Location: White Bay, Peter Island
This morning was a big one – our first in the Islands. Last night, we all found places to sleep on the boat, from Aiden in the cabin to me, Aubrey Ash, in hammocks at the stern. Once we all woke up, we made our way into the West End to hear Mike’s big safety/expectations talk, which (as always) is easily the most exciting part of the trip. After we finished listening, we had some getting-to-know-you time on Second Wind since we took a little time to get off the dock thanks to a bad generator. We played Uno and talked about ourselves until our lines were cast off the dock and we headed out of the marina. Cameron told us about his school and cross-country team in North Carolina, and Ava talked about her AP and DE classes in Miami. Even though the passage was upwind and pretty rocky, it was still amazing to look out at the BVI from onboard for the first time – and the choppy water didn’t stop Lorelai, Maya, Ellery, Kate, Casey, Stella, and just about everybody else from getting their first bit of sunshine (and a few naps) from the platform behind the helm. Once we had motored to our destination, South Bay on Peter Island, and had lunch underway, it was time for the swim test! Thankfully, we all passed with flying colors and had some fun doing laps around the boat and treading water. Not long after that, we did some proper diving, checking our skills on a pretty basic dive in the bay. Right as we were descending, we saw a southern stingray, hopefully the first of many. After the dive, we chilled out for a little while, and our chefs for the day, Maya and Audrey, made some sloppy joes for dinner. We were supposed to have potatoes too, but the dried mashed potato mix turned out more like potato soup.
We had a beautiful cloudy sunset a little after dinner. Now we are going to have a dive chat to end our night. We are lucky to be in a beautiful place doing amazing things. Good vibes all around.
-Jackson M. (Sarasota, FL)