Location: Cane Garden Bay, Tortola
Hi parents! We started the day with a late wake-up and a breakfast of oatmeal prepared by Rachel and Anya. After that, we got our snorkel gear on and were enlightened by a lecture on sea turtles from Anna to prepare us for a morning of searching for turtles to tag. Jayna, a staff member from Good Times, ventured over to our boat to act as a turtle for Anna’s demonstration. After the lecture, we split into two dinghies to look for some sea turtles. Emmy, Mirah, Paul, Tessa, Logan, and I each took turns looking for a turtle, and four of us would hold onto a rope attached to the boat as Joe would drag us along while the other two would wait for someone to give the signal that they saw one. In scientific data collection, this is referred to as a manta tow. We searched a long time for turtles with no luck and were searching aimlessly until Noah spotted a turtle, and we all went to follow.
Anna made the first attempt to dive down and grab the turtle, but it darted away before she got too close. We all chased it throughout the bay, only for it to rest on the bottom out of our reach. Maya, Garret, and I were about to lose hope when Anna dove way down there and grabbed it by the shell. We all went back to the boat very excited and helped Anna and Joe tag the turtle that we named Franklin. We tagged its fins and neck, and Garret joked about eating him for dinner before Anna placed it back in the water. After a lunch of chicken quesadillas, we then had our research dives! Emmy, Tessa, and I had a bit of a rough time trying to survey fire coral with the transect line tangling up and us getting a little lost, but it was very fun. As soon as we emerged from the dive, dramatic music started playing from the boat’s speakers, and we prepared our boat for an egg war. Rachel was very excited as she had been waiting and preparing for the egg fight for at least a week and a half at this point. We totally crushed Event Horizon, Aloha, and Good Times (boo), with Derek hitting them on all sides from the dinghy with Tommy while the rest of us hit them from the boat. Noah took an egg to the face (he is ok), and I got hit in the legs (I am also ok), and our boat was absolutely coated with eggs. The cleanup was rough (but not as bad as the other boats), so we got it done as quickly as we could and then worked on our fish ID journals before dinner, which was curry and very yummy. Right now, we just finished our trivia night, where Anya, Noah, and I crashed and burned and ended with -100 points. Still, it has been a thought-provoking and awe-inspiring day here on Soul Rebel, and I look forward to seeing what the next few days have in store.
Regan Hodson