Photocred: Guy Harris
When we woke up on the first day in the British Virgin Islands, we did not know what to expect, we arrived when it was pitched black, and could not see a thing. My roommates (Tucker, Alex, Jeff, and Killian) woke up to the crowing roosters and the light patter of the tropical rain. We worked our way down to the meeting place at the bottom of the road, where we then waited for the taxi to take us to Old Yard, where would go over our itinerary and figure out the rest of our week. Throughout the session we were given pool breaks where we could cool off and chill in the pool. As we continued to progress through our itinerary and cover what we are going to do throughout the week, we got more and more excited, and could not wait to climb aboard our dive boats, mine being the Sea Dragon commanded by Casey McNutt and Brian Higgins, and assisted by the one and only Dr. Todd Gruninger. We got to the dive spot Valley Trunk, and in my dive group comprised of Joe, Christian, Jeff, and myself, and led by Casey McNutt, slowly descended where we reached the bottom and practiced basic dive skills.
Photocred: Dr. Todd Gruninger
Upon finishing the skills, our instructor was greatly impressed by our unbelievable talents. Next we took a tour and saw many different types of coral and fish. Nearing the end of our dive, our instructor spotted lion fish, an invasive species to the BVI. She then pulled out a spear gun and shot it in the face. On the way in we saw two more, which she proceeded to again shoot these. Continuing back to the boat we reached the line, which we would proceed to the boat, but our safety stop held us back from rushing to the boat. After completing our safety stop we got on the boat where Bennett drove us back to the dock. At the dock Jeff McNutt dissected three of the lion fish that my instructor speared. The open air taxi drove us back to the villas, where we met again to walk to mad dogs for pizza night. At mad dogs Tucker Reed and I commanded the opposition in the game of corn-hole, winning six in a row then forfeiting the last game to get our winning prize of a coke float. Next we watched my group’s incredible video about global warming, and another group’s video about invasive species. We walked back to our villas and here I am now sitting in the only room with wifi with about 15 other guys. Tomorrow we look forward to a wonderful day of turtle tagging, and snorkeling. Day 1 completed.
