Location: Vixen Point, Gorda Sound
Hey parents,
Today, it’s Sahil writing to you from the top of Beso Del Viento. Today was our second rotation day, which included activities such as snorkeling, zesting, paddle boarding, and water sports. Before all of the activities, we woke up, and Avery and Carlie got to work on breakfast, which was cereal and cut cantaloupe. Avery gave us all green zinc sunscreen to get us into the team spirit. It was a nice start to the day as we transitioned straight into water sports with Margaret and a staff from another boat named Nat. Water sports today consisted of us all getting better at our sports: waterskiing, wakeboarding, and kneeboarding. Dillon started to experiment with kneeboarding as he was doing 360s, and River expanded to water skiing.
Our boat consisting of Alivia, Laurel, Arthur, and I expanded on our kneeboarding prowess. After water sports, we went straight to the dive boat to snorkel in the mangroves. On Gap Year, the dive boat, we met with Tony, JT, Jo, and a couple of divemasters. We sped to the mangroves with JT at our helm and split into snorkeling groups with the divemasters. My group, Leila, Michelle, and I went with Amelia through the mangroves. We saw upside-down jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and tons of baby fish. The plants were also amazing as we saw intriguing coral and a plant that kinda looked like a mirror.
Amelia was really helpful in pointing out anything cool along the way. After the snorkel was over, we came back just as fast as we came ready to eat lunch. Mac and cheese were served by our amazing chefs, and it would become a favorite of the trip, as we learned at Squeeze. Then we set off to the beach to go zesting. Zests are small sailboats that are a lot less complicated than the catamaran. This was most of our favorite parts of the day, both for the crazy breakdowns of the zests and the smooth sailing River and I did. Dillon and Arthur’s adventure was incredulous as they hit some rock and went out really far. They also fully capsized and were towed back to the shore. Avery and Kaya also capsized after the boom fell off. Carlie and Leila were also sailing alongside me and River. River and I tacked to shore very slowly as the wind was trying to prevent us from resting on the beach and talking to the people on the Gap Year boat doing paddle boarding. We paddle boarded next as we split into four groups, but then the mission was disbanded after Grace and Avery abandoned Arthur and I after some deep questions for their vlog. There was then a mass of paddle board king of the hill style fights. After this, we were all exhausted. We talked with the group of people from Meow or Never and avoided a stingray. After we ate Garden Burgers for dinner I gave the question what was your favorite meal so far. It was hard to decide for most people as the meals have all been good. After, we had a long dive chat with an hour’s worth of videos into an hour quiz and review session. Now it’s time to hang out and go to bed to get ready for another rotation day tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Sahil, Leila, Dillon, Grace, Carlie, Avery, Arthur, River, Laurel, Kaya, Alivia, and Michelle