Location: Saba
There is never any reason to say “I’m bored” on Ocean Star. However, today, that holds exceptionally true. Yesterday, Kevin briefed us that we would be trying a new sport in the morning called Dive Gliding. Our divemaster, Glen, from our dive yesterday, invented and patented this contraption himself. This all sounded really exciting, but none of us really knew what to expect. I had imagined a sort of bucket-like-looking thing with wings that you stuck your head up in and swam along with. My imagination had far underestimated the actual structure. Around 9:00 this morning, Glen showed up at Ocean Star, ready to teach us all about his dive glider. The device is egg-shaped, about three feet long, with two thin wings on both sides and two scuba tanks inside. There is also a bar along the length of the glider to hang on to. To accelerate, you let the air out of the tanks and steer by moving your hands up and down the bar and pointing the nose in the desired direction. This activity was particularly cool because there are only two dive gliders in the world, one in Statia and one in Bonaire.
Riding one of these things is awesome and is probably the closest I’ll ever be to becoming a dolphin. It was great talking to Glen, the creator of the Dive Glide. He said it made him very happy to see us enjoying his invention and getting excited about it. After our glide session, we ate lunch, finished passage prep, and were on our way to Saba. Today was another student-led passage. Everything from our course to Sail Raise was completely student-led. They did really well; it’s truly awesome to see how much these guys and girls have learned over the past 33 days. With Saba’s insight, we spotted something else.
A few students on the bow noticed something large and green floating just below the surface to our port side. We decided to investigate and tacked around to see what it was. In doing this, our crew performed a textbook heave-to maneuver and pulled into the boat a large green fishing net that had been abandoned. Sadly, the net had entangled a small shark that did not survive. Despite our efforts, we could not revive him, so we donated his body to science and had an impromptu class on shark dissection. Of course, after the dissection, we said a few kind words, thanked the shark for his contribution, and placed him back into the ocean. Once in Saba, we tidied up Ocean Star, cleared customs, and sat down for a nice dinner. I’m extremely grateful to be exactly where I am right now and for these past 33 days. I can’t wait for the adventures left to come in this last week with this awesome crew. Shout out to Mom, Dad, Horton, Lisl, and Worth.
Best,
Lawre
If you’re interested in learning more about the cool glider we played with today or seeing videos of it in action, look for Dive Glide on Facebook.