Location: Pitons, St. Lucia
Name a better view to wake up to?! The Pitons, specifically Petit Piton, towered above us as the sun rose this morning. One could argue this is the best mooring in the whole of the Caribbean. For Breakfast, head chef Hannah and her team of Bens made us some lovely overnight oats with some fruit, yogurt, and granola to fuel us for our first drift dives of the semester! After cleaning up, we talked through the ins and outs of diving in a current and then waited for some of the rangers from St. Lucia’s Marine Park, who would be our local guides on today’s dives. I was in the first group, and we got to dive into one of my favorite sites, named Superman’s Flight, for its consistent current that carries you around Petit Piton. We weren’t the only ones riding the current today; we saw massive schools of surgeon fish, creole wrasse, chromis, and even a few of my personal favorites… black durgon triggerfish! We dove in two groups, so while not diving, each group had a bit of study time to prepare for the coming week of midterms.
Once everyone was back on board from their dives, we had a classic favorite of tacos for lunch and a nice, refreshing light shower. It rains more often here than in many of the other anchorages, but it’s definitely worth it for the lush forest all around us, the sounds of tree frogs, and the rainforest communities coming to life each night.
The afternoon included an Oceanography quiz, a leadership class led by Ben, a country presentation about the culture and island of St. Lucia, and a marine biology class. To wrap it all up, we feasted upon some chicken, fried tofu, and veggies stir-fried under pink and orange clouds. We answered the squeeze question of what our favorite scent was.