Location: Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda
Our day began with eating French toast on the deck while a brilliant rainbow hung over our port side. After finishing the morning duties, the students studying PADI Open Water completed their third classroom lesson and then set up their gear to go diving for the first time. Much of the rest of the day was spent practicing basic skills like mask clearing and buoyancy control. Students working toward their Advanced and Rescue certifications reviewed how to dive off a boat, both a little dinghy and a large boat like Ocean Star. After reviewing basic skills, we had time to take in the underwater surroundings; barracuda, squid, and sea fans waving gently in the current. Most of us agreed that diving in the crystal clear turquoise waters of the tropics beats diving in the cold, turbid waters of our northern homes. We look forward to exploring coral reefs and wrecks in the coming days. After we stowed our gear safely, we raised the anchors and motored around the point to Spanish Town, where we are anchored now. We set up a table on the deck to enjoy stir-fry by starlight, and then the shipmates snuggled into the salon for their first taste of academic fun intro to Marine Biology. As I sit now in the chart house on the gently rocking boat, the soft sound of a guitar is carried on in the breeze from the bow. The other shipmates are sitting together in the Salon quietly, studying and conversing. Everyone’s settling down to get a good rest for the day aheadgood night from all of us on Ocean Star in Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, BVI.