Saturday
After being exhausted from the night before everyone slept hard and suddenly awoke to the alarm clock blaring. Next both marine biology one and two got dressed and took a taxi to the marina where we ate a breakfast similar to the one we had eaten the previous day. We ate at the Dive BVI office and had a plain breakfast of bread, fruit, poptarts, yogurt, and bagels.
After breakfast both marine biology one and two headed to Long Bay off of Virgin Gorda to transplant Elkhorn and Staghorn coral. Once there we were instructed to either pick up broken coral or break off pieces of coral from diseased or dying coral using a hammer or a weight. Next we prepared our gear and jumped into the cool turquoise water. Once in the water we went to a designated buoy and descended into a shallow reef and began collecting coral. Each of us worked in buddy teams in which one buddy would hold the container for the coral while the other would break off small branches. I was designated a holder so I held the coral while my partner collected. While looking for coral I saw Bryne trying to collect fire coral which supposedly stings skin on contact. This dive was a true test of buoyancy because while collecting coral the diver had to make sure they weren’t disturbing the surrounding environment which I found hard due to the fact that all week I had been using an eight pound weight belt to sink, but today I had to use a ten pound weight belt. After collecting more than enough branches of Staghorn coral we returned to the boat and tied a marker to our coral which we left beneath the boat. During marine biology one’s dive, marine biology two was hauling cement blocks underwater and constructing a small artificial reef that coral would be later planted on. Once on the boat, both marine biology one and two had a quick snack before getting a quick presentation from Casey on how marine biology one students would collaborate with marine biology two students to plant the coral fragments on to the artificial reefs. Besides planting coral we would also be recording some measurements of the coral’s dimensions while underwater. Once I discovered that I was paired up with marine biology two student Chris we began talking and deciding how we would divi up the work and what techniques we would use. After that was decided we entered the water and swam over to the artificial reef he had made and began preparing it for the coral transplant as well as recording some general information. Next we received the coral and began zip tying it to wooden pegs that protruded out of the upper half of the cement blocks. Once we had zip tied each of our three pieces of coral, we began recording some basic information about the coral, which included its height, base width, and number of points. After recording everything on an underwater slate we headed back to the boat and awaited lunch provided by Dive BVI.
After waiting about twenty minutes we ate a lunch of turkey and peanut butter sandwiches with a side of chips and spaghetti. We ate our lunches in the shade of the overhead area of the boat, in an attempt to escape the scorching sun which had already taken a toll on my back and arms. While eating marine biology one and dive BVI instructors Jeff and Caitlin began trying to integrate as many q words into sentences as they could. After eating lunch we had tons of time to kill and were given the option to either hang out on the boat or snorkel in the surrounding area. Marine biology one decided to hang out on the boat and play a game of charades and some type of animal game Jeff knew about. The animal game was simple and consisted of the naming of various animals that started with each letter in the alphabet, which for the most part was pretty amusing. Once we were ready to leave we set off to the Virgin Gorda marina to get a taxi back to Guavaberry where we would prepare for mass at five thirty.
We then had a short twenty minute mass with no music and a short homily. The church was located atop a peak near the center of town and overlooked nearly everything. After mass we went to the beach for a barbecue of hamburgers and hot dogs before our night snorkel.
After dinner we entered the water at Guavaberry and snorkeled with flashlights in the nearby waters. During the snorkel we saw squid, banded crab, octopus, and a huge spiny lobster. During this snorkel we didn’t really see very many fish but we saw huge numbers of sea urchins feeding. Also some of the coral polyps on the brain coral were more open for its feeding. After the snorkel we walked back to Guavaberry and quickly went to sleep.
Sunday
Our last day at Virgin Gorda began with a grueling wake-up at seven. We were all exhausted from the two dives and night snorkel from the previous day. We then all slowly dressed and applied sunscreen before heading out to the Guavaberry entertainment center for another basic breakfast of bagels, bread, cereal, and yogurt.
Next we took a quick five minute taxi drive to a wall with a long series of different panels where we would be painting for our service project. At the wall we met up with Casey and Laura and collaborated on various methods on how we could improve upon the dive logo painted by former marine biology one students. First we began repainting the background of the logo white and touching up miscellaneous cracks and crevices that weren’t very well painted. Then we moved to a series of wall panels with graffiti and began laying down a white base coat to cover up the vandalism. In all we painted about four of these panels. Next we began working on the dive logo by adding a bright blue jesuit cross in the center of it as well as making the top border proportionate to the rest of the image. While we were cleaning off the paint from our brushes an older lady came up to us and asked us who had given us permission to paint over government owned property. After her short five minute long rant we told her that we were simply touching up a piece painted last year and that we had already been granted permission last year. She then left us alone to later investigate the validity of our story.
After painting for about an hour and a half we walked back to Guavaberry to quickly shower and prepare for lunch. Then we went for the marina to watch a short review on lionfish facts and how they were cooked. Marine biology two had killed a bunch of lionfish for their community service project, so Jeff was showing us some of their insides and telling us about them. After the short presentation we ate lunch at Rendezvous which was a coastal restaurant that was open and faced the water. We ate chicken wraps with a side of fries. Next we waited for our cab driver to arrive and pick us up, while we were waiting a couple people attempted to climb nearby palm trees, which turned out unsuccessful.
Once our cab driver arrived we went back to Guavaberry for a long break before heading to a nice dinner at a restaurant called Mermaids.
