Today me and my cabin mates arose at 7am and stumbled ourselves over to Doc and Mr. Von’s cabin for breakfast. Our breakfast consisted of cereal, fruit, croissants, eggs, and sausage. After our delicious meal to start the day we made our down to the designated meeting point to wait for our taxi drive down to the marina. Having already been assigned to Sea Dragon me and my dive team made our way over to meet the rest of the crew, Gaz and Becca, that are here to help out. After being briefed on all the safety and logistics of the boat, we headed for our first dive, a checkout dive, at George Dog Island. George Dog Island is part of a cluster of islands called the Dog Islands because when explorers came by they heard the barking of seals and assumed they were rabid dogs and did not want to risk being bitten by rabid dogs so they’re never landed there. During they dive, we rehearsed and practiced various safety procedures and diving skills to refresh our abilities. To finish the dive we dove around the area to search for any kind of organism to identify. Out of no where a massive school of juvenile yellow fin tuna who swarmed our group for a few seconds and then continued on their way. We surfaced and climbed back on the boat for a 35 minute surface interval before our next dive. Because of an illness I have been fighting since Monday, I decided not push it and go on the second dive, my ears struggled to equalize on the first dive. Instead, I joined Doc and Chase on a snorkel of the area which was very enjoyable except for the swarms of stinging jellyfish eggs floating in the water. We snorkeled for around 45 minutes to an hour and saw all kinds of marine life including a school of 20 barracudas. After we finished our snorkel and sailed back to the marina we had lunch and went back to our cabins to prepare for our tour of the Baths. The Baths on Virgin Gorda are a world famous geological formation who’s origin of name is very debated. Some say the baths God their name simply because they cause small pools of water to form around the rocks, others say it’s because that’s where slaves were brought to be bathed on the way to the Americas, and our guide suggested its was because the type of rock the baths are made of is called Batholic Rock. After completing our tour and climbing all around the boulders and caverns of the Baths, we snorkeled our way back to the Guavaberry resort beach. We showered and changed into dry clothes for dinner on the beach. The entertainment for the night was provided by Sully Curry, Preston Sledge, and Mathew Schoneberg who collectively attempted to perform Beyoncé’s “All the Single Ladies”. The dancing was a punishment for all of them for leaving something behind during the day. After dinner we retreated to the wifi room to finish the day off with some jokes while writing our blogs.
