This morning started off very similar to yesterday because we were woken up by a rooster and around 5:45. I got up and made some of the instant coffee that was being sold in the small convenient store (this store runs on the honor code and at the end of the trip you have to pay for everything that you take). The coffee wasn’t that great but being so tired made it all worth it. After talking for a while with my roommates we headed down to the cattle-guard to meet up for breakfast. We then walked down to the meeting area of Guavaberry resort for breakfast. We all took our seats and had some simple things such as bread, cereal, and fruits for breakfast. After eating we met the final few staff members from dive BVI. After this we walked to the Baths. This was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my whole life. Just looking at the massive size of a single rock was breathtaking. We slowly went through the small holes and openings in the rocks to find our way to the beach which was amazing! The sand looked and felt fake and the water was a crystal clear baby blue. We had a short briefing and then we jumped right in and snorkeled back to Guavaberry. Caitlin along with the other instructors helped us with fish ID along the way and we got to free dive to get a closer look at all of the thing living just below the surface. I saw some very interesting fish such as the baby blue tangs that had electric blue spots, several trunk fish, lots of colorful parrot fish, and even a barracuda. Once we reached the shore half of the group went to the ocean to snorkel and through the frisbee while the other half was doing a little more fish ID. I was a part of the group that did fish ID with Caitlin and went over/discuses several new types of fish. After this 45 min lesson Casey and Laura arrived with lunch which consisted of turkey and ham sandwiches with chips and drinks. After we all ate and talked for a while on the beach the other group did fish ID while my group got to go have some free time in the ocean. We snorkeled, played frisbee, and just messed around. This was a ton of fun and I had a great time. We cleaned everything up and them headed to the bus were we were taken to the marina to get ready for our dive. My group, Sea Dragon, got a larger and faster boat than the day before so that was a nice surprise. We headed out to the dive site, Ginger Island, where we quickly got ready and went right into the water. I saw many more fishes than I did in the dive the day before. This was a more shallow dive than yesterday but it was still amazing. We were on the bottom for a total time of around 63 minutes. During this time Caitlin was quizzing us on fish ID. At first it was pretty hard but as the dive went on I got used to it and better at figuring out which fish was what. One fish in particular that everyone was having a hard time with was a good size, black trigger fish. We finished up the dive and had a nice ride back to the marina. The ride felt great being on the second floor, having the breeze dry me off and watching the waves roll by. Once we docked we cleaned the boat off and put full cylinders back onto the boats. After finishing up we headed back to the shuttle where we were taken to our houses to get cleaned up and ready for dinner at Maddogs. As we were waiting outside before we went to Maddogs it started to rain very hard but dried up along the way there. Once we got there we had found that the staff had prepared a variety of wraps and pastas for us. After dinner we played frisbee for a while and then walked back to take a quiz and write our blogs. This was a good ending to a fantastic day; I can’t wait for tomorrow.
Photo cred: Sam Wyand
