July 11
I woke up at about 3:15, took a shower and got ready for a series of long flights. Our fist flight was four and a half hours long to San Juan Puerto Rico. There was a five hour layover there and we ate Domino’s for a ridiculous price, and our flight was delayed 50 minutes. It was a 30 minute flight to Beef Island, where we went through customs. We then had a 30 minute boat ride in the dark to Virgin Gorda on the Sea Wolf and Casey told us where we would sleep and about the resort while we ate pizza.
July 12
Today we woke up as 6:25, ate breakfast at a cafe near the docks, and the fired egg sandwich was great. We then had an introduction to and briefing by the Dive BVI team and all of their divers were assigned to the groups from our group projects. Beth was assigned to my group of Jim, Nick, Logan and myself. We had a short ride to Bronco Billy, which gets its name from a rock formation somewhat resembling a horse, at George Dog island on the Sea Monkey where we were assessed on our dive proficiency. George Dog Island is part of the Dog islands named for the barking from seals that used to inhabit the islands until their extinction around 1956. After that, we swam around the area at a depth of about 35 feet while Beth pointed out certain fish and wrote their names on a slate. After that we returned to the boat and had a snack and were briefed on the next dive, which was at the chimney at Great Dog island. The chimney is a cove where tides create strips of sand on the otherwise rocky bottom. There Beth pointed out more fish and coral species, we even saw two squid, and we swam through a small and tight valley that gives the chimney its name. Some of the more interesting marine life we saw were bar jack, feather duster coral, squid, trumpet fish, stag horn and elk horn coral and giant anemone. We were able to learn a lot of those names, as well as refresh dive skills. Ben, the captain of the Sea Monkey, let people drive the boat on the some of way there and back. We then went to eat lunch on the beach at the hotel. We had sandwiches, apples, cookies, and chips. Afterwards, we played frisbee before snorkeling to the Baths. The Baths are natural rock formations that resulted in huge boulders with small paths between and to enter we had to get a rock into a small intention about 15 feet up and I was the one There is water in some of the paths and slavers used to stop and allow the slaves to wash in those waters, resulting in the name baths. Afterward, w wee allowed to adventure, and we climbed on huge boulders. We ventured the paths while Beth, as well as some other adults, explained the history of the formations. We snorkel end back to our beach and returned to our cabins to shower. We ate burritos for dinner, and then presented our projects to our group leaders to plan for the dives. Later this week, I look forward to hopefully catching turtles so they can be tagged, and I hope we see some barracuda and sharks.
