Location: The Dogs
Day 6, what an exciting day. The day began with a 6:45 am wake-up. Our fantastic chefs (Lucas and Niko) began boiling water for some warm oatmeal. We were underway with a 45-minute sail from Mountain Point to the Dog Islands Cockroach Alley for our second underwater navigation dive. Matt led a brief in the cockpit explaining how our 5-point turn pattern was supposed to be executed and the instructions for returning to the boat without the assistance of the instructors. We got kitted up, took our giant strides minutes later, properly swam the 5-point turn pattern, took our 3-minute safety stop at 15 feet, and returned to the boat. We took a short break after the first dive, and before we knew it, we were already underway at our next dive site.
After a short sail to the “visible” dive sight, we began kitting up for our second dive of the day. This time, we were lucky to not have to worry about an overall objective, but instead, we could treat it as a free dive. We dove in and swam to the bow, where we descended together and began our dive. Shortly after descending, we rounded a curve, and out from below a mountain of coral came a 5-foot nurse shark. Everyone was quick to take photos, and the shark minded its own business and swam away shortly after to avoid interaction. We rounded the final curve and surfaced after our second safety stop of the day. Shortly after we finished the dive, we came to find out that all the video and photographic proof of our adventure had been wiped from Andrew’s GoPro! We were disappointed to find out the footage was gone, but the experiences were far from gone. The cooks began work on a very thick yet delicious Mac and Cheese. After lunch, the dishies (Rhiannon, Rooks, Trey, and Mireille) quickly cleaned our plates, and we set sail back for Mountain Point. Underway, we finished the last section of our EFR training and took some short naps. We arrived after another 45-minute voyage. Most crew mates hopped in the water and enjoyed some free time to swim and jump off the boat.
After some fun water activities, we dried off and had a quick discussion of our plans for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We separated into groups of 4 and began rotations between CPR training with Matt, Shock, Severe Bleeding, and Spinal Injuries with Bianca, and arguably the most exciting Wakeboarding and knee boarding with Griffin in Shaka. The first group to go out for water activities was Scott, Ryan, Simon, and Shay. After getting back the rotation following water sports was CPR with Matt while Lucas, Trey, Nico, and Rhiannon went for water sports, and shortly after the last group, Rooks, Andrew, Alicia, and Mireille finished off the day with their not-so-fair turn of water sports after being cut short due to time crunch for dinner. While the last group was out with water sports, our chefs began work on a delicious Veggie Burger with Mashed Potatoes and Beans masterpiece. We finished dinner and ended with a group squeeze, and got right to work on the dishes. The rest of the evening involved playing cards, group discussions, and time to ourselves before heading to bed.
Looking forward to what the rest of the trip has to offer!