Location: Bourg des Saintes
The smell of breakfast from the galley was enough to get everyone out of bed this morning: freshly baked buttery croissants, flakey pain au Chocolat, and jam-filled crusty baguettes. All collected bright and early, around 6:30 am, from the local boulangerie by our 1st mate and head chef. Speaking of jam, it was a jam-packed day also, with diving, fish identification tests, and marine biology classes interspersed with shore time, coral reef snorkels, and night dives. All of the crew members worked hard and fast to get the cleanup done in record time so as to get dive class started early, allowing for ample time to explore the picturesque town of Bourg des Saintes. Once ashore, sunscreen was liberally applied, WiFi hunted for, euros spent, and broken French attempted- much to the amusement of the crew and locals alike. Once back on the boat, it was straight back to the classroom for a short exam and a marine biology class on coral reef formation before snorkeling and free diving on a nearby coral bed where a majority of the species from the exam are known to occur. Dive gear was then prepped for the night dive allowing for a short period of downtime before stories of scars and dinner. So much fun was had even the fish wanted to join in. A member of our fishy brethren successfully made the leap as the last dinghy load of night divers made its way back to the boat, although it was quickly tossed back to join its own school again! To round off the day as nicely as it started when all the gear and dinghies had been squared away, the captain had hot chocolate waiting for us down below:- Maeve G., Skipper of the Day.