Location: The Rhone, Salt Island
Waking up my crew-mates today was one of the easiest jobs I predict I’ll have in the coming weeks because everyone pretty much roused themselves with the morning light peering over Salt Island and with the wafting, delicious smell of apple crumble that Leoni woke up early to make for us. After breakfast, half of us prepared to dive the Wreck of the Rhone, the most well-known wreck dive in the British Virgin Islands. After they came back, the other half of us were excited by accounts of reef sharks and turtles, along with warnings of jellyfish for our dive in the afternoon. After two incredible dives filled with the use of human shields for shark protection, personal attachments to jellyfish, and some obsession with pufferfish, we were given the opportunity to explore Salt Island. The students that went to shore experienced incredible views over the islands and over the ocean we prepare to cross, as well as some interesting smells from the salt flats. Meanwhile, many of us stayed on board to work on our essays and help plan the meal preparations for our crossing. After a delicious stir-fry dinner, we began packing up our dive gear for the voyage and settling down for what is likely to be our last lazy night for a good while.
As we enjoy one of our last full days in the beautiful British Virgin Islands, our bodies and minds are transfixed by mesmerizing sunsets over the islands and experiencing the motionless true level of the land, but it is clear that our hearts lie overseas; all of us anxious and excited to leave these incredible islands and begin our daunting voyage and head out into the great blue beyond.
-Keally, surprisingly poetic when his surroundings warrant poeticism
Photos 1-3: Vela and Salt Island circa Case’s Drone
Photos 4-5: Shark, Jellyfish, and Unidentifiable Diver circa Josh