Today marks the final day of diving in the BVI :(… But that was the only negative aspect of av perfect birthday. Today at 12:01 local time, I turned 17. It was probably the best birthday I’ve ever had. I got to spend this birthday 40 feet underwater looking at some of the most spectacular sights, which most humans never get the chance to see.
I awoke early this morning way behind schedule. My roommate, Matt, and I were waken up with only 5 minutes to get ready before meeting at the bottom of the hill. We hustled out the door and arrived just before loading onto the taxi. It had been pouring all night and was still pouring into the morning. We ate breakfast in the local DIVE BVI store to get out of the rain. After breakfast, we took the boat to Mountain Point to complete the first dive of the morning. We descended to a depth around 35-40 feet. The visibility was amazing, and we got to see tons of marine life in the local reef. Immediately jumping into the water, I was surrounded by moon jellyfish. The stings by these jellyfish aren’t very harmful to humans, so I wasn’t afraid. Once we went down I saw numerous amounts of fish, and I was the only person in my group to see the hawksbill turtle. Everyone went ahead of me, so I couldn’t get their attention. After the first dive, we resurfaced to get ready for our FISH ID Reef Check Dive. I was in charge of measuring the percentage of algae growth on the reef and counting the amount of certain coral heads. It was a pretty easy job, but I enjoyed it. After the two dives, we went back to the same hotel that we usually have lunch at. We ate and then got quizzed over all the material that we have learned so far in the class. My partner, Connor, and I had to illustrate our knowledge to the panel including: Doctor Gruninger, Mr. Kirby, Samantha, and Casey. We explained how we could create a Reef Conservatory without ruining the marine ecosystem around the area. We explained that the runoff from the construction could contaminate the water and directly hurt the coral and life in the area. After the different presentations we headed back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. Then, we went to MadDogs and sat down to a nice lasagna dinner. After dinner Nick Thompson and I celebrated our birthdays with two cakes, which were delicious. Then we filled in our dive log books with the dives we did on the trip. Now we are back at the main room watching Ocean’s 13… So this is me signing off for tonight. Adios.
