Location: Cane Garden Bay, Tortola
We awaken as every day begins. Suddenly: oatmeal. Even suddenly-er: eaten. Not a second to waste, with haste, we made our way to Shark Pointe Bay. The day was dark and quiet and full of promise; the skies peered and pointed inconspicuously with jest and tricks and jokes and kicks. We reach our destination, prepare our space suits, and plunge courageously into Poseidon’s boundless playground. We didn’t see any sharks, though, which was either disappointing or relieving, depending on who you ask. We traversed between the cracks and crevices of underwater boulders. Lucas never will get used to the jellyfish that threaten him with not an ounce of harm.
A long play in the big wet sandbox called for food afterward. Alicia and Shay worked diligently and vigilantly to feed us with a cornucopia of quesadillas, and a wonderful job of that they did. We cleaned our mess and began to prepare for the embarking of our next dive. We geared up once more and began to brief, this time with an actual objective. We were given a search pattern to perform called the jackstay pattern and were meant to seek hidden weights. Zeus was plotting something special, rubbing his hands together with malignant intent in the meanwhile. We entered the water with the skies seeming calm, but that was mere deception. After we completed our goal underwater, we looked upwards to find the surface rippling and crashing above us as the sun rays danced and flashed in a strobing manner between the waves as if to warn us of the storm that had been assigned from above. At first, it was mesmerizing, seeing the rain tip and tap from a perspective where it couldn’t touch us. Then mesmerizing turned into disquietude when the sky paparazzi began. We were recalled back to the boat urgently, and we had all climbed out of the water in the knick of time before the post-paparazzi booms occurred. Thankfully, everyone was safe, and no one was electrocuted. We sat in collective, cold silence and mutual appreciation of both the beauty of the dangerous bellowing and the appreciation of our safety. After the storm passed and our heart rates lowered, we cleaned up the boat and ourselves. We headed over to a nearby bay and began our emergency oxygen lesson. Filling our brains with knowledge had thus made our stomachs empty, so Alicia and Shay began to prepare a wonderful feast of Thai red curry chicken with rice and a beautiful job of that they did. We ate our dinner, and the heavens paid us a visit with one of, if not the most, beautiful sunsets we’ve witnessed yet. Angels sang as golden rays beamed across vastly—a beautiful last light of the day.
Knot tying has become the boat’s new favorite pastime. Rooks taught everyone how to do the monkey’s fist, and Andrew had finally mastered his turks head anklet after many trials. Mireille snacked like a champ and did a marvelous job of keeping her cabin… the same way that it had been before. Ryan and Niko made great progress in their novels. Trey, Rhiannon, Niko, and Scott continued to entertain Lucas’s gambling addiction. Everyone celebrated the night with brownies (prepared by Alicia, who did an amazing job, as always). We go to bed soon now. We get our phones tomorrow to call all of you, so I look forward to that.
P.S.
Hi mom. I did, in fact, get sunburnt, but that was a few days ago. I’m all ok now.
Hi dad. I’m getting pretty far in Catch-22 now. It’s really funny. I’m enjoying it a lot.
And to everyone reading this, I love you.