On the fifth day of our trip, we helped maintain Jesuit’s coral nursery by cleaning the coral and the PVC pipe trees that hold the coral. While the divers cleaned the staghorn coral, John and I snorkeled the surface to look for diseased staghorn coral in the surrounding reef that could pose a threat to the healthy growing coral at the nursery. Diseased staghorn coral has bleached white tips that will eventually spread down the coral. Once we finished cleaning the coral, we headed to a dive site called the chimney because of a rock formation that resembles a chimney. While snorkeling at the chimney, Becca taught me how to differentiate all of the different kinds of parrotfish. Next, we headed to Savannah Bay to meet up with the Sea Monkey for sandwiches on the boat, and a tour of a salt pond that was unfortunately dry due to a drought on the island. We headed back to guavaberry early after this to prepare our presentations for the Dive BVI staff and Doc. After everyone had presented we headed down to the beach for pizza overlooking the water and sunset, which beats delivery every time.
