger ones so the unit seems to weigh more and they make more money and another man was calling them out on it. After a long day in the sun we headed back to the hotel for a delicious buffet dinner!

Saturday was the day we got to go snorkeling! We headed off to a snorkel shop to get our wetsuits fitted, which is not near as easy as it sounds. These wetsuits which were basically skin tight pieces of foam were not easy to get on, especially over bad sunburn! After struggling into my wetsuit which by the way did not fit(even though I was told it did) we immediately had to get back out of them and then catch a ferry over to Tabarca Island where we would snorkel. Once we arrived we visited a local aquarium and then it was time to yet again put on the dreaded wetsuit. Once we were all suited up with suit, mask, snorkel, booties, and flippers we began to snorkel! This was difficult at first because I had to get used to the wetsuit and to breathing with the snorkel that kept getting water in it, but eventually I got the hang of it! We saw large schools of fish, jellyfish, and some people even saw an octopus. It was a lot of fun, but the water was very cold. After snorkeling we ate lunch on the island and then boarded the ferry to head back to the mainland.

Sunday morning, our last day in beautiful Alicante we ate breakfast and then went on a "nature hike" of the sand dunes and beaches. Basically this was the part that justified this amazing weekend being a school trip! After that we loaded up on the buses and headed back to Madrid. While I had always been excited for this trip I had no idea just how much I would love it! Alicante is a GORGEOUS town and I would love to go back(hint hint mom and dad, family vacation soon?). The trip was way better than I had ever expected and now I have a great tan which is always a bonus!

Turtle that we released into the ocean!

Rachel and I on our favorite boat(before falling in the ocean)

View

from my

hotel room