Day 5
This morning I woke up around 6:40, got ready for the day and headed down to breakfast around 7:30. Breakfast today was a little different, we were served our usual assortment of foods but this time Miles and Wyatt made eggs for us. Once everyone finished eating their breakfast we went down to the entrance of our resort where Glen was waiting to take us to the marina. Once again the sea dragon and sea monkey were waiting to take us out to our next dive site, “The Rhone”. When we reached the Rhone we geared up and headed down to the first section of the reck that we were going to explore. At this section we were able to swim threw part of the hull, which was amazing. The wreck was covered in algae and coral, which fish such as angel fish, grunts, squirrel fish, and blue chromis swam around. After that stunning dive, we headed back to the surface where we had a short surface interval before our next dive. During this interval we were taught about the history of the “Rhone”. The Rhone had a very interesting history. The Rhone’s history all started in 1865 when the Rhone, a steam powered boat (a first of its kind), entered the ocean. The Rhone’s main purpose was to carry cargo, such as coffee from South America back to England, but it was also made to carry passengers in luxury cabins. Unfortunately the life of the Rhone did not last long, only two years after being built the Rhone went down in a hurricane off the coast of Salt Island. After this brief history lesson of the Rhone, we geared up a second time with full tanks and dove down to see the rest of the wreck. The wreck was amazing, on this dive we got to rub the lucky port hole number “26” of the only guest to survive the crash. We were also able to see the captains spoon that was sticking out from the wreck. We then toured around the reefs growing on the reck and headed back to the surface. When everyone was back on board we went to lunch at a restaurant at Cooper Island, where we all had a delicious meal of fish and chips. After we ate, we were allowed to go down to the ice cream and gifts shops near the restaurant. At the ice cream shop I got a scoop of coconut and lemon sherbet, which was pretty good. We then went back on the boat and drove back to the marina on Virgin Gorda Island. Once we got back to our hotel we took a quick shower and headed down to the wifi room to work on our group dive projects. We worked on our project presentation until around 630 when the dive crew brought a burrito dinner with cupcakes to the beach. The food was good as usual, and the sunset on the beach was great to watch while we ate. After dinner we went back to our wifi room to finish up. Today was very tiring but I can’t wait to go turtle tagging tomorrow.
Day 6
Today went down a little bit different than the other days. Instead of the usual 7:00 wake up time and the 7:30 breakfast we were given 30 minutes of extra sleep. I woke up around 7:30 to get ready for breakfast, which was at 8 today. After our usual breakfast of pastries, fruit, and cereal, served by the lime cabin, we went to the wifi room to listen to Dr. Gore talk about sea turtle tagging. When the presentation was over we went out to our normal pick up spot where we waited for Glen. Today instead of splitting up into two boats, one group went to the beach while the other went to go try and tag sea turtles, I was in the beach group. Once we dropped off the sea monkey crew at the marina, we headed to Savannah Bay where we were to learn about arthropods. When we got to Savannah Bay Casey had already caught a sea slug and some sea urchins, but we had to help catch the rest. After about 30 minutes of snorkeling for arthropods, we went back to the beach to put the newly caught organisms into the water bin. We then had a quick lesson over the coral shrimp, sea urchins, snail, and jellyfish that we caught. After our discussion over the sea organisms we had a nice sandwich lunch on the beach. A little while after everyone was done eating we went to the marina and switched spots with the sea monkey guys. Once we reached the spot where we were to look for sea turtles we split into groups of four and five. One group was dragged by the boat, while the other group was on look out duty. My group was not the first to be put in the water so we were on look out. About 30 minutes in we spotted a sea turtle swimming off the port side of the boat, and everyone dove in the water to chase it. Unfortunately, the turtle was able to elude us so we could not attempt to bring it back to the boat. After our first failed attempt at trying to capture a sea turtle we switched spots with the group in the water. Being dragged by the boat was a very interesting experience, we would hit an occasionally patch of jellyfish which is always fun. We eventually had to get out of the water and end our search. On the way back we decided to try one more time around the marina. Only a little while into our search, we found a sea turtle again, but this turtle was too quick for us so it was able to get away. We then went back to the marina, where we got ice cream. After waiting a little while Glen took us all back to the resort, where my group and I met in the mango cabin to rehearse our presentation. At 5:00 we all went to the wifi room and presented our project to Mr. Golab, Dr. Gruninger, and the dive staff. Once every one was done presenting their dive projects, we went to the beach to have a pizza dinner with cupcakes. Today was a little different from the past five days and was a nice change.
