Location: Galleon Beach, Antigua
Hey everyone, I’m AJ, and today I’ll be the skipper writing the trip blog!
Today started out strong with everyone waking up after the first full night of anchor watches on the boat (Starting out strong by starting to drift on the very first watch shift.) In the morning, our first meal of the day was some delicious frittatas to get everyone stoked for a day full of diving! After breakfast, all the new divers began practicing assembling, disassembling, then reassembling their gear, while I and the rest of the certified dive team began working towards their advanced diving certification by doing a checkout dive at Pillars of Heracles. The checkout dive went smoothly, and we got to spend a few minutes afterward swimming around the corals spotting all the fish and jellies we could before I ran out of air and forced the team to surface and return to our dinghies (sorry, y’all, I’ll do my best to breathe less next time). Once both groups had finished their morning activities, we regrouped for some delicious chicken wraps for lunch and another round of cleanup! The plan for the afternoon is, you guessed it: more diving! The crew training for the open water certifications got the chance to head out for their first confined water dives and begin doing drills (which I hear all went great, congrats guys!) while the crew training for the advanced diving certification had some free time to finish up our homework for the diving certification, as well as a chance for some relaxation or the opportunity to explore some of the areas around us. After toiling away on deck working on our homework, half the group decided to stay on board and enjoy a well-earned nap in the shade while the rest of us set out with our snorkel gear to check out two nearby shipwrecks where we got the chance to see some huge sea turtles, tons of fish, a fat looking sea cucumber, and get a little too up-close-and-personal to some jellyfish returning with the stings to prove it. To close out this wonderful day, people regrouped on deck, disassembled dive gear before soaping up for another beloved deck shower, and finally drying off and grouping up for our Sausage and Roasted Vegetables dinner. My question today for everyone was, “What is your last name?” to get to know everyone better. All that’s left now is our first class and the next round of anchor watches. Being the skipper today was super fundefinitely an upgrade from being a Saltie and having to wash all the dishes.