Praise the Lord!
I continually repeat this phrase in my mind as this morning I wake up on my own without the help of those obnoxious roosters! After gently rolling out of bed, I brush my teeth, put on my rash guard, and go outside to breathe in the fresh air; however, I see that nearly half of the stuff that Richard, Drew, and I left outside had nearly blown away from the violent storm that tormented the island last night. Nevertheless, we effortlessly retrieve our gear. Being very excited, we finally head down to the taxi where we are driven back to Old Yard where we had breakfast yesterday. Today, we have a very similar breakfast, and all I can say as I see the crispy, greasy, and salty BACON is, again, PRAISE THE LORD. I eat this delicious banana bread that Jeff made (can I hear a PRAISE THE LORD?) along with two cups of this very strong brew of coffee that definitely got me going before the lecture by the British Laura. Her lecture was extremely entertaining and informative, and she simply blew us away with her breadth of knowledge as a certified marine biologist. We talked all about fish identification, and we learned about the different Echinoderms, invertebrates, corals, sponges, mesmerizing yet toxic fish, rays, and territorial fish. I think I even remember seeing a few of the fish we talked about on yesterday’s dive. Anyways, we took a break for about 5 minutes and then headed back inside the pavilion to finish the lecture. She finished off with talking about all the different types of reefs that the island had and how humanity had impacted those reefs and how we can still protect them today. Once she finished her spiel, the taxi arrived and took us to Savannah Bay at around 11:00. this was the first real beach-time that had had since we landed in the BVI. This place was probably the coolest beach I have ever been to. There is a clear shelf of sand until you extend about fifty feet into the water to experience the astonishing reefs. I was buddies with Matt this time, along with Will and Julian (see team picture below). We snorkeled for about an hour until my stomach was full of a gallon of salt water and my had been swollen/blinded as well. Nevertheless, our time was still amazing. We saw everything from brain coral to sea urchins (probably the creepiest item n the water that I have seen thus far). We encountered yellow-tail, damselfish, and FIRE CORAL. I think this stuff scared me probably more than the urchins, but I digress. We swim everywhere along these reefs and eventually head back to shore after Will Cormier and I simply can’t take the pain anymore. Since we are the first students back at the site, we were the first two people to get our lunch of Pb&J sandwiches along with grapes and chips. Since most of the grapes had sand all over them, we decided to throw them to the roosters that just happened to inhabit the spot where our group had landed. They were quite fond of those grapes. Anyways, after lunch and after an hour of playing frisbee on the beach, Casey, Laura, and Brian collected many of the marine organisms to show us on land. Since today was all about fish identification, this lesson clearly fit in perfectly. They had collected sea urchins (again…I opted not to touch them), lettuce sea slugs, a West Indian Sea egg, and a fire worm (which stings badly if you touch the bristles at the end…I wonder where this animal got his name from?). After about a 30 minute lesson on these organisms, our taxi once again picked us up and transferred us to the marina, where we boarded our boats (Sea Dragon). Once on the boat, I went up to the top where the wheel was and Casey let me drive the boat to our sight at the Great Dog Island. Today, our group was going to dive the Chimney, which is a small tunnel/cave enclosed by two walls of coral-infested rock. We dove in the water and quickly got to the bottom of the 48 foot-deep ocean floor. Again, we saw many of the same organisms, but this time we were exposed to a much more exotic ecosystem, regardless of the fact that this site is only a mile from the one from yesterday. We saw trumpetfish, lobster, parrotfish, grouper, file fish, and sea stars. We saw all of these while entering the tunnel that quite reminded me of the one that Nemo’s father had to endure during his journey, but once again, I digress. While going through the last part, I spotted fire coral on the side of the rock pillar (I definitely panicked), but I kept cool. I briskly made my way past the pillar in order to continue diving. We swam around for another twenty minutes; however, before we went back up the boat, we eat got to shoot the harpoon gun that Casey brought down to shoot lion fish, but we didn’t see any. This was the end of the dive. We went back to the huts, and I showered. After showering we all met down at the taxi stop where we walked up to Mad Dog’s for a Mexican buffet. That was quite delicious!after dinner, we watched my video about ecotourism (since each group had to make a video about a different topic) and another one about whaling. Our video definitely brought down the house (sarcasm). Since we got to talk with Casey and Jeff at dinner, they told us about the dive we re doing tomorrow: the Wreck of the Rhone. I can’t wait to start my morning off diving and experiencing a two-tank dive. Praise the Lord!
Me and will making a weird face
The dreaded chimney
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Matt, Will, and Julian enjoying Savannah Beach
A view of the savannah bay ocean from below
Will Cormier making his way through the Chimney
