Today fulfilled a few lifelong goals of mine, to swim with sharks and to watch fire dancers up close. We did our first dive at site called “Ginger Steps”. The geography of the slope under the water forms giant steps, hence the name. As soon as we took the giant stride method into the water there were almost immediately sharks in our midst. They were Caribbean Reef Sharks and ranged from about 3 feet to 6 feet. While about 60 feet down, we stumbled upon a Caribbean Spiny Lobster. It didn’t have massive claws like the lobsters in the Northeast, and it also was covered in white spots. The marine life as a whole in this area was thriving. This is because the strong current consistently provided nutrients to the coral and fish. In addition to nutrients, the fish would use the strong current like a highway and swim in it. The dive masters showed us exactly where the current was as the current had removed all the coral in its path, leaving behind a white strip of sand on the ground. The second dive of the day was supposed to consist of working on our projects, but due to the fact that my group’s project is executed at night, my dive master opted for us to explore the site of “Ginger Backside”. We were able to see an entire school of Southern Sennets that looked like a bunch of baby barracudas. In addition to that, we actually did see a full sized barracuda as well as more Caribbean Spiny Lobster and even a group of squids. After these two dives we headed to the beach in which the whole group was tossing the frisbee back and forth for about 45 minutes. This led up to the beach games in which the different casas would compete in four different events. The events were: water ballon dodgeball, pictionary, night snorkel, and then a relay race. My casa, “Jasmine”, and my teammates of Chase Ryan, Ty Morin, John Wengierski, and Sullivan Curry finished in first place as we won 3 events and got second in “night snorkel”. Not meaning to brag but it wasn’t our championship to win, it was our championship to lose. After we had all showered up and gone to church, we went to dinner and the top of the Baths. The fish served to me was Mahi Mahi cooked to perfection. After the glorious dinner and ice cream dessert, we gathered around for a viewing of a fire dance. The people performed tricks and spins you’d have to be crazy to even attempt. Looking back on the long day, it was one to remember.
