After being awoken by Dr. Gruninger and hopping in the shower, I found my body going into a hypothermic state for newbie Nick Byrne had once again pulled a rookie move and had taken all of the hot water. I shrugged off this small inconvenience and headed to a breakfast full of enormous donuts. After breakfast we went to the marina and loaded onto Sea Monkey. Going to another part of the island, we disembarked at a dock and walked down a path to Deep Bay, a mangrove-lined area designated as critically important to the BVI system. Our instructor for the day, Laura, gave us our assignment for the day: we were to map the mangroves and animals. We split into two groups, one snorkeling and one kayaking. Going with Guy Harris, Tucker Reed,and Gavin Patterson, we searched the area for marine creatures, recording what we saw and the frequency, we snorkeled around the bay for about 45 minutes before returning to switch and begin kayaking. Gavin and I took a double kayak out and paddled to the left side of the bay, a more shallow area with dense Seagrass and conch shells. After about 30 minutes we headed over to the other side, getting attacked and flipped by Chris Wengierski, Christian Koeijimans, Buck Lyon, and Jeff Melsheimer. After returning to shore, the whole group went to the nearby sand volleyball court for some nuke ’em. Next, we walked back to the dock to get back onto Sea Dragon and travel to Leverick Bay. A typical Casey gesture awaited us, for she had kindly arranged a table with chips and sandwich makings. Following lunch we attended a lecture given by Dr. Shannon Gore about the BVI and coral dispersement in which she told us about various geologic factors affecting the coral in the BVI and a recent event involving a multimillion dollar yacht who crashed, spilling several tons of lead from its ballast onto the coral below. Next we returned to the boat, set up our dive gear, and traveled to the dive sight Visibles, named after a visible rock protruding out of the water. This was the first time we were able to use our new cameras to take pictures and videos during the dive. Although this showcased my inept ability at photography it was awesome being able to personally take pictures rather than getting them from the instructors. During the dive I was again shocked by Casey’s spotting skill who pointed out a minuscule eel. Although we did not manage to capture/kill any lionfish, it was great to have a recreational dive. Great day and really excited for tomorrow!
Image 1: Deep Bay
