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British Virgin Islands - 2017, Session 3

Sambamba Staff Update Day 1

Location: West End, Tortola

The crew of Sambamba are super excited to welcome twelve new faces and begin our adventure! We have spent the last couple of days preparing the boat and filling her with food, snacks, diving books, and sailing equipment. We are looking forward to beginning the 17 day long expedition around the beautiful British Virgin Islands and getting our shipmates started on their journey to becoming qualified sailors and SCUBA divers. Along the way we will visit a host of spectacular locations and enjoy activities like waterskiing, wakeboarding, Pico sailing, and windsurfing. We can't wait to start making memories together!

Here is an introduction to the crew of Sambamba:

Shannon- skipper

Shannon grew up by the sea in Cornwall, England. She studied marine geography at university and worked as a high ropes instructor before finding her passion for sailing. After that she sailed around the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Australia, and has most recently spent her winter in the Arctic whale watching and cross country skiing. Shannon's interests include walking dogs, eating cake and spotting sea turtles.

Ashley- dive instructor/mate

Ashley was born and raised on the coast of New Jersey, where her passion for the sea first blossomed. During her sophomore year at Roger Williams in Rhode Island she studied abroad with Sea|mester, where she sailed from the BVI to Tahiti on Argo. After graduating with a degree in marine biology she worked onboard New Jerseys official tall ship A. J. Meerwald, and has most recently spent time on Ocean Star during her refit period in Antigua. Her favorite animal is the sea turtle and she cant wait to be in the BVI and diving with them again!

George- mate

Born in the northern suburbs of Chicago, George spent his early years learning to sail and race on Lake Michigan and the inland lakes of Wisconsin. He spent his high school years racing on his high school sailing team, and his summers coaching youth sailing teams for his local yacht club. He currently is enrolled at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, working on finishing his business degree. After slowing down his sailboat racing at the end of high school, he decided to join Seamester on their recent fall trip as a way to take a break from business school and get back into sailing, where he started on his 200 ton Yacht Master training which he completed this spring. After having such a great time with Seamester aboard Argo, he realized his passion for teaching sailing and working on board boats, which has led him to ActionQuest. George's passions include finding and listening to good music, cooking good food, and any activity having to do with wind he can get into.