Today I woke up with a sigh. I walked outside only to see the sun rising one last time over the horizon. The crystal blue waters shining below. Under my breathe, I could hear myself saying, “If only I could stay.” That’s right, today is our last day in the British Virgin Islands. It is going to be very difficult transition back to the states. I’ll miss the clear blue water, the light tropical rain, the chickens waking me up, our exotic dives, and most importantly the locals. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to see my family in all but it is just too hard to say goodbye to something so great so soon. Getting back on track, the group and I met up with Glen and took the taxi down to the dive shop for breakfast. A typical breakfast in the BVI consist of fruit, banana bread, blueberry muffins, bacon, and eggs. And that was exactly what we had. After breakfast we watched a couple of videos of professional free divers. Free diving is a technique where one only swims deep underwater as long as he/she can with a single breathe. The video that really struck me was one of this man who swam 8 minutes underwater through this cave with a single breathe. It amazes me how individuals can train themselves to hold their breathe for outrageous amounts of time. After this video, a man named Joel Dore, manager of the Turtle tagging program in the BVI, came to give us a presentation before heading out. This is where Joel showed us how to properly catch, take measurements, and tag sea turtles in the Caribbean. Moving on, Glen picked us up and took us the dock where the Dive BVI team took us on our boats to Little Dix Bay to meet us with Joel and his crew to get this process started. In teams of four, Joe, Julian, Tanner, and I entered the water about 15 yards out from shore. Looking down, I saw a barracuda literally 5 feet away from me. Frantically, my compadres and I swam as fast as we could away from it only to meet us with Joel who was just laughing at us. After receiving the signal from the boat to move out, our group proceeded through the water on the search for turtles. WOOLAH! We found one! Now the race is on, temporarily. It was now where Joel told us to stay back, he swooped down into the water and grabbed it by its shell and brought it to the surface. Flapping like crazy, the turtle did whatever he could to get away but failed in return. We brought the turtle back to the boat to see Joel properly measure and tag the turtle. We tag turtle primarily to trace migration patters. Today was by far the most unusual day because I finally saw something I thought I’d never see in my life. The way the turtle swam so peacefully off into the distance reassured how precious life really is. I don’t know why but that moment stuck with me in my head throughout the remainder of the day. Next, we dried off from our last water related activity of the trip and headed back to the dock. From here, we took our taxi back to eat some lunch and relax. After relaxing, we took a shower and put on our nice clothes for the evening banquet. Although it was sad saying goodbye to so many friends I will continue to stay in touch with the Dive BVI staff. Once again I thank Casey, Jeff, Laura, and Brian for an excellent trip and koodos to doc and mr. Kirby for everything. Once again, Go Sea Monkey!
