Location: Underway
Day ten started with some yogurt, oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs, and our first research dive. After breakfast, the students examined 4 square meter sites off the shore that showed all types of coral, algae, sea sponges, and rocks. The task was to identify the percent coverage of each organism in the quadrant. Each student picked their own dive partner, and this became the first dive without an instructor for the open water divers, who recently became certified. After our morning dive, students prepped Ocean Star to depart from the BVIs. The sail to St. Kitts would be our longest journey so far, roughly 24 hours at sea. The boat is sailed and looked after by three different watch teams. Each team has a 3-hour shift followed by 6 hours of off time, during which they can choose how they want to spend their time. Most people sleep during the off time because watch teams work through late hours of the night or early morning, such as the 12-3 am or the 3-6 am shifts. Each watch team had special events occur on their watches during the passage. Watch team 3 had a pod of dolphins racing the bow while watch team 2 caught a Mahi Mahi with a trolling line out of the stern and also passed a carnival cruise ship about a mile or so from our port side. Watch team 1 claim that nothing exciting happened, although they did most of the tacking and sail trimming, keeping us on a good speed and course.