Location: Vixen Point, Gorda Sound
This morning, we woke up bright and early for another ROTATION DAY! The DMCs started their day off by doing skill demos and we all absolutely ate those skills up (except our CESA, but it was a good learning lesson so that we can improve next time). The Vegas went paddle boarding, where they all sat and chillaxed, and Madeline led some yoga. For the second and third rotations, the DMCs led their first Discover Scuba Diving confined water section, where we introduced the Quest kids to diving. It was really cool to see how excited they were and how well they handled their skills for being in Scuba gear for the first time. During this time, Vegas had a very interesting coral reef conservation talk, and Micah was very excited about it as he explained how important coral is to me at lunch. The DMCs finished early and we were able to go kneeboarding – Amelia opted to stay back and work through her divemaster manual (ACADEMIC WEAPON).
Alexis and I went with Ayden on a super dinghy, and Scott went with Captain Drippy Dreads. Alexis and Scott were definitely kneeboarding pros while I was not as skilled. During the third rotation, the Vegas also went water sporting with Macy doing a crazy 180 on the kneeboard, August whipped out a 360, and Milo ALMOST made it up on the wakeboard (he’s just preparing to whip out his crazy skills next time). While all the crazy skills were happening, Kiki pointed out flamingos! (So upset the DMCs didn’t see flamingos) We had delicious PB&Js for lunch which fueled us up for our RDP (recreational dive planner) talk after lunch, probably the most exciting part of our day. Ruby took the FATTEST nap while everyone else was talking all things RDP.
I was very jealous. After the RDP chat, we showered and sailed over to Leverick Bay as we anticipated the barbecue. We all had to make sure the boat was clean by wiping down all the surfaces before we could get our phones back. Once we arrived at the dock, we all went ashore to go to the grocery store to stock up on snacks, as we wouldn’t be back on shore for a few days. Annika bought some brownie brittle, as we have all gone through a few bags of it so far. (So good, highly recommend, slightly addicting.) Ruby wants me to add here how delicious her custard creams were.
When we got back to the boat, we got our phones back so that we could call all of you! I spent so much time talking to all of my friends and my parents and introducing my shipmates to my best friend. It was really nice to be able to talk to people from home after having so many experiences over the past seven days. We all got dressed, took some pictures, and finally headed to the barbecue. Graytful headed up to this secluded area to eat together, play some games, and laugh really hard. We ate so much pasta salad as we got even closer than we were before. I was longingly looking at the dance floor (according to Micah when he asked me if I wanted to dance), so we all made our way there to get LIT. We danced so hard, making our way behind the DJ booth, sweating so much. It was so fun dancing with each other and all of the other boats, we got sooo many good photos. There was a limbo contest that we all participated in, but none of us got really far. As the night was ending, we found Ayden and India so that we could be the first ones back on the boat as we were exhausted after our dancing. I am now sitting here writing this, and I can’t keep my eyes open.
So so Graytful for these people and our crew, I wouldn’t trade this trip for anything else.
I love you so much, Mom and Dad; I can’t wait to see you in a few days! Make sure to keep texting me any crazy updates and messages. Also, I hope you are enjoying all of our adventures, Ellie, I miss you so much <3