Location: Pidgeon Island
Ok, so I am writing in place of my dear friend, Nini, because she has tragically fallen to the Huntsman virus. I’m not sure if this has been written already, but the virus has been titled the huntsman because it has been hunting us down literally one at a time this time it was Nini unfortunately and who’s to say who is next. Next, who knows, Nini will be writing in place of me. But for those who have functional immune systems and are of good health, went on an epic dive to Pidgeon Island to find the famous Jacques Costeau statue and see the beautiful, beaming marine life around it. Before the dive, Meg and I (mostly Meg) gave a short briefing on why Jacques Costeau is the coolest person to have influenced marine biology and film (there is a documentary about him on Disney Plus for you all to watch). Once Calum briefed the first diving group and dingied out to the reef, we got in the water and were stunned at all the fish and beautiful corals. Apparently, we were so enamoured that once we found the statue, some of us I, Zac, and Isaac in order decided to safely take out our regs and give our idol a wet kiss before exploring the rest of the reef.
After we got back onto Argo and the second group of divers set out, most of us were ready to either take a nap or finish our last school assignment, which was a paper due for Leadership. However, there is no time for rest on Argo. Next thing we know, Isaac is yelling, “Unconscious diver, oh my goodness, there is an unconscious diver in the water!” We, training rescue divers, knew this moment would come; the next part of our training is handling spontaneous emergency situation drills. Calum is in the water face down, breathing through his reg, pretending to be a non-breathing unconscious diver. The struggle we had with responding to this emergency was that there was no dingy to hoist him into and pull on board, so we gave him rescue breaths as we tried to figure out how we were going to get a grown man up the swim latter as he is completely limp (his acting was top notch). Kara was our onboard responder to throw down equipment as needed, and Maddy was up there with her ready to give CPR once he was on board.
Zac and I were in the water with Calum as he played victim. I was giving rescue breaths every five seconds as Zac got Calum’s gear off and fought to get him on deck. After a few attempts of the fireman carry up the ladder, Zac tried doing the koala carry where Calum sat on Zac’s legs as he climbed up the ladder, which got Calum high enough up the ladder for responders on board to grab him and pull him up. Was it the smoothest rescue drill ever? No, but was it the best we could manage without practicing beforehand? I think so. Once everyone, including the second group of divers, was on board, the next exciting thing was our shore time to explore! Everyone grabbed their belongings and got to shore. Most of us walked the main street, exploring the food options. There were pastries, paninis, burgers, and more! There were also cute stores, such as this one dive shop that had some great finds. Then a group of us finished our shore time by heading to the beach and swimming and playing chicken fights. We then turn back after a few hours to motor a bit further up Guatalupe and anchor to do some sail prep for the morning. Tomorrow we leave for our student-led passage to Antigua, stay tuned!!
Hope you feel better, Nini!
She sends love to her family and friends!
I love you, Mom and Dad, I will literally see you in two weeks, which is too crazy to think about!
Also sending love to Riley and my siblings because I will see you guys soon as well!
This virus better end here…