I woke up at the routine 6:30, prepared for the day, and met everyone at the cattle guard at 7:50. We were taken to the restaurant inside the marina for breakfast. Here, I enjoyed some over-medium eggs, bacon, and toast. Following breakfast, Marine 1 & 2 went into the Dive BVI shop to learn about sea turtles from Dr. Shannon Gore. Then, Marine 1 left to begin their day of turtle tagging, whilst Marine 2 stayed to talk about the details in regards to coral transplanting. After doing this, we went to the shops and I purchased a few items for family and myself. Then, we got a taxi ride; however, this time it was not Glenn. We were taken to this place really far away on the island and we snorkeled there. The water was a little murky, but we had come to see sharks so it wasn’t of much concern. While snorkeling we saw 3 lemon sharks, 2 were about a foot long, and the 3rd was probably 2 feet long. These weren’t the only cool finds though as we saw 4 stingrays all within a 15 foot radius of each other. After we were there for an hour we headed back to where the taxi left us to get a ride back to the marina for lunch. For lunch I had a cheeseburger with ketchup only and a sweet tea. Proceeding lunch, we were taken back to Guavaberry and were there for about 10 minutes because we were going to the baths. When we got to the baths we got ready with snorkeling gear in hand. As we walked down to the baths we were also getting a lesson on geology from Sarah and also general Baths knowledge. Also, on the way down she showed us these termites that tasted like pepper because they ate sea grapes and offered for us to try some. Myself along with a few others tried the termites and they tasted exactly as described, peppery. When we reached the beach next to the baths we went over to the mango trees and shook down some fresh mangos. These mangos were probably the best mangos I have ever had. After eating fresh mangos, we were taken through the Baths by Sarah and were taught about the rocks formations and also some neat facts about the Baths. Once we got out of the Baths the snorkel from the Baths to Guavaberry’s beach began. While snorkeling back we would find valleys between the massive boulders and hold our breath and swim through them, this was especially fun. On this snorkel I saw a lot of blue tang, parrotfish, damselfish, different species of grunts, and different species of wrasse. Then we went to the beach for our cookout and while there we celebrated my cousin (Jackson) and another Marine 1 member’s birthdays. After eating we went on a night snorkel off the shore and saw some rays, squid, and a lot of lobsters. We ended the night in our cabins playing a friendly game of spoons. Finally, we went to bed and day 4 came around the corner. We woke up and were taken to the same restaurant in the marina’s shops and I had a cup of coffee, some fruit, and honey oats. After a deliciously filling oatmeal breakfast we went to Caravel Rock. At Carvel Rock we dove down to about 50 feet and we swam around the rock. We saw some of the most interesting things: 4 Caribbean reef sharks (varied in size from (3-6 feet), hawksbill sea turtle, a lot of different species of fish, and tons of lobster. Once finishing this dive, which was really choppy, and moved to the west side of Cooper Island to get to calmer waters for our surface interval. We then dove wreck alley from the place we had our surface interval. This is when another really exciting event occurred and we saw a Goliath Grouper! It easily topped the scales at more than 400 lbs. Then we saw around the boat exploring for a little while and after finishing our dive we had the best fish and chips waiting for us right around the island. We arrived at the Cooper Island Boat Club and sat down for what is my favorite meal of the trip and my favorite fish and chips ever. Concluding our dinner we went snorkeled from the dock towards the North West corner of the island. We snorkeled primarily in sea grass fields and saw a lot of turtles and a few rays. Then, we boarded the boats and headed back to the Marina. After we got dropped back off at Guavaberry we showered and met at the cattle guards to be ready for mass. Glenn picked us up and drove us up one of the mountains on Virgin Gorda to the Catholic Church. This Church has one of the best views of the island and I thoroughly enjoy looking over the island from this vantage point. The presiding priest was from Poland and he led a comical yet impactful mass. After mass had finished we took our group photo with the priest out in the parking lot. Once again, we were picked up by Glenn and taken to the top of the Baths for dinner. Here, we enjoyed a hamburger, hotdogs, and some corn. I spiced things up with a ginger ale. Concluding dinner we all met under the patio of the restaurant and watched some of our camera’s live feed. We also were quickly taught about what methodology we were going to use for transplanting corals and the process for tomorrow. After an exhausting yet quite exquisite day we walked back to Guavaberry to write our forum post and get a well-deserved nights of rest.
