I woke up this morning and was sad when I realized it was my last day on Virgin Gorda. However, my day got a lot better when Casey brought us giant donuts for breakfast. (They tasted incredible.) At breakfast Casey also briefed us about how we would be doing a beach cleanup as part of our day of service. Afterwards Glen picked us up and we headed to a really stinky beach littered with trash. We spentabout two hours filling trash bags with various discarded objects and trash that had been left there. I personally filled up 3 trash bags, but as a group we filled up nearly 30! The smell on the beach didn’t come from the trash like you would think, but rather it came from a swell of seaweed known as sargasm that had been washing up on the beach. The work we did on the beach was really exhausting, but seeing the beach after we had finished was a really great reward. It is really comforting to know that I got to give back to the virgin Gorda community on this trip. Next we headed off to the marina for lunch, And I had another really great cheeseburger. Afterwards Doc let us go shopping for an hour, and that’s where I bought a really cool BVI bumper sticker that reads “Life is better on the beach.” When we wrapped up our shopping we headed back to Guavaberry where Doc and Golab told us we had the afternoon to ourselves. I decided to head back to my room and pack up, and then head down to Beach with the gang. We swam and sat around in beach chairs for the next few hours until Doc told us to shower and get dressed for our farewell dinner at the mermaid bar and grill. Upon our arrival, we were seated, and we waited for Casey and Gaz to arrive. When they did, dinner was served, and It was probably the best meal I’ve eaten in weeks. I had fried tilapia, bacon wrapped chicken, mac n cheese and fruit bunch. The best part about this dinner was the fact that it was a buffet! When we finished that up Casey set up her slideshow presentation, and I couldn’t wait to see what she prepared for us. Well in short it was really touching, and It made me feel really nostalgic. I knew I would miss all of these wonderful and talented instructors. (Especially Gaz and Casey) We literally trusted them with our lives underwater, and they didn’t let anything happen to us, andI will truly truly miss them. Docs speech made Casey cry and us leaving also made Casey cry so that made me sad. I was also extremely sad to leave Gaz behind, and I hope I will see him again next year. All in all dinner was great, and I learned and experienced so much this week. I look forward to doing it all again next year as a student in Marine 2.
