I woke up at 7:00 a.m. from the crow of a rooster and a ray of sunlight in my eyes. I was exhausted from the prior day of travel. As I walked into the kitchen I looked out the porch and was able to see the ocean and other British Virgin Islands. Everyone in the cabin got up and prepared for the long day ahead of us. We left the cabin and headed down to the entrance to catch our taxi ride at 7:45. We were then driven by our driver Glenn to The Village Cafe & Restaurant. Upon arriving we went to a meeting area and sat down and ate a buffet styled breakfast. I ate multiple pieces of cantaloupe and pineapple along with scrambled eggs and a sausage dish. After we had all eaten we were introduced to the Dive BVI staff and learned a little bit about them. Then, we introduced ourselves and received a marine biology t-shirt. Next, we were talked to by the co-owner of Dive BVI Casey. Casey gave us a run through of the rules and how things were going to be done. We then were given a 15-20 minute break. After the break we came back and ate some sandwiches and french fries. Then, we listened to Laura another instructor who taught us about the common fish species and different types of reefs in the Caribbean. We went straight from the restaurant to the docks. At the docks we were fitted with a BCD and given time to shop in a few of the shops there. Then we boarded the Sea Cat and set out to do our check out dive. We took a 15 minute boat ride to Valley Trunk Reef. We were briefed on what we were going to do. Then we reviewed some of the basic skills we needed to be certified. This is when it got fun, we began to dive the reef and first encountered a trunk fish that was spotted white. As the dive continued we saw a few schools of blue tang, we also saw a squirrel fish which as around 5 inches long. As we went deeper we stumbled upon two spiny Caribbean lobsters. We then descended down a drop off to 60 ft where we saw a queen angel fish. On our return to the boat we saw a goat fish that was hiding around some staghorn coral. We continued back to the boat when we spotted yellow-headed jawfish, which were hard to see because they pop in and out of these burrows they make in the sand. We saw a feather duster worm that hid back into the coral when we approached it. We then went to the dive line where we stayed horizontal at 15 ft for 3 minutes to make a safety stop. Next, we surfaced and boarded the boat where we disassembled our gear and took them back to the harbor to be cleaned. After diving and cleaning the gear we went back to our cottages at Guavaberry, where we showered and relaxed before going to dinner at Mad Dog, a bar that overlooks the ocean. Along with eating copious amounts of food we threw the football and frisbee around. While at Mad Dogs I got a ice cream brownie sundae which was the cherry to top off my day. After a long day of learning and diving we returned to the Cottages to sleep.
Andrew Suarez
