I woke up to the itch of mosquito bites betwixt my should blades. After scratching for a considerable amount of time, I took a shower to wash of the nervousness and approach the day with courage. The breakfast I ate consisted of one granola bar and a whole lot of can-do attitude. The first activity of the day was looking at things that had no spine. We arrived at Savannah Bay where the BVI diver instructors had already set up shop. They had a plastic container that contained two urchins, three sea slugs, and a algae bulb. One urchin had short, white spines and was the size of my hand. The other urchin had larger, blunter spines and was much smaller. Benjie, my partner, and I swam out into the ocean to observe the surrounding organisms. However, after flipping out because it was two shallow and I was almost laying on top off fire coral, we found nothing. We observed many urchins under ledges that were unreachable due to the rock and coral surrounding it. Our entire group made their way back to the beach, and much to the chagrin of everyone, only our teachers found something. There was one conch shell and another algae bulb, but the conch shell was the only thing that moved because of the conch. Leaving the beach, I went to eat a delectable meal. I enjoyed 4 quesadillas and fries that melted in your mouth. I topped off the meal with a Sprite much to the enjoyment of my stomach.
The second activity started off at Mount Trunk where we would try, attempt, and ultimately fail to catch a turtle. The first location we arrived at was swamped with urchins. They were so small and cute I almost wanted to cuddle with it. Anyways, we saw no turtles at the first location, so we went to Little Dix. I swam for twenty minutes while looking for turtles, but I only saw two stingrays and a pufferfish…it was really disheartening. However, upon arriving back at the boat, the chase was on. He swerved left, I swerved left, he swam fast, I swam faster(not really), but I could tell he was getting tired so I poured on the horsepower. Summoning the strength of my ancestors and their ancestors before them, I swam with all my might, dove down, and totally missed because the turtle actually started swimming away. Anyways, after that bust, I saw two more stingray, ruminated about what I was doing, and finally ended up at the boat to where I hung my head in defeat. We head back to shore, our hands empty and hearts void of victory. That night, I enjoyed 2 nice, fresh chicken wraps with guacomole and one pork wrap. Tomorrow, we will dive to save some coral and observe a shipwreck. And on that bombshell, good night.
