Location: Pearns Bay, Antigua
This morning started off with some bumpin’ tunes to get the crew up and ready in a good mood. We were served corn beef hash from our chef Ethan, with the help of his sous chefs Caleb and Justin. This was promptly followed by a short passage around the island to get to a new dive site. This location also had a beach that was not only beautiful but swimmable from the ship. Everyone was super excited today to finally get to diving after having a few days off. Once we set the anchor, we had a short marine biology class, followed by some free time. During this time, a few crew members decided to check out the beach and explore this new side of the island, as well as climb a small hill. A few others, including myself, chose to take a swim near the boat just to cool off.
Lunch was a delicious pad see ew, which means noodles in soy sauce. With our bellies full, we set out to finish our final advanced open water dive, the fish identification dive! The new site was beautifully rich in wildlife and coral, although we did have to dodge a few moon jellyfish (don’t worry, they were relatively harmless). There was so much to explore in this new spot. Assorted marine life was observed, recorded, and drawn out, including a porcupine fish, squirrelfish, a squid, and many more! We did the dive in groups, so when we weren’t diving, most of us were working on our first rescue diver knowledge reviews. After the dive, the crew was informed that we are now all advanced open water certified, which is super exciting! Again during this time, a few crew members went to explore a small nearby island and found many birds and a spotted eagle ray!
Our last course of the day was some amazing eggplant parmesan by the sunset! We were visited by a flock of frigates and seagulls that just wanted a piece of the eggplant parm. We ended the dinner by squeezing and doing our final clean-up of the day. Now, we have a seamanship class and apparently a seamanship test that was sprung on us last minute (thanks, Calum). Today was full of life, and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!