Location: Savanna Bay, Virgin Gorda
The day began with scrambled eggs and a day full of action-packed activities. After everyone emerged from their different sleep spots of choice and after breakfast, we all crowded to the bow to learn all about the different types of knots from Max, the skipper, who raced to see who could complete each knot perfectly and up to his standards. After learning the bowline, cleat, and clove hitch knots, we then all jumped into the water to balance on buoys. Max (not the skipper one) was the champion of the rodeo, redeeming himself after losing a knot-tying race and being pushed off the boat as the punishment by yours truly. Soon after we had reapplied sunscreen and hydrated, we headed to the closest boat, “Meow or never.” There we spent a couple of hours swimming, diving, and sailing the zest. Jon captained his own boat and spent an entire couple of hours taking people around (capsizing nearly ten times) and helping Erica, Macie, and Ariana learn the ropes. We then made a gourmet meal of deli sandwiches using the last of our vegetables and hung out on the boat playing card games to pass the time until the next activity: waterskiing and knee boarding. I was in a group with Bridget, Casey, and Will, who all showed off mad skills in both doing 360s and 180s and being able to get up on the skis at all (very impressive.) Nico did over ten 360s in a row while kneeboarding, and Alex “slalomed” (used only one water ski)
As soon as the last group came back to the boat, we left to go scuba diving! We put together all of our equipment and then split into groups of three to go through diving drills in 5 feet of water. There we saw a sting ray, multiple fish, and crabs on the ocean floor, and Caroline pointed out multiple goats that were running up the island’s beach and started to climb up the rocks. After that, we left Mountain Point and sailed to Savanna Bay, where we had dinner, dropped a bucket in the ocean, and are now preparing for more dive lessons and videos before bed after writing this under the watchful (and critical) eye of Jon as he hung from the roof upside down trying to catch a glimpse of the blog. – Maddie