Our entire cabin awoke at nearly the same time to our alarms going off. We then prepared for the long day we had ahead of us, excited to know we would be turtle tagging. Once we were ready we went to the Guavaberry entertainment center where we ate a breakfast of poptarts, donuts, and fruit. While we were eating, marine biologist Dr.Gore gave us a brief presentation on turtles and the different various technique of catching and tagging them.
Once Dr.Gore’s presentation ended the marine biology one group and the marine biology two group quickly filed into the taxi driven by the local taxi driver ,Glenn, who then dropped off the second marine biology group at the marina. Next the marine biology one group and I went through a series of curvy, inclined roads winding up a mountain with the calm Caribbean sea on one side and the rough bleak Atlantic Ocean on the other. At the end of the road was a beach named Savannah Bay where we excitedly unloaded and prepared our scuba gear. Next we entered the chilly water to begin snorkeling a foreign site ridden with organisms we had never seen before. Each reef we observed was littered with black sea urchins hiding under nearly every crevice and rock awaiting their night-time feeding. We also saw an Indian West Egg sea urchin which was ridden with white spikes and camouflaged with nearby plants. Another interesting creature I saw was a feather duster worm which looked like a small underwater tree with lots of droopy branches and peeked out of a hole that it retreated into as I grew near it. The biggest animal I saw was a large three foot long Spiny Caribbean Lobster sulking in the shadows of a dark cave. During this scuba escapade Caitlyn kept collecting certain invertebrates for usage in a later lesson. After the snorkel we all headed to the beach to get a quick lesson on invertebrates in which she showed us how to identify certain species of invertebrates and she made a small touch-tank in which we were all allowed to pick up and feel certain animals she had collected earlier on our snorkel. I felt two different types of sea urchins and a sea pearl which resembled a green grape. After the quick lesson we had a long break until the taxi arrived, so we all went into the water for another snorkel on a reef further out and with a more diverse range of marine wildlife than our prior snorkel. In this one I saw two medium sized schools of blue tang and sergeant major which I found interesting. Also I spotted a large amount of yellow tailed goatfish. After this second snorkel we all got on the beach and prepared for the taxi when a tropical storm hit the beach causing mass surges of rain to hit a small cover we were all cowering under. Midway through the rainstorm half of our group went into the water in an attempt to escape the rain; I had already clothed myself so I chose to continue harboring myself under the large leaf covering above my head.
After the brief, sudden rainstorm we all went into the taxi only to slowly ascend the mountain we had originally entered through. After the taxi ride we took a break at the marina to await the second marine biology group so that we could eat lunch as a unified group. The rain had picked up during the break so we took shelter in the dive BVI’s office, where Austin Wallace attempted to keep his hand raised until lunch. Once they arrived we all ate lunch at Rendezvous Bar where we all had cheeseburgers and french fries.
Next the marine biology one group and I went turtle tagging at an island about twenty minutes off of Virgin Gorda. We used a method called manta tow to try and catch the turtles. Manta tow involves snorkeling behind a boat while hanging on to a line so that a large area can quickly be searched for turtles. When someone spots a turtle they raise their hand and go searching for the turtle, trying to pick it up and bring it back to the boat. The first group consisted of Nick Brynne, Andrew Suarez, Matt Mazini, and me. I hung onto to a line with Andrew while Brynne and Mazzini hung onto a circular float. We were dragging for about twenty minutes when Brynne suddenly spotted a turtle, causing everyone to chase after it, except for me who thought that we had stopped the boat to change shifts. Once I got onto the boat I quickly became aware of the true reality of the situation so I geared back up and jumped back into the water where I followed the turtle until it stopped on the bottom, tired from the ten minute long chase. The turtle was about thirty feet down which I thought made it inaccessible, but then Jackson White arrived at the scene and quickly dove down and successfully retrieved the juvenile green turtle and brought it back to the boat. At the boat Dr. Gore went over some key facts regarding this turtle in particular and then asked Zach Bisken and Austin Wallace to measure some of the different various aspects of the turtle to help her with research. After all of the measurements were recorded she retrieved a thick needle which she used to plant a chip near the turtles neck in order to track its movements. Then we named the turtle slappy because of his tendency to slap his fins across his chest. After seemingly hundreds of pictures Brynne released the turtle into the water. Then we switched to a second group consisting of Austin Wallace, Jackson White, and Zach Bishken. After about five minutes they had spotted a turtle and proceeded to follow it, they then soon lost it amongst the reefs. We then continued to tow the second group in search of another sea turtle, soon we snagged one of the lines on a shallow rock. Once this occurred we decided to spend our time snorkeling while this problem was being fixed, once the problem was fixed we decided to continue snorkeling because we had found the surrounding reefs interesting. After this snorkel we returned to the marina to wait for the taxi and the second marine biology group. Once both arrived we hopped into a taxi to take a break at our huts before dinner. Once our break ended we then went to mad dogs to partake in a tasty lasagna dinner.
After dinner we the returned back to our huts to write our blogs and retire to our beds, anxious for the journeys ahead.
