Past the models posing for the cover of sports illustrated there is an abundance of life in the ocean on the shore of The Baths in Virgin Gorda. We visited The Baths this morning as part of our scheduled snorkel for the day. It started with a brief hike down to the ocean where we saw immense boulders created by movement from the tectonic plates. After walking along the coastline & around many boulders we came out into the light next to a pristine beach where we put on our gear & began snorkeling. As soon as I got in I saw enormous schools of tiny bait fish swimming around near us. After swimming around a rock point jutting out into the water we came upon a lush reef teeming with life. I saw loads of new fish I had never seen before & was able to identify a few from the previous dive. While swimming in these reefs, I witnessed a Sargent major defending its eggs, a great barracuda swimming out towards the ocean, & a reef squid jetting away from me. After swimming around the Baths for a while we came onto a beach near Guavaberry for lunch. Following lunch we had a lesson on Caribbean fish identification with Caitlin where we prepped for the fish identification dive that afternoon. After studying up on the different species of fish & how to identify them based on appearance, location, & behavior. Next, we traveled to a dive site of the coast of West Dog Island for our identification dive. Upon arriving we encountered a brief tropical storm, which acted like a cold front & chilled the air until it passed. When I jumped in to wall to wall reef, the first thing that struck me was how much life there was in the reef. There was an abundance of Sergeant majors & blue tang, but the most shocking fish I saw was the lionfish because of its infamy as an invasive species. Additionally, we saw two lionfish relatively close by, which was unexpected considering we saw none the day before. During the dive as a group we identified more than a dozen fish & saw a huge bar jack darting around very rapidly. Overall, the 45 minute and 57 footdive was a great experience & was entirely different than the previous dive largely due to the abundance of life & the heightened visual clarity. We finished off the day at Mad Dogs eating a dinner consisting of wraps, lo mein, & potato salad.
