Location: Mountain Point, Virgin Gorda

Every single day here begins sweaty, which is a very small price to pay to wake up floating on the clearest water any of us have been in. After a night drum circle featuring songs such as Riptide and We Are Young with Rachel on the Pringles maracas and Tessa on the tank cymbals, we woke up early for a quick motor to the Baths at Virgin Gorda. Some special moments were a Soul Rebel crew jump from the jumping rock and an impromptu bouldering expedition through a slot canyon with Logan, Emmy, Maya, Regan, Anya, and Derek. We left from there feeling plenty of adrenaline.
Following that, we took another motor as we headed into Spanish Town. The boys and girls split off from the docks, and each found their lunches at Mermaids and Pirates and Bath and Turtle, respectively. Then Mirah, Maya, Rachel, and Regan bought some souvenirs at Arawak before we found the fruit stand and market. We picked up some mangoes, watermelon, and snacks for the boat. Specifically, Emmy found a rad deal on a whole box of Oreos for $19. Derek and the boys found some water guns at the candy store, where the rest of us picked up ice cream. There will for sure be alliances and battles later on in the week.
After our 1:30 curfew back to the boat, we set off for a sail to Mountain Point. During that slightly rocky ride, many of us worked on our PADI Underwater Naturalist manuals and knowledge review. Other than that, Garrett and Noah took a nap on the frog deck while Rachel and Paul worked on new friendship bracelet patterns. Once we got to our night spot, we took a quick snorkel to check out our night dive site, as the PADI Night Diver manual recommends. Then we set up for dinner as we got our scuba gear put together in the light.
We had a wet dinner, then our dive briefing, then splashed in with our waterproof flashlights to check out the nightlife. Once we came back up, we all participated in a huge dance party in the cockpit with some awesome Micheal Jackson moves from Noah while dishes were being done from the brownies that our counselor Joe made while we were on the dive. They had Oreos sprinkled on top 🙂 Many of us also did night ocean showers surrounded by tiny fish attracted by the boat lights.
As we settle in for another night surrounded by our incredible newfound family, it is definitely on all of our minds that tomorrow will somehow beat out today, as each new experience simply keeps getting better than the last.

These were Emmy’s insightful comments about the day. She wants to thank her family for this opportunity and the academy for their consideration. She would like to thank her great great grandparents for making the possibility of her existence a reality. Much love to the Kellner family. Shout out to all the kids who kept it real during 3rd grade. Much appreciation to Ms. Bajpai. Big up to Mr. Bean for teaching me actions speak louder than words. Another very special thanks to the creators of Brooklyn 99 and Mr. Right, who are separate people, but Emmy still enjoys both of those pieces of entertainment. Would also like to raise a glass to my greatest mentor, Sun Tzu, for teaching me never to eat yellow snow. Brown snow is the way to go.