Alumni Spotlight: Colin Sollinger

Colin Sollinger is from West Point, New York and currently works as a death investigator at a Medical Examiner's office in SW Florida. He enjoys road bicycling, pottery, yoga, and spending time with the dog he fell in love with while on vacation in Belize and subsequently adopted and brought to America.

Relaxing on the beach

Morning: Wake up around 6 with the sun coming through my door and a beautiful breeze helping me wake. Wander down to the dining area and have a light snack and drink and then lazily get ready for the first dive of the day.

Afternoon: Come back from the first dive, clean your and rinse your gear, and then head to the dining area for whatever delicious breakfast the amazing chef had cooked up. After breakfast have about 2 hour'ish to relax and get into whatever you want, reading in the hammock, snorkeling around the island, playing volleyball or taking a nap.

Then when it's time get ready for the next dive of the day which is typically preceded by a dive briefing to discuss where we are headed and what we would like to do.

Discover wildlife while diving and volunteering

Evening: Come back after your awesome third dive of the day, again clean and rinse your gear. Then you usually have about half an hour to relax before dinner was served. All the meals were delicious but dinner usually took the proverbial cake and was always outstanding. Many nights dinner would consist of something fresh you caught earlier in the day complimented by homemade desserts (such as mango cheesecake).

After dinner you would be left up to your own devices. Typical nights consisted of card games, camp fires, or just turning in early.

Most nights after a few beer, story sharing and a couple of games of cards we would get to bed early so we could do it all over again.

Highlights: The highlight of the trip was the whole trip. The whole thing was just so relaxing and rewarding there was no one thing that stood out more than any other (except maybe the food, but I am a foodie).