Location: Great Harbor, Jost van Dyke
Today makes 11 days on Aloha, the 45-foot cat we’ve learned to call home. We’ve passed the halfway point of our cruise through the BVIs now, and the mid-trip blues are beginning to hit me. A slower morning today let students sleep in till 7:40 and enjoy homemade “brookies” (a brownie-cookie mix), which, when mixed with the rocking of the boat, made a handful of the crew a bit seasick.
We motored to Pinnacle in Brewer’s Bay, where we set out on our second naturalist dive. Yet again, we dove without Alex, who was stuck watching the surface with an ear infection. The beginning of the dive was a mix of strong waves, sandy patches, and scarce coral and wildlife: an unfortunate combination when tasked to locate various types of symbiotic relationships. After turning towards another section of the reef, however, we discovered a much more fascinating expanse of animals. Large walls of coral offered us a beautiful swim-through and views of two large red lionfish, one of which I saw fully flair out its spines/fins! Amanda found a Golden-tail moray eel peeking out from behind rocks to show the group, securing another animal on this summer’s bucket list of sights. Anthony, in a valiant attempt to save the reef (and therefore the world as well), surfaced with a glass bottle in hand, rescuing the man-made object from the blue depths. The friendly rivalry between Anthony and I continues after each dive, purging regulators in each other’s ears and dumping boot juice down ankles. The dive debrief discussed the behaviors we saw, and stories of parasites in between fish gills, territorial creatures, and cleaning gobies alongside larger reef fish were eagerly shared.
As we dried off after the dive, we listened to Cici and Katie’s equipment lecture, where we discovered the vast differences between dive setups and personal preferences. James Bond’s dry suit and tux were brought up, though Cici’s opinion on drysuits remains: they’re weird. The energy spiked as we moved to the bow of the ship, unpacked two dive bags from the laz, and set two tanks upright on the deck. Split into two teams, we were more than ready to flex the skills we had developed since the start of the session in a head-to-head, blindfolded, kit set up competition. The best of us was Lily, with a time of 47 seconds, beating Cici’s personal best in the process. With my team’s helpful commentary, I managed it in a minute and 15 seconds, with room to improve.
Afterward, our precious dingy, Rango, took Byron, Nolan, Enzo, and Alex for a joyride and wakeboard lessons while Lily taught backflips to Eugenia and Daniella. Simon and I snorkeled the beautiful bay nearby in search of turtles, eels, and flounder. Last year, I went turtle-tagging in this same spot and knew I had to see the array of life on this reef again.
I finished my first friendship bracelet of the summer, a little string of flowers that Katie taught me to make, as we motored to Green Kay(?). My supply of embroidery string has proved quite popular and has easily become a communal source of entertainment for the crew. Next up on my to-do list is to teach Simon how to make the flowers, too. The staff saw dolphins, and though the rest of us jumped up and ran to the bow, alas, we couldn’t spot them in time. Mountain goats spotted across the nearby islands were a nice substitute, though.
A brief headache caused me to down three glasses of Gatorade-flavored water, though Nolan next to me had a more controversial drink of choice, taking sips straight from his BBQ sauce bottle. Because of this and other similar instances, the crew has begun to distrust his taste in food and beverage. On another unrelated note, Nolan was forced to wear his PFD longer than otherwise necessary. Byron’s jellyfish sting from 5 days ago continues to pain him, and saltwater showers don’t help his cause- I fear some strange alien is beginning to stir beneath the wound. I’ve been photo-documenting its development daily.
The evening winds down with a sunset cruise, Thanksgiving dinner, karaoke clean-up, and group movie night. The last two movies followed Becca’s life in the well-known Pitch Perfect movie series. Is Pitch Perfect 3 in store for tonight, or will we decide to stray from old habits?