Location: Vixen Point, Gorda Sound
Today we started with an early morning dive! We had a quick breakfast of cereal and took off! We took a dinghy to a nice spot where we did our navigation dive. Grace was helping us navigate a square using a compass while counting kick cycles, Amanda aided us in navigating a reciprocal turn, and Luke helped us count our kick cycles on a line that was on the floor. It was really cool because we were diving at our own pace and were with our dive buddies the whole time, so we wouldn’t get lost. On the dive, Breccan spotted the stingray and pointed it out to us. We also saw a couple of upside-down jellyfish and a couple of small fish. Emme, Sophia, and Mengmei(me) did backflips underwater. After that, we went to the beach where Brian and Pierce went Zesting and Oon and Oey went paddleboarding. Blake took the time to enjoy the scenery and swim around at the beach because the water was super nice and clear, so you could see the bottom!
Sophie and Malika used the time to play in the sand. Our next station was on our boat, where we learnt how to tie knots and Joey taught us how to drive our dinghy, Lava. Sophie threw the lines when we docked and Mengmei(me) got to dock the dinghy to the boat. Everyone passed Joey’s dingy school with flying colors. For lunch, we had PB & J sandwiches and leftover deli meat. In our final rotation of the day, it was water sports. Sophia and Mengmei both did 360s on the knee board, and Izzy almost got it on her first try. It was super fun! After that, we got to take a proper shower in the heads, which was super nice and refreshing, and we all felt quite clean after. We went to the dock, got to go to the grocery store, restocked on our snacks, and got our phones to call our parents. It was really nice to talk to them and reconnect with the outside world. This camp has definitely made us enjoy and appreciate the time outdoors, and we definitely miss our phones less than we thought we would. For dinner, we had a beach barbecue with all the other boats, and there was a DJ! The food was really good, we danced, enjoyed the drinks, and made new friends! Today was a fun, action-packed day! Hopefully, more to come!