Location: The Bight, Norman Island
Hey, y’all. Can you believe that we’re on day nineteen and we’ll be home in two days? Everybody agrees that this session has felt like we’ve been living on Beso for years, but at the same time, it feels as though we’re on day five. Today, I titled the blog “The Best Day Ever.” Since today, our staff began their day at four in the morning to move the boat from Great Harbor Peter to Salt Island. JT and some other dive instructors went for an early dive at the wreck of the Rhone. He saw an eagle ray and some turtles. How cool is that! However, during JT’s dive, Margaret, Emma, and us shippies slept in for a lazy morning until we woke up at around eight. For breakfast, River and Leila set up cereal for us. We, of course, cleaned up breakfast and got ready to go scuba diving! To get ready, I gave everybody temporary tattoos that I brought to put on. Thank you mom for packing those.
Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for is RHONE DAY! We took our dingy over to Gap Year to kit up for our first dive as certified Open Water divers at the wreck of the Rhone. The story of the Rhone goes like this. The British Royal Navy built an awesome ship that they claimed was unsinkable, but as all boats claimed unsinkable, I think you know what comes next. One night, the Captain of the Rhone invited some passengers from another boat to stay on the Rhone in Great Harbor Peter because there was a huge hurricane coming, and he believed that their boats would not survive the storm. The storm came and whipped the boat and lashed the anchor against the ship, so the Captain decided to cut the anchor and coast along with the storm. The passengers from other boats strapped themselves into their beds, but soon, that would become a very bad idea. When the ship neared Salt Island, a giant wave took the ship and threw it into a rock cliff. The ship sank, and the bow and stern split and sunk. After we kitted up, we did our buddy checks and splashed in. Avery and Kaya snorkeled the Rhone, and although it wasn’t what they had hoped to do, they got to see some cool fish and stalk the other shippies below. For the dive, we went around sixty feet and explored the stern. Alivia, Carlie, and I all saw a super cool camouflaged octopus, and swam through a large chunk of the stern, there were tons of fish hiding and colorful coral. Leila, Michelle, and I both got some really awesome photos and videos.
After the dive, we returned to our home, Beso. We moved the boat around the corner, and our chefs began making a ramen lunch. Then, after cleanup, we went on a hike on Salt Island. The views were stunning! Someone said that at the top, you can see the Rhone. Arthur, Sahil, River, and Dillion went on an extra-long hike and hiked to the other side of the island. Grace and River’s shoes sunk in the mud, and they had to wash them off on the beach. I felt bad, but I can’t lie; it was funny. Time for some really really sad news, we had our very last ocean shower and last swim of the whole rest of the camp!
I am so sad and already miss the beautiful blue water. After our last shower, we moved Beso over to the Bite. I hooked the mooring ball, and Carlie and Avery did the rest of the mooring. Lelia and River made a delicious dinner of cheddar broccoli pasta, biscuits, and salad! Margaret, Emma, and JT had a staff meeting, so we plated their dinner. They may have had a small food fight at the same time. We cleaned up and got ready for the forum tonight. I am so excited for tonight’s forum, we are writing letters to all of our fellow shippies and staff members, as well as one to our future self that we’ll get in December. We are also currently baking a cake, and we’ll have a squeeze after we eat it. My squeeze question will be, “What is one piece of advice that you had to tell yourself, but you are proud of it now?” Now, I’m going to start my forum and get to talk about all the amazing things I love about these people and how much I’m going to miss them!
So much love from,
Laurel, Leila, Avery, Alivia, Michelle, Kaya, Grace, Carlie, Dillion, River, Arthur, and Sahil