“I like toytles”
This quote from a boy on an interview in response to a completely unrelated question about turtles rings through my ears as the group and I embark on our final day in the beautiful Virgin Gorda. After being woken up at around 6:30 AM by Drew, who performs a daily morning run, sprinting up to our door, a sudden bittersweet feeling swept over my entire body out of the realization that this was my last day yet possibly the most fun. The day started off very similarly to the others toward the beginning of the week, when Glenn would pick up our entire group at the cattle guard and take us to the Olde Yard Village, where we would have a luxurious breakfast. Although the breakfast was the same – fruit, bacon, banana bread, carrot cake, and eggs – this predictable yet delicious meal started off the entire group on a solid note once again. This morning, Joel Dore, a member of the local turtle tagging governmental agency, joins us for a presentation about the actual processes of turtle tagging since we would be doing this later in the day. He joins us along with about 10 students from a local school in Tortola. After the presentation ends, Brian asks about 15 questions (all of which are good) and we eventually head out to the marina. We take the Sea Lion boat over to Little Dix Bay, since Joel mentioned that this was quite a hotspot for turtle sightings. Most likely we would expect a hawksbill or green turtle, but it didn’t really matter. Just the thought of catching a 4-foot turtle excited us! When we finally arrived at the beach, our boat was adjacent to another boat with Joel and the students from Tortola. Jeff asked us which four would like to go out first, and immediately four hands shot us: Joe’s, Matt’s, Julian’s, and mine. It literally took us about 1 minute to put all of our stuff on (about 5 minutes shorter than usual) because we we so eager to finally be in the presence of a turtle! One by one, each of us plunged into the salt water, only to be alarmed by something lurking in the water right by us: a BARRACUDA! It’s about 6 feet long, yet we slowly swim around it as it stays stationary below the boat on the dock. Although I was a afraid that my Go Pro camera would be too shiny, my fears eventually dwindled as the fish swam far from our presence. Us four swim around the boat to meet up with Joel and two of the students who decide to lead us on our journey to corral a turtle. After about 5 minutes of being the water, we spot two turtles. The first one takes about five minutes after originally spotting it to finally get it into the boat with all the students from Tortola, but the other one remains terminally elusive as we failed again and again to grasp him. Whenever one of us would get close to grabbing the turtle, it would briskly glide through the water, while we were still struggling to swim and keep up with him as we snorkeled. We spend about an hour on the water, before Matt and I turn back after Joe (my dive buddy who I am supposed to be in the reach of at all times) and Joel have swam out about 500 yards from shore to attempt to grasp the turtle. Matt and I swam about 300 yards before we give up. We are just both so exhausted and we swim with Laura all the way back to the boats, which seemed as though they we never getting any closer as we frantically used our flippers to “propel” us back to our boat. On our way back, I spot the first jellyfish I have ever seen. Cool right? No. I try not to become to engrossed in it’s magical colors because I have heard extremely bad things about their stings, and I swim by it to avoid its perilous tentacles. We eventually make it back to the boat after about 20 minutes of swimming, and Matt and I are both extremely exhausted. After about 15 more minutes, we turn to see Joe and Julian being carried back with them on the other boat…how lucky they were not to swim all the way back like Matt and me…!!! Nevertheless, even though we only catch one turtle, we still at least get the satisfaction of seeing one get tagged. Joel mentioned that most of the time, boats rarely see turtles when they hunt, but we ended up seeing about 4 and catching only one! I am happy! We all crowd around the boat which lies on the dock next to a restaurant where the inhabitants, desiring to know what we are viewing, look upon our crowd with suspicion. After acknowledging the stares, the tagging process begins. First, the turtle, we see, is lying on its back, a sort of relaxing position as Joel explains. Even though it is too young to determine if it was a boy or a girl, we name our green turtle Trixie. Then, we see that one of the students has a clipboard with tables to fill with measurements. Next, Joel beings to measure each part of the turtle very thoroughly: the flippers, the tale, the shell (both length and width), and the head. The student records each measurement precisely, and finally Joel beings to physically tag the turtle. First, he inserts a stud on each flipper of the turtle, and the he inserts