Today was our first actual day in the BVI. After having trouble getting to bed because of the heat, I finally got a few hours of sleep. The day started early with breakfast that Doc and Mr Golab deliciously made (cereal and bagels). Then, we left ready for the first day on the water. I left on the SeaMonkey with my group to make sure we were still ready for the water. The water was the perfect temperature and I was amazed by how clearly I could see everything. The skills were easy expectually because my dive buddy was Jack Lynch who I had been paired with the entire time of my training. However, when I tried to clear water from my goggles I accidentally sucked water up my nose which was not a very pleasant experience. After we got done refreshing our skills, we got to go explore the reef which was one of the coolest experiences of my life. All the colorful coral and animals was mind blowing. One of my favorite moments of our first dive was peeking under a crack in the coral and seeing an eel. The sea life was so abundant and the fish were so friendly. While I was swimming I looked and saw a school of hundreds of Blue Tang right above me. Coming up 45 minutes later for air was pretty cool too because I have never really been under water for that long. Dive 2 was just observing so that made it more time for exploring. Also I was allowed to be my GoPro to capture all I could see. The second dive was cool because we got up close and personal with the coral. We found a giant lobster in a reef and even saw a juvenile spotted drum which was beautiful. Our dive leader, Beth, told us that their tail part stays the same size their entire life. After eating lunch we got to go explore the famous baths in the BVI. These were amazing rock structure that formed tunnels. These were amazing and naturally formed so it was beautiful to witness. However, I did scrape up my knee on the rocks which made me nervous to swim home because I didn’t want a shark to attack me. I’m glad I did because we saw barracudas and a sting ray! It was a long snorkel home but the views were amazing. Then, we set out the plan for our group project which I am excited to get started on tomorrow because I think we will get some great results. We then ate a delicious lasagna meal on the beach and got to watch the sunset. I am looking forward to getting up early and setting out to work on a project. Today was a great day which helps believe the rest of the trip should be even better!
