14
Location: Cane Garden Bay, Tortola
This morning we woke up to Shaun serenading us with “Oh, Susanna” on his Harmonica. We had breakfast underway to Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke consisting of the usual – Peanut Butter Oatmeal, cereal, and some great bops. After arriving, we began cleaning the boat with the motivation of visitors later in the day (the children of the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society) and the threat of Posty not being played later in the day. So now the boats pretty clean. Then, we went to shore and were greeted by the world famous entertainer, Foxy. He was a character. After a series of jokes and songs told to us by Foxy, we then met with Susan and began our Sea Grass preservation introduction. After some mock trials, we finally headed out to the water to monitor the seagrass 50 meters off of the beach – in small groups of 4; we estimated the amount of seagrass-to-algae per quadrate. We found the three main types of seagrass dispersed throughout the deeper water, but the most prominent found was an invasive species, Halophila Stipulacea. After an hour of being in “research mode,” we headed back to the boat to get ready for some shore time. We had an incredible lunch at Foxy’s; this is exaggerated because everyone was excited about “real” food. Ice cream following lunch was a highlight of the day, especially when we were being serenaded by a local stoner who loved changing the words to “Hound Dog,” adding lyrics about digestive systems and sandy toes. Then, we sailed over to Little Harbour, Jost Van Dyke with some local students named Jamari, Jason, and Tyrone. We then took them to help us monitor some seagrass. We saw stingrays, sea urchins, and vibrant mini sea slugs. We also thought we heard a whale, but turns out that it was just Tyrone. We loved working with the kids because of there upbeat and silly personalities. #Caribbeanfever #Cowabunga
Once we finished collecting all of the data on the super cool waterproof paper, we chucked ourselves back into the dingy’s, doing some donuts on the way fora down-below shower. While we were showering, we started to sail over to Cane Bay Garden, lots of slipping and screaming was involved, the water was a bit choppy. Papa Shaun cooked us a hearty dinner of Thai Peanut Chicken accompanied by some Spa Water that consisted of the remnants of a past days lemonade jug refilled with water. Following another hot sauce bathed meal, we double-squeezed – we made up for the squeeze we didn’t do because of the BBQ yesterday – and then jammed out to our boats staple songs, “Country Roads” and “Catch and Release.” Then had another body roll lesson from Hannah. Once the dishes were finished, we all gathered around the salon table and played our daily games of “Presidents” and “Egyptian Rat Screw.” We cooked up a nice cake to celebrate the birthday of both Darius, a shipmate from the other GoBeyond boat, Some Beez and Dave, Hayley’s father. Then finished the night with a movie and some rooftop chips and salsa. Today was super great, and I can’t wait to see what 6 AM Harmonica serenade Shaulalalan has in store for us.
P.S I love you dad, mom, Bri, Addie, Payton, Amelia, Paxton, Anabelle, Jane-claire, Mallory and MP.