a microscopic chip inside the turtles shoulder between the skin and the muscle. While all of us wince in pain and from the thought of blood rushing out of the turtle, we are all let down as we nothing of the sort. Finally, Joel prepares to put the turtle in the water. The turtle takes one last breath before we submerge it in the water and watch it swim away with ease. Meanwhile, since everyone sort of leans toward one side of the boat to get a view of the turtle’s immersion, the boat nearly capsizes; however, Brian jumps off the boat just in time to prevent the boat from tipping over. After this view, we load the boats back up, say by to Joel and the students, and head back to Olde Yard. Before we eat, we spend time by the pool swimming. Some of us don’t feel like swimming and instead lay on the flat seats that envelop the pool. After about 10 minutes, I realize that my skin is turning a bright red all over my chest and arms. I AM BURNT! At least the burns have finally covered the whitest parts of my body. I am hoping to actually get a nice tan, but that is beside the point. After burning, I jump into the pool, where Jeff is teaching us how to hold our breath essentially. We do three competitions, and my numbers are :45, 1:14, and 2:24. I win the last competition and am allowed to get lunch first along with the two other winners. Our lunch includes chicken sandwiches and fries, which is great! After this lunch, we realize that Mr. Kirby and Doc are preparing our final exams. Great….. So he has each instructor write two questions on a sheet of paper and then we get in our buddy teams. I am with Joe and we are handed a sheet of paper asking two questions about coral transplanting and the bleaching of coral. We get about ten minutes to prepare a presentation and then we are forced to present our answer to the whole class. After the initial test anxiety, everyone does great, and we head back to our houses to get prepared for the final banquet. We relax and change and then head down to the cattle guard where Glenn once again picks us up. However, after taking a shower, I went over to Richard because I felt something in my scalp. He took a look and thought it was dandruff or lice, both of which freaked me out. It ended up being SAND!!!! Come on Richard. But, I digress. Tonight, we are having dinner at Mermaid’s,which is a restaurant right on the dock. While we wait for dinner preparations not finish, we take pictures of the beautiful view. We even see 8-foot tarpon swimming right below the restaurant! Eventually, we finally head up to the top of the restaurant, where we have a delicious West Indian barbecue. Will ate so much I aware he was about to explode! After the dinner, the presentations began. First, Laura showed us a sideshow of all of her pictures that she took while we were there. She had been secretly working on it all week, so we were all sort of taken aback. Next, Casey showed us her personal video of all her footage she took both on land and underwater. It was really cool seeing everything from a different perspective. It was also nice seeing her catch on video my hat nearly flying off into the ocean, as well. Finally, after the shows were presented, Casey gave this wonderful speech about what sort of impacted we really did make this week. She really truly made an emotional impact on all of us. After this, we learned that she was buying all of us dessert, which really was just unnecessary considering all that she had done for us this week anyways! Nevertheless, while we ate Key Lime Pie, we each divulged our favorite moment of the week, mine of which as the service project ironically, since it was one of the few things we did above water. Finally, it was time to say goodby to Laura and Brian since they would not be present the next day to take us to the airport. It was so sad to say goodbye to our a Lucky Charm and the British Laura, although we did have her say water about 5 times simply out of sheer enjoyment for us. While we drove back to our houses, everyone was extremely sad about leaving, but excited to go back home to see their families. Again, this was a bittersweet moment for everyone I think. In the morning, we woke up at 4:30 and left by 5 to reach the airport, courtesy of the Sea Lion. When we got to the marina, we all felt extremely sad leaving behind Glenn even though all of us wished we could have brought him with us. Nevertheless, we eventually boarded the boat, where I sat at the back. I don’t think there could have been a more perfect way to end the trip, looking out into the sunrise above the ocean (I don’t know if Richard saw it though). I am going to to miss Jeff and Casey so much, and I hope that I can eventually go back to dive with Dive BVI. This was truly the best trip I have ever gone on and this was an unforgettable experience! Finally, thanks to the Gruninger and Kirby families that also definitely enhanced the experience. I will never forget what happened in Marine Biology Class 2012 Session 1!
