Location: The Bight, Norman Island
We woke up this morning to Jake Valpey (Good Times’s skipper) running onto our boat screaming and spitting his Mini Wheats on Rooks. We stumbled out of bed confused as Jake shouted that he had missing divers, and Jayna started balling. We couldn’t tell if they were kidding or if it was actually a scenario because Matt Griffin and Bianca were all laughing hysterically. We knew he was serious when he jumped off the stern and started swimming away. We scrambled to get the dive flag up and get skin divers and spotters to find the missing divers and scuba divers to get them on the surface. Scott and Ryan were our skin divers, and Rhiannon, Trey, Andrew, and Rooks raised the unresponsive divers. They swam the three victims back to the boat as Lucas, Mireille, and Simon were calming down Jake’s screaming and Jayna’s whaling. Alicia and I helped set up the emergency oxygen, and Nico helped us egress the Divers. We got all three victims on board and started CPR and basic life support. We were in the midst of caring for everyone when Matt told us to cut. The three Divemasters from Avizia and two staff from Good Times broke character, and we started to search for dropped gear and do a debrief. We went over everything that happened, both good and bad.
After the Divemasters left, Andrew and Alicia started cooking pancakes for breakfast. Everyone else started on a search and recovery dive to find the divemaster’s weights and other gear that was dropped during the scenario. We found all the weights but couldn’t find a dropped mask :(. We were also able to find some other cool things like an old anchor, someone’s advanced open water dive test, a pair of sunglasses, a mask, some old cans, a mug, and some utensils. After everyone was up and de-kitted, we ate our breakfast and raised the anchor to make our way to Road Town. After the brief motor to Tortola, we went ashore for some lunch and some phone time in the capital of the BVI. Matt picked everyone up in Shaka and ferried us back to the boat so we could make our way to Norman Island. Trey, Andrew, and I helped to sweat up the main sail and then to unfurl the jib. We were cruising at about 7 knots in 18 knots of wind in the first upwind stretch. We took turns at the helm and with managing the lines as we sailed. We turned downwind for a stretch, and Matt and Griffin helped us get wing on the wing! Rhiannon helped us fast drop the main once we got to Norman island, and we furled the jib. We dropped Griffin on Bliss Point (staff boat) so he could help them re-anchor, and we headed into the bay to find a spot to drop anchor. I helped Bianca drop our anchor four times, but it didn’t hold :(. After the 4th time, Matt found us a spot on a mooring ball to spend the night.
After we were tied off to the ball, the staff headed to Tonic III (Mike Meighan’s boat) for a staff meeting. While they were gone, Andrew and Alicia made us a yummy dinner of Cheddar Broccoli pasta. After we were done eating, Simon introduced us to a game called Paranoia, and we all had a good laugh playing a couple of rounds. After we calmed down and stopped laughing, we started cleaning up everything from dinner. The staff returned from their meeting right as we finished making everything look nice. Everyone gathered in the saloon for our evening program of cards. Griffin told us the story of how cards came to be, and Matt showed us some examples from his previous years of AQ. Everyone writes a notecard to everyone on the boat, themselves and the AQ office saying nice things about them, memories together, and other jokes and stories. It takes a long time to write one to everyone, but opening all the ones you get is so worth it. The cards are such an amazing AQ tradition, and it gives you something to look back on and remember all the amazing memories that this trip gives you.