Day 2
Great second day in the BVI. I was woken by the crow of the obnoxious rooster at 7 AM. Though it was early, a quick shower got me ready for the day. After packing my snorkel, fins, and new underwater camera, I headed down to the commissary for a quick breakfast. I was met there by Casey and Caitlin with bagels, yogurt, fruit, juice, and massive donuts. Everyone was very tired. We were then briefed about the plans for the day and then headed up to the cattle guard to find Glen waiting there with the truck. We boarded and headed for the marina.
We were greeted at the marina by Laura and Jeff 2 who had “Sea Dragon” fully prepared and ready to go: all tanks and BCD’s were already put together. We then drove to the opposite side of Virgin Gorda for our morning activity. After docking we took a ten minute hike to the beach. On the way we saw horse stables and salt ponds. Upon arriving to the beach, we saw numerous mangrove trees, trees that would be the focus of today’s lesson. Mangroves are pretty much trees that live in salt water. They parallel to coral as they house numerous organisms and protect the coastlines from the waves and the water from sediment. They have many adaptations to live in salt water, including prop roots, pneumataphors, and waxy leaves. Laura was great at teaching us about mangroves. We then set out for some kayaking so that we could record the topography of the area on waterproof paper. Christian and I were in the same kayak and flipped it over about 5 times. While this did result in losing a clipboard, it was hilarious. After about 40 minutes, we came back to shore then proceeded to get geared up for snorkeling. We then snorkeled the water to find an eel, stingray, sea urchins, and angelfish. After snorkeling, we played some “nucem” (a volleyball-like game) on a nearby sand court. Laura interrupted the fun, telling us it was time to depart.
We headed to the boat and left for the second dive BVI shop. There we ate lunch and relaxed on the boat. After eating we had a lesson on coral and topography of the Caribbean by Dr. Shannon Gore. She was very knowledgable on the subject as the Northwestern alum used to work for the BVI government. After the lesson we departed to do our dive for the day.
We headed out to Cockroach Island where we would dive “the Visables”. Casey debriefed us on the 45 minute dive and we all got suited up and ready to go. We saw numerous organisms including sergeant majors, blue tangs, parrotfish, spotted morray eel, staghorn coral, and angelfish. The lowest we got to the sea fan/whip infested bottom was about 45 feet. We all spent most of our time taking pictures with our new cameras. It was a fun dive.
After ascending and breaking down our gear, we headed back to the marina and unloaded the boat. The man himself Glen the drive picked us up and we drove back to Guavaberry for some quick showers and relaxation. Mad Dogs followed with wraps with the always delicious brownie sundaes. It the spot after a long, hot day. Dinner was followed by tossing the pigskin and frisbee. We were then lectured on our plans for building an artificial reef which would come later in the week. It was an awesome second day and I can’t wait for tomorrow.
