Location: Antigua Slipway
The morning started off earlier than usual as we picked up the anchor at 6:30 to move to the dock before our first excursion of the day. With Talia, Sylver, Nini, and Benny on anchor team, and Cecily, Maddy, Olympus, and Eli on dock lines, we sent Darien and Kiki to shore to catch lines. After getting on the dock, Kara sent up some smoothie bowls for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed off to Fitches Creek, one of the spots where a local conservation organization has a mangrove out-planting site. We got to hop into some clear-bottom kayaks and go see the mangroves up close. Being able to look through the bottom of the kayak to the seagrass and mangrove roots below gave us a great view into the local wetlands ecosystem. To wrap the morning up, we raced kayaks back to the dock with Nini and Zac beating everyone else.
Heading back to Argo, we were welcomed back with a delicious lunch of chicken tacos to refill our stomachs before heading off to the mermaid pools. Mermaid pools are a beautiful set of tidepools with loads of urchins, sergeant majors, and starfish. Once you jump in the water, you are greeted with a cliff wall to the deep ocean with many urchins to dodge on the climb out. Some people were brave enough to do some cliff jumping while Eli got some great footage of everyone in the water. Just as we were about to leave, we saw the first whale of the program. Breaching a few times before diving down, not to be seen again. As the night wraps up, we have a clothes swap and karaoke night before getting some rest for the final boat appreciation tomorrow.