agutayan island.

So beautiful it could be a Windows desktop background.

About once a year the McKeough Marine Center here at XU goes out to Agutayan Island to measure a reserve of giant clams they're monitoring.  They always invite along volunteers, and this is how I found myself on a stunningly clear Monday morning, snorkelling around a sandbar and looking at half-metre long clams and their related environment.  I keep reverting to childish excitement when trying to explain what I saw ("and then I saw a starfish! and it was blue! and it was as big as my face! and then I saw a fish going into some coral! and then I saw a sea urchin but I didn't step on it! and then I saw some clams!').  

It was a day of laughing and learning (clams filter feed!) and living in some pretty spectacular creation.  Though it should be the furthest thing from my mind, I ended up thinking back to my days only a few months ago in the Davis studying feverishly for exams, and it's hilarious how much better for the soul this is, how much more alive I feel.

Groupshot!