Hi, for all of you who do not know me my name is Garrett Tarango and I am currently a rising junior at Jesuit High school in Dallas Texas. If you are reading this, you probably already know that I am writing about my school trip to the British Virgin Islands. Despite this only being my full first day here, I have already participated in various activities and events.
The day started with an early 6:45 wake up. To my surprise, I wasn’t very tired despite the fact that my body has adjusted to waking up late this summer. The ceiling fan and table side fan both cranked up to max also helped tremendously with sleeping due to the heat down here. At 7:15, I walked to another house with my cabin mates for a breakfast consisting of eggs, cereal, yogurt, and this awesome orange juice mixed with other fruits that I plan on searching for when I get back to Dallas.
Around 8ish our entire group headed in a large open van to the docks where the dive boats are located. Upon arriving, we were greeted by our diving instructors named Rupert and Becca who were both very kind. Soon after getting situated we took off in the boat named “Seamonkey” to the first dive location. Unfortunately, I was not able to obtain my dive certification before the trip so I opted to snorkel instead. However, the water was crystal clear, allowing me to see almost everything around me such as coral, fish, reefs, etc. I am not lying when I say that this is probably the nicest water I have ever swam in.
After around 20-30 minutes we headed back to the boat to head to the second dive location right off of “Dog Island.” The island got its name from past Natives who stayed away from the island due to the barks of dogs they heard coming from the island. They believed that the dogs would give them rabies. However, later explorers discovered that the “barking” was from local seals who made a similar noise to a dog bark. They would playfully swim up to the boats to greet the explorers. However, the explorers, who had just spent around 6 months at sea eating lackluster food, had other ideas than being friendly. The explorers and future sailors killed and ate the seals eventually
driving them into extinction. Anyway, back to the snorkeling. This time around, I saw a sunken plane, a barracuda, and a squid. After the dive, we boarded the boat and headed back to the dock. Upon arrival, I ate lunch which included a jelly sandwich and a few cookies.
The rest of the day was pretty straight forward. After lunch, everyone took an hour and a half break. At 4:00, my dive group met with Rupert and Becca and discussed our research project (determining if the size of a sponge affects its rate of processing water). Shortly after, we headed for an hour mass and finished the night off with dinner.
Today was indeed a busy day. Tomorrow will entail more as well. Until then however, I’m gonna get some rest. Until tomorrow!
