Location: Mountain Point, Virgin Gorda
This morning, I woke up in my hammock to a crazy rainstorm. Holden then came up from the fox hole and talked with Mike and I about Koala facts. Our breakfast consisted of cereal and fruit. YUM! We then sailed over to George Dog Island to anchor for our first dive. After anchoring, we all hopped on the super dingy called Cirrus, which took us to the dive boat, Highlander. We then grouped up with our buddies and set up our dive kits. My buddy was Liliana, and our instructor was Tyler. The other groups were Katy and Amaya, instructed by Toby and Pearl, and Suki and Kennedy, instructed by Whitney. The advanced water divers, Dawson, Cam, Holden, Jovian, and Gavin, got to do a swim through under a cool arch led by Mike and Amanda. For our first dive, we practiced putting on and taking off our BCDs and weights in the water, flooding and emptying our goggles underwater, and losing and finding our regulator. We then did a small free dive around the reef. After our first dive, we got out of the water so the staff could do a tank run and refill our air tanks. Once the tanks were filled, the staff returned them to Highlander, and we re-kitted. For our second dive we practiced pulling an “unconscious” diver, ascending with your buddy’s air, and our Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent (CESA). After everyone got all their skills done we headed back to Avizia, our boat, for lunch. Lunch was Mac and Cheese prepared by Suki and Pearl. We then sailed from George Dog to Marina Cay.
While sailing, Whitney gave us our open water scuba exam. Taking this exam was very stressful as it was 50 questions. Although, because Whitney prepared us properly for the exam, everyone passed. Later, Mike went over our seven knots with us. Those seven knots are the Figure 8 Knot, the Clove Hitch, the Round Turn Double Half Hitch, the Bowline, the Sheet Bend, the Square Knot, and the Cleat Knot. After everyone had all of those down, we were taught the Turks Head, which can be used to tie bracelets. After practicing our knots, we started to prepare dinner, which was Chili with rice. We all enjoyed our dinner made by our chefs, Suki and Pearl. We then closed out our night with forum questions.
P.S. Mom and Dad, please tell Papa and Mimi that I am having a wonderful time. Also, tell Alex that I hope his boat is running well. Love you guys most.