Yesterday was the longest traveling day of my life. It took us three planes, almost 5 hours of down time in between flights, and about 6 hours of traveling, we finally made it to our destination, The Guavaberry Resort on the British Virgin Island. When Joe, Gabe, David, and I arrived a our cabin, the Plumtree cabin, we were all excited to see who we were rooming with. I was rooming with David. We played cards until Special K and Doc came into our room and told us to shower and go to bed.
I woke up to the sounds of birds and doc walking into our room and telling us to get up. I got up, got dressed, and walked down to the cattle guard, or our meeting spot. We went to the Olde Yard Village were I met the whole crew of Dive BVI. Casey, briefed us and introduced them to us. While she was doing this, the g Then we got our shirts,told our name, and why we signed up for this trip. My answer to the last questions was that a fellow classmate, Sam Wyand, told me he was going on this trip and it sounded like a lot of fun, so I signed up. I got a blue t-shirt and Casey also gave me a hug for sympathy for my broken hand. Casey did the orientation for the class and then we had a 10 minutes break where Marco, Joe, Gabe, Sam, Tom, and I chilled next to the pool that was ready to overflow the second someone went into it. Then, we went back into the conference room in the Olde Yard Village and Laura taught us about fish identification. The fish that really intrigued me the most was the Parrot Fish. I liked how it eats the coral and has a break like a bird, but its underwater and its a fish, which is the cool thing. Then, Casey told us about the Jesuit Reef that the jesuit students that had done this trip before me had planted and she told us how we can impact the reef that we help every year when we come to the BVI. I like Casey presentation because she let us tell her our opinion on topics such as coral reefs and global warming. Then we had a 15 minute break, which we chilled next to the pool again. Next, we had a lunch consisting of chicken, ham and tuna sandwiches, potato salad, and seasoned fries. We engorged ourself by eating until our tummies were full. After this, we went to the boat, where we geared up for my first dive in salt water. I felt helpless because of my hand because people were waiting on me hands and knees. They helped me within everything including getting me into my BC. It took us less than 10 minues on my ship, the beauty that is the sea monkey. We all got ready and my buddy, Christian, and we both checked each others equipment and we did a giant stride entry into the clear blue sea that is the Caribbean. We went to the Chimney, one of Jacques Cousteau favorite dive spots. The dive was an experience by itself. We saw so many types of fishes like parrot fish, angel fish, trunk fish, trumpet fish and the damselfish, while still seeing invertebrates like a sand dollar and some crustaceans like a shiny lobster and we also saw multiple corals like staghorn, elkhorn, and fire coral. Towards the end of the dive, I saw a crew member of Dive BVI, Jeff JR., shot a lion fish right in the head. That was a sweet experience and one I’ll probably never forget. We dried off and went to land, where we dissected the slayed lion fish. It was cool to kill something to better the environment around us and it really showed me that we can make a different to the fish, corals, and other life that depend on us to protect them from these lion fish. After we went back to the hotel and cleaned off, we went to the resurant called Mad Dogs and had an all-you-can-eat pizza. I had cheese and pepperoni pizza and an ice cream brownie. To end the day, we went back to the hotel, got my iPad and camera, and went to the Internet cafe to write a blog. All in all, this was a great choice to come, even with having a broken hand and I loved my first full day in paradise that is the British Virgin Island.
1st Picture: Laura picking up a Sand Dollar.
2nd Picture: A bleached Staghorn Coral.
3rd Picture: A picture of me with the sand dollar Laura caught.
