Today was a good first day. We started off with a couple dives and I was a little nervous because last year I had problems while diving because of my sinuses. Happily, nothing bad happened and I’ll try to keep it that way. Before we got in the water we had a debriefing on scuba gear and rules on the boats. I was glad to have that because it had been a while and even with the refresher course easier in the month, it was good to have that reminder and finally get back in the refreshing water of the BVI. We did two dives and on the second one we went to a sunken plane and it was so interesting! It was like the Rhone last year and we got to swim though it and there were still seats and overhead bins. After that we had lunch and went to the baths. That was just as cool as I remember it being. While we were walking on our way there Beth was talking about the history of the place and there were lots of stories and thoughts about how the baths got their name. One theory was that when the slave shops would come in in the older days then all the slaves would take their baths there because they are dirty and smelly and have been cramped on those ships. The second theory was based off tectonic plates. I don’t remember the name completely but these specific plates are called bathetic plates and they are under the water between the islands and that they are not far, at most 100 feet from each other. We found ourselves contorting our bodies into strange sand sometimes uncomfortable positions to get through some of the boulders and I remembered the canyonering trip in Utah I took in 2011 with my mom. After that, we snorkeled back to our little beach and we saw a Sergeant major protecting eggs and a sting ray and something that looked pointy and like a white urchin but one of the leaders picked it up and explains how it ate with small tentacles and how it would suck onto your hand if you turned your hand over. I forgot what the name of that was unfortunately. After that we had time to go back to the cabins and get cleaned up for dinner. We had a yummy lasagna with vegetables and sausage. Then we watched some of the guys who left stuff behind dance to “single ladies”. Good first day and I’m ready to relax, sleep, and head back into the water tomorrow.
