Location: West End, Tortola
Day 20
Today we woke up to cereal and oatmeal prepared by Derek and Noah. We had a quick sail to a site called the Indians. It was the most biodiverse site we have dived on this trip, and we had Emmy lead the dive. Tommy stressed the importance of sticking together since all of the dive side boats were diving. We decided Emmy should lead the dive, and Noah helped some with navigation. The current was extremely strong, and Derek found a pair of fins, and I found a functional flashlight underwater. We stuck to the time limit very well, and all surfaced at the mooring ball with a couple of minutes left. While we were putting our gear out to dry, Paul bragged that he had found 16 gobies, which was probably a PR for him.
After a sail back to where we began, we set up a list of cleaning categories that needed to be done. When we got to the docks, we rafted up next to Aloha and started the cleaning. Paul, Maya, Garrett, and Noah cleaned the galley, Mirah, Derek, Emmy, and I cleaned the salon, and Anya, Tessa, Regan, and Rachel deckied. It took a couple of hours, but when we finished, Anna got us all pizza. After devouring our lunch, most of us bought snacks and drinks in preparation for the all-nighter that we had planned for tonight. We got back to the boat at around 5:30 for a briefing on the bbq in the evening and had an auction for pieces of the AQ flag that had been flying above our cat for the past three weeks. Regan got the best piece(the AQ logo) for 25 dollars because all of us spent the last of our spending cash on shore, and we didnt know that we could tap into our Emergency funds for this. All of the 400+ dollars bid by our boat went to charities or nonprofit orgs working in the BVI. After the auction, Mom, Dad, and Abuela (Tommy, Anna, Joe) went to take a staff photo and left us to contact the outside world for a half hour. Then they took our phones, and we all went to the bbq. When we got there, we had to wait 30 minutes in line for the food because we always come last for everything, so Garrett, Maya, and Noah went to find a table while the rest of us got food. After eating, we walked around West End for a while until we were rounded up for another one of Mike’s speeches. Soul Rebel sat right next to a really hot light, and we were sweating and uncomfortable the whole time, so walking back into the boat salon with AC was the best feeling in the world at that time. Then we did the squeeze, joined by James from another boat, and started the activities that we had planned for tonight.
-Logan H