This morning was great. We started our day off by naming the chickens out side our cabin. We decided to name the rooster Roacoe, the large hen Rosca, and the smaller hen Rosca Jr. Proceeding the naming of the chickens, we attended a quick briefing on the rules and layout of the Guavaberry Resort. After a filling and satisfying breakfast in the yacht harbor and a safety speech from Casey and the Dive BVI staff, we were fitted for our dive gear and loaded our gear into the boats. On the ride out to the first dive site (George Dog), Ben, our captain, taught me how to drive a large dive boat. At our first dive site of the trip we conducted a dive to refresh on the diving basics and did some exploring. After our 40 minute surface interval we geared up for our second dive which was a fish identification dive. Our group saw squid up close for the first time. I was pretty exited that I was able to take some great pictures of fish, and swim through the world famous chimney with my friend and dive buddy Tripp. Both our group and Ben were relieved when we saw a small shoal of damsel fish during our dive since our group’s project will revolve around them and the coral. Then once we completed our dive, our group had a small diving competition off the boat as we waited for the other groups to return back from their dives. Once back on dry land, we headed to the beach for a picnic of cold cuts. After lunch we took a long snorkel trip over to the Baths, where we learned of the long history of the islands and their geology. The islands were formed from the shifting of the tectonic plates pushing up masses of garnet that have large gas bubbles inside them. As they weather away, they form large boulders and caves. Once we had snorkeled and rock climed at the Baths we returned to the beach and got ready for dinner with a much intisipated meeting with our group leader to discuss our projects. I hope tomorrow we get to see some more fish up close and find out how our group’s project will work out.
