Day 2,
We got up at 7:30 to roosters crowing and doc knocking on the door.. We took a taxi to our meeting area where we had breakfast. Casey taught us free-diving breathing techniques while waiting on a turtle pro. We did yoga techniques and demonstrated that when our face is introduced to water, especially cold, we slow our heart rates down. Or at least everyone except Laura’s heart rate. The turtle pro, Joel, came and taught us about the different types of turtles in the BVI – green, hawksbill, and loggerhead. He taught us about the different ways to measure and tag the turtles as well as their endangerment and our impact upon them. We then took the sea dragon, because it’s the best boat, out to a beach where we snorkeled for turtles after Joel taught us how to catch one. I didn’t see one but I did find a family of squid as well as a 3-4 foot barracuda just chilling underneath the boat. We took the one that was found by one of the kids and put it on the boat. Joel took us step-by-step through tagging and measuring it. We named it squirtle, and released it. After, we took the boat back to the dive shop where we had lunch with fresh, fried grouper burgers. We then set out for the baths – a rocky caved formation by the beach, formed around 5 million years ago. It’s called the baths due to the batholitic rocks and because slaves would be bathed there before shipment to st peters island. We reached the end of the baths on the shoreline and snorkeled back to the beach by the hotel. Using the free diving techniques I hung around 20 feet down for 10+ seconds taking photos of elk coral, parrot fish, yellow-tailed snappers, spotted trunks, and even a turtle which I got up close to about a foot away while taking a video after a few pictures. Lots of people got stung by jellyfish, and I got a few pictures of them, but they didn’t seem like a problem. We finished the day at mad dogs with a dinner of quesadillas and nachos.
