Day three, like the previous mornings, started bright and early. We met at Mango house for a feast consisting heavily of cereals and muffins. Next, Dr. Shannon Gore briefed us on sea turtle basics and how to properly catch them. I was quite surprised to learn that not all sea turtle species are critically endangered and in fact some populations are on the rise. Then we were picked up by Glenn and made our way to the docks, where we dropped off the Sea Monkey crew. We continued the journey towards Savannah Bay. While at Savannah Bay, we snorkeled around in the shallow waters looking for different invertebrates for Casey to catch. After about a half hour or so, we returned to the beach and listened attentively to Casey’s presentation on a variety of invertebrates: starfish, urchins, slugs, etc.. We learned about their environment, characteristics, and habitats. We were then shuffled back to the dock for a delicious pork-barbecue wrap and fries. We then hopped on the Sea Monkey and commuted to Little Dix’s Bay for sea turtle tagging, a very frustrating activity. We swam around the bay for hours, missing every opportunity to snag our first sea turtle. But finally, some miraculous teamwork by Ryan, Doc, myself, and a few others allowed Daniel, one of the scuba instructors, to sneak up behind an inattentive green sea turtle and grab its shell. He gripped the juvenile turtle by the bottom and top of the shell and handed it to Dr. Gore. She noticed that it had been tagged twice, once I’m 2004 and once earlier this year. We renewed its tags and passed the turtle around for a photo shoot. We soon left the bay and headed back to the docks, meeting up with Glenn and ultimately making it back to our cabin. A hour later, we went down to the beach for some cabin games, which my cabin, Lime House, obviously dominated. We won the first game, received second place in the second game, third place in the third game, and first in the fourth game. The championship game was a long obstacle course between Lime House and Plum. We started a little slow and were trailing the whole time, but luckily Jim hit one of the poles and Barrett over took him with ease, securing us the victory. We triumphed and received a 50$ gift card to the dive shop in addition to a Dive BVI hat. Tomorrow I’m looking forward to more exciting dives and a visit to ARK’s coral nursery.